heller-mason cd release

we got a chance to play with another great local band on saturday. emily, jessica, jesse and i took the stage as the inkwell collective to open for heller-mason. we did a 50-minute set of mostly rock material, including new songs "i need you to fail so i can succeed" and "did you find russia". it was a good show. heller-mason did not have cds, as they were supposed, but they did play a nice set of "indie folk" along the lines of denison witmer. coming into the new moon on saturday, with the crowd of shaggy-headed 20-somethings wearing corduroy jackets and punk buttons, i thought we had finally found our niche. as indie-folk music gets big--the recent success of sufjan stevens, iron and wine, and the critical favorite damien jurado--i hope the inkwell collective can find an audience. although we are darker and a bit more on the "rock" side than the other acts we've played with so far.

we also played a nice show at celestial coffee in beaver dam. keshansky opened as only he can--creating intimate, gentle, damaged folk music with his guitar and warbling voice. he'll be playing with us in west bend on friday at the filling station cafe, so i hope everyone who is reading this blog will come and see him. for the celestial show it was me, emily, kara, scott, and jessica. a few of the songs worked really well, some did not. i also got a chance to try out my a capella song "i will never go to london", which i will be playing (accompanied by cello) next friday in fond du lac as emily and i open for peter mayer.

thanks for listening,

steev
for the inkwell collective

new shows added! new digs gotten! new songs performed!

hello listeners of every ethnicity, the inkwell collective is rarin' to go in '05. like you wouldn't even believe it if we told you. we gots a slew of new performances upcoming. nowhere south of washington county, i'm afraid. for those of you who have any sway in the milwaukee music scene, you tell those jerks to love us! tell them to accept us for who we are!

just kidding. we're really happy to be playing shows in and around the fox valley this spring. and we got a new practice space which is smaller, warmer, drier, and just a little less private. it's on the third floor of the coffin factory, and there is NO PARTYING ALLOWED!

here are the new songs we are working on:

i need you to fail so i can succeed
did you find russia
domestic fiction
the great lakes
aorta/interchange
i will never go to london

if you add ghost story, book of job, leaving wisconsin, and o lord have patience, you have the makings of a pretty good second album. we'll see if that happens. if and when we record again, chances are we won't sound much like the "falling signs" inkwell collective you have come to know and love.

look to the left for new shows added. i will try to add links to maps and such. also, we hope to provide you with a new website on which to view this information in the near future. we just have to get our act together.

loverly,
steev

well, it's been a while and things are moving slow these days. the collective is gearing up for the surprises that 2005 will hold. will we lose members? gain members? record? will we ever play live again? after a string of exciting shows the past year, we are still trying to break into the milwaukee nightlife. it may be that we are only "coffee-house" material. regardless, we'll keep trudging along. up next: a second show at celestial coffee in beaver dam, a benefit show in the oshkosh area, and another show in appleton. and we're moving into a new room in the coffin factory, so just watch the creative juices start flowing!

steev

this is my last try, this is my first triumph

so we finally made it down to the "big city" last night and played our first show outside of wisconsin. for those of you who don't know or who, for some reason, didn't feel like coming to see us, even though you were in town that night, we played at uncommon grounds in chicago. it's a great little place with the most friendly people we have ever encountered. the sound guy--rich, let's call him--was unbelievably kind and patient and burned the show to disc for us. we will soon post songs online and some may show up at some point in the future in cd form.

uncommon grounds is very small and we were once again crammed into an area that could comfortably fit 2. we were 5 last night--jesse, kara, emily, scott, and myself. we opened with "leaving wisconsin", which was lukewarm at best, then played "stay hidden"--which is where that particular song will probably be in the future. "o lord have patience" continues to sound great as do "magnets and mediums", "medicate! medicate! medicate!", "she watches birds", and "hello, hospital". "ECR" is also sounding very cool these days.

there weren't many people there to see us, but some faithful few did show up. we sold a cd to a stranger--which means we made a new friend somewhere. i think we had $2 in the tip jar at the end of our show, but it's not really about whether we make $2 or $2002, it's about driving long distances and forgetting lyrics.

we're looking forward to playing with keshansky on friday, so show up, you kids! and bring the family! we'll be in appleton in full force:

jon-the drums
jessica-the piano
steev-the vocals and guitar
scott-the bass
emily-the cello
kara-the viola
jesse-the electric guitar

thanks for listening,
steev

we played a show, we played with amelia royko


on saturday night, we braved the elements and found ourselves crammed onto a little stage in madison's "willy street" community. namely, at mother fool's which i guess has been voted the best coffeehouse for live music in madison. i can attest, this saturday it truly was.

we got there early. scott helped me get the stage cleared and set up. we moved tables, chairs, plants, and put up the PA, the piano, and set our chairs for the rest of us. there was barely a foot of floorspace between each of us--we really crammed onto the stage. jesse found his way there, followed by emily and kara. we had time enough to do a sound check before amelia royko came up and did a sound check. then we were informed that she was opening for us, so we all found seats in the rapidly filling shop.

amelia put on a great show with just herself and her guitar. she is a wonderful singer-songwriter and i hope we get to see her again. she said several times that she was looking forward to hearing us play, so that was nice. i'm not sure if, afterwards, she felt like it was worth the wait.

anyway, she played for an hour or so, then we took the stage and rocked through a set of neo-folk noise. jesse droned, emily and kara stringed, jessica played piano, scott thrummed the bass, and i kept time with acoustic guitar and swaying. everything sounded good despite a few missed notes and forgotten lyrics. it was cold outside, but inside the warmth of the music spread from the front of the building to the back. some folks left during our set, but quite a few stayed. alas, this was mostly amelia's crowd--older, artistic-looking people--and i'm not sure if they knew what to do with us. i can't imagine a better crowd, though. they were very polite and quiet and gave us full attention.

our last two songs, "hello, hospital" and "magnets and mediums", were the most powerful of the evening. jesse's guitar theatrics added the perfect amount of drama and tension to our set.

so now it's on to chicago. we're storming the gates at 8!

steev

because it's friday and i love you

well this has been a slow day. i'm in the midst of one of my creative down times--wanting to write new songs but not having time or energy to do it. will there be practice this sunday at the coffin factory? who knows? no one from the band ever e-mails me back.

kara our violaist is coming back to the area soon and is interested in playing with us again. that would make 7 people in the band. i don't know yet who is playing on the 27th at mother fool's, but it'll probably look like this:

steev, acoustic guitar
scott, bass
emily, cello
jessica, piano
jesse, guitar and banjo
kara, viola

we'll be playing mostly "solo" material--the more folk-oriented stuff--with a few TIC songs thrown in. amelia royko is opening for us. she is an award-winning singer-songwriter from madison. i'm a little nervous about that because we have not won any awards.

steev

this month's blog reveals some rather interesting things--

the new kentucky quarter opened at the new moon last friday night. the guitarist blew an amp, then when i let him use mine, he said it was not loud enough. so i guess i need a louder amp. but they were very good--a singer/songwriterly americana-leaning bunch--i only wish they could have played a bit longer and not had the equipment problems. we will play a show with them again, probably not until late winter or early spring of 2005. so then this jazz band comes up--burt klein and the jazz vampyr arkestra. don't get me wrong, i like to laugh at ironic pop-culture references like the rest of the kids. just don't get me wrong. this band was costume-wearing, joke-spoutin', bass/piano/drums jazz. they didn't get finished until after 10pm, which leaves us to set up our crap and attempt to get our levels mixed right. anyway, we played until after 11:30 and the venue was only open until 11. sorry kids.

we sold some cds and made some new friends. our next show is november 27 at mother fool's in madison. this is a drummerless show, but will be a good time to come and listen to the music and lyrics and drink some fine coffee.

steev

little farmer highlights. new practice time. show changes.

well, we played at the little farmer. only one person from the mailing list showed up, which was a blow to our pride and faith in humanity. it was very windy. i scratched my car trying to cram the piano into it. emily played the bells on "if it be your will". our new songs, i thought, sounded good. we'll be playing "o lord have patience" as a rock song on the 29th. we'll also be playing "leaving wisconsin" on november 27th. which leads to. . .

. . .our show on the 5th of november has been rescheduled. we were double-booked, it seems. so now we're playing at mother fool's on the 27th of november. come on over after eating tofurkey!

and then we're practicing on sunday nights for the next few weeks so come up to the coffin factory to see rock music in the making.

october 29th lineup:
steev, electric guitar, vocals
scott, bass
emily, cello
jon, drums
jesse, electric guitar
jessica, piano

steev

more live music. some strange brainstorms.

well folks, we've added another date. this is at the new moon cafe in glorious downtown oshkosh. friday, october 29th is the date. i don't know who we're playing with or when, but that information will be posted shortly. this is conceivably an electric rock show where we pull out all the stops, then press down all the white AND black keys to create a cacophonous little fort where you can hide from your fears.

also i have been receiving these messages to give you--new songs mostly. in my mind, there are some new inkwell collective songs and some new solo "folk" music. on paper, there are less. performed live, there are even less. but we will be debuting stripped-down renditions of two new songs on october 3rd at the little farmer: "leaving wisconsin" and "o lord have patience". here is the tracklist so far for the new full-length i have in mind to start working on next year:

"leaving wisconsin"
1-leaving wisconsin
2-domestic fiction
3-o lord have patience
4-friend of a friend
5-did you find russia
6-ghost story
7-the fundamentalist*
8-this land was built on tobacco*
9-scientists swear*
10-everything that starts out good ends up a love story*

*these last four are just ideas at this point--just titles without substance until inspiration hits.

in addition to these, there are two new rock band songs: "aorta/interchange" and "i need you to fail so i can succeed".

thanks for listening,
steev

'nother great show added. conflicting reports. the haunted piano.

well, i've got another "solo" show lined up for you to come and see. i'll be in chicago at uncommon ground coffeehouse on december 12th. that's a sunday night at 8pm. i don't know who'll be with me, hopefully a few folks. anyway, come out and be there for live music in a new place.

there have been conflicting reports as to whether or not we are playing at mother fool's in madison. i'll let you know when.

my friend kevin slept at our house one night and he swears up and down he woke up to find a figure melting into our piano from the shadows.

steev

recording update. live shows. band member fluctuation.

hey kids. it's been a while. the inkwell collective is just kind of floating around in nothingness right now. the recording is done and here's where we're at with it:

-i have contacted starshaped press in chicago to do the printing of the packaging. they are reviewing our artwork and will get back to me.

-i have contacted sooper dooper in madison about the duplication and cd manufacturing. they will also get back to me.

this is a slow process so i hope you'll be happy with cd-rs and paper sleeves next time.

i'm still waiting to hear back from the venues i mailed our disc to--a few in madison, milwaukee, and chicago. i am slated to play the annual little farmer acoustic music thing in october. we won't be doing much (if any) inkwell collective music, but you'll find the line-up to be similar to what you'd see at an inkwell collective show, minus the electricity.

and speaking of line-ups, we were proud to jam a bit last week with an electric guitarist from the oshkosh area--the infamous "jesse from jacobstone". we're hoping to entice him to play live with us in the near future. . .once we get another show in a club or other place where we can be loud.

that's it for the update. we have a practice tomorrow night, although i don't exactly know where or when it will be.

lots o' heart,
steev

August is really the cruellest month. For real.

well kids, it looks as though the inkwell collective is on a brief hiatus. we're not playing anywhere in august but we will be surfacing in october at the annual little farmer acoustic music weekend. i'm not sure of the line-up, at this point things are a little hazy. anyway, we're taking orders for the new disc, which will probably be finished sometime in september. the cost will be $10 and we'll probably set up a show in oshkosh that will be a "record release show". that'll be a fun time.

we're also working on some new songs. at least, i am; the rest of the band has not heard them yet. but we might have at least one or the other ready for you later and blah blah blah blah.

churlishly,

steev

the new moon cafe: another night, another $12
  
we played to an appreciative crowd at the new moon in oshkosh last thursday. as the bulk e-mail noted, we had a guest string player with us--jordan santiago. the main points of the story are this:  we know someone who knows someone and jordan is that someone. he was an unexpected guest at tuesday night's practice and was kind enough to join us on thursday. jesssica also joined the band in a more prominent position as pianist. after our last organ died, we went out and rented a digital piano so now in addition to balancing the strings with the drums, we also have a piano competing for aural space as well. the extra instruments added a bit of vigor to "hello, hospital" and a much needed shot in the arm to the sometimes plodding "ghost story".  we played through most of our songs and ended with a spirited rendition of "ameriparanoia" where there was yelling. sound problems plagued us (as usual), but in all it was a good performance. our legion of fans grows.
 
we suddenly don't have anything going on for the remainder of the summer, although i'd like to maybe squeeze in a "coffin factory" show next month sometime. we're still mulling over options for the release of "falling signs" and we're still trying to figure out our sound. fortunately, the idea of the collective is to have a bunch of different people dropping in to complement the songs so that one never knows what to expect from a show. we'd rather be complicated than easy.
 
i'll keep you posted and all,
 
steev

BEST SHOW EVER!

if you were among the few who caught our show on june 18 @ the harmony cafe in appleton, you saw what was probably our best show ever. why? numerous reasons. aside from the sound problems (which should always be expected with an ensemble like ours), we played with a confidence we have yet displayed.

here is a quick run-down of the highlights:

1. Kara's mic didn't work, so she played into an "open" mic (pointed at her from a stand rather than clipped onto her instrument).

2. The organ died sometime between the loading and unloading of it. Noticing an upright piano against the wall, we opened the top, stuck a microphone inside, and jessica essentially improvised her way through the set. It sounded incredibly great and we wish we could have a piano all the time. That was our third organ in nine months.

3. We were cramped into a corner and scott turned his bass way down; jon also played with a frantic quietide (or possibly a quiet franticality).

4. I didn't forget any words.

5. We played every single song we had, ending with a rendition of the american misery classic "ttsnotwis".

6. It was our last show with kara as she is leaving before we play the new moon.

so what does all this mean? well i'm working on some new songs and hopefully we'll just keep playing. the harmony cafe has asked us back for september, so we'll be there again. otherwise, i'm still trying to finish my solo disc and we're pricing cd duplication and packaging (we can do a run of 100 discs for around $400).

see you in july in oshkosh for what may well be our second best show ever!

steev

'Nother recording update

we have finished all of the recording for our debut album--the organ was the last instrument to "lay down" (as they say). jessica and i went to the coffin factory late on thursday night to finish. to her credit, she created, practiced, and recorded a nice part for "hope without drugs" in the space of about 4 hours. although live she also plays on "my use of metaphor," "hello, hospital," and "she watches birds", we left those as they are for the album.

and speaking of "my use of metaphor," it's the oldest song on the cd--i wrote it while i was still in school at UW oshkosh sometime in 2000--and also the closest to a folk-type song. rambling lyrics, numerous verses, excessive strumming. we've whipped up a new version that, i think, is closer to our current sound--kind of droney and a little faster, slightly angrier, but also sweeter, less prone to tipping over.

steev

@ the New Moon Cafe . . . Again

this is the third time in as many months that the inkwell collective trio has played at the new moon. which is a good thing because i finally understand how to use their sound equipment and we're starting to get a local following (besides our friends). we'll be there next month as well, in full band mode, hopefully with our good friends inanimate carbon rod.

last night was good because emily, kara, and i played a varied set of old and newer material and the audience was appreciative. i guess it sounded pretty good, but you have to just kind of trust that it does because the monitor levels are never quite right. anyway, we had some help getting set up from a few people and we had a great opener (unfortunately i forget his name)--a a young musician who played finger-picking style acoustic guitar music.

anyway, i don't have anything real important or interesting to say about last night. we just kind of rocked out a little and didn't get paid. and that's what it's all about.

steev

@ The New Moon Cafe

the new moon is a study in contradictions--it's one of the only places for all ages local rock shows in a hundred-mile radius, but the sound system sucks, the bands don't get paid (except the door charge), and the baristas really aren't very helpful in getting things set up for a show. but the crowd is always good and the owner is cool, the atmosphere is pretty good.

we weren't supposed to play there last night, but emily, kara, and i made the trek over and set up as an opening band for some kind of fund raising show. the other bands there were made up of younger people with similar hair styles and tight vintage shirts, so i can only assume they were "emo" or possibly "punk" bands. we didn't stay to see any of them, although i would have liked to.

so we get there and we get tuned up and we played to a crowd of noisy high school kids. much like the show at the filling station in west bend, it seems like the high school audience isn't really interested in hearing live music so much as they are interested in having a noisy social experience: laughing, running in and out of the building, walking briskly to and fro, meeting and greeting other kids in tight pants. it's not so bad, but our music is a bit more complex than that and begs a closer listen which, of course, is impossible when the room noise is louder than the sound system. nobody really knew what to expect from us--a acoustic guitar, a cello, and a viola. one guy refered to us as "some jazz band". i think they were clearly surprised to hear me shrieking up there during some of the more emotional moments.

so we played through an acoustic set of material:

magnets and mediums
don't try
medicate! medicate! medicate!
ECR
my use of metaphor
she watches birds
hello, hospital

then we packed up and got out of there. clearly, the majority of people were there to just hang out. but, to be fair, it did seem like a lot of the band members from the other bands were listening to us and we got quite a few favorable comments including the succinct: "you guys are f*ckin' awesome!" which i couldn't have said better myself.

steev

Recording finished!

well, friends, we've finished our recording. we went down to my brother's house and recorded and mixed the thing in his basement over a period of about 4 days. it sounds really great, too. it is by turns noisy and introspective, although not nearly as riddled with sound problems as our live performances. here is the tracklisting:

1) They found a hand, they found an unburned bible
2) Magnets and mediums
3) My use of metaphor
4) Passenger Pigeon
5) Medicate! Medicate! Medicate!
6) The golden years
7) Hello, hospital
8) Hope w/out drugs
9) She watches birds
10) At christmastime i need you most

as my brother was generous enough to donate his time as engineer AND the use of his equipment, we have decided to spend some money on packaging and whatnot. hopefully we'll get a local artist to help us with the screenprinting and/or design. anyway, expect to see it available at shows sometime this summer.

steev

Interlude: 20 Nights, 20 Open Mics, $200 Gas Bill

well, this may be the end of the "20 open mics" tour. gas prices are soaring and i can't really afford to do this anymore. i will try and travel sporadically this summer, but it's just too expensive to do more than one open mic a week. anyway, it was really fun and etc. keep watching this site for updates on:

1 - solo dates
2 - the inkwell collective live dates
3 - coffin factory shows
4 - recording updates

steev

11

well, we played a short "cocktail hour" show for my 10-year high school reunion. it was a strange experience, but no stranger than playing at an open mic. we got the establishment at 5pm and set up our gear--drums, bass, guitar and cello. in a cavernous dining area, we were shoved into a tiny corner below a giant particle board tropical pan fish. people began to trickle in and we waited around at the bar until 6 before playing. there weren't many people there when we started, but as our set went on, i noticed taller, wider, balder versions of many of my high school classmates peering cautiously at us from across the room.

this was a painful show in many ways. first, we don't exactly play "high school reunion" music. second, my voice is suffering from a month-long cold/allergy/sinus-thing and i couldn't really hit the proper notes at the proper times. finally, the establishment didn't even turn off the jazz muzac being pumped over the house speakers, so we were kind of like background music to background music. if such a thing is possible.

i was nervous at first, but then i was struck by the silliness of it all. a few of the people there had had a bit to drink before coming, others were unnaturally tan, but most appeared to be fairly comfortable with the idea that we are now all adults. our set was about 45 minutes long and consisted of the following happy tunes:

magnets and mediums
ghost story
medicate! medicate! medicate!
they found a hand, they found an unburned bible
hello, hospital
the golden years

there may have been one more, but i don't remember. anyway, it was lackluster to play essentially to ourselves and be ignored in a corner, but in that sense it was at least like my high school experience. . . i also made a horrible choice of chords to play for one song, destroying all credibility that we knew what we were doing.

something you may not know: we almost didn't play the "reunion show" because of our tight recording schedule. as it was, we stopped recording at 9 on sunday night on account of my vocals not working properly. so we have a nearly finished album (tentatively titled "falling signs") of the kind of music we play waiting for vocals. it may be a sad record release party without kara on the viola, but we may not be able to put this record out until late summer.

steev