okay okay okay

i know we've been slacking off. i know that we should have printed some t-shirts. i know that we should have recorded another album by now. i accept a large share of the responsibility for us not recording a new record, because i have a vision in my mind and i drag my feet when things don't exactly meet my expectations.

but that's not what this particular post is about.

i'm not the bragging type. just ask the other guys in your Action Set. if anything, i tend to be skeptical. forgive the bad pun, but when the other guys see the silver lining, i'm always looking for the dark cloud.

honestly, though -- how can it be that "country song" isn't getting any radio play? it's a catchy melody, good lyrics, nice harmonies. it's recorded well. we pulled it straight out of the beatles' pop music catalogue. we've sent our damn cd out to stations all over philly and jersey and nyc. i don't understand it. i would say at our shows, when we play the song, it tends to be one of the better received songs in our set.

i'm not complaining to our friends and the people that like our music, so please don't take it that way. we're so grateful to you guys for coming to our shows and we appreciate it when you come to us and tell us you had a good time. "appreciate" isn't even the right word. we're thrilled. so please understand that i'm not complaining. i'm just, honestly, perplexed.

okay. i could keep whining, but i've said what i needed to say.

genuinely sorry about the lack of a new record. i hope we have something for you soon. in the meantime, if you still like our EP, please pass a copy to your friends, or come check out a show and say "hi" and we will be happy to give you a cd.

one last thing, just for a quick update: i have been listening to the albums Reckoning by R.E.M., This Year's Model by Elvis Costello, and Mad Dogs & Englishmen by Joe Cocker. oh, and Funkadelic by Funkadelic. i'm not kidding you -- these albums are amazing.

hello, folks.

due to a scheduling conflict your Action Set will not be playing Union Hall this Saturday, Jan. 17th. we are working with Union Hall to reschedule the show and hope to play there sometime in the next few weeks.

we organized a slot at PIANOS this FRIDAY, JAN. 16th at midnite. we apologize for any confusion and hope you can make the show.

see you there!

sam

So your beloved Action Set has returned to playing shows after about an eight month break. It was a much needed break for us, as we have been going at it pretty hard since we started this band about three years ago. We performed at Arlene's Grocery in NYC the other night, just two days after the Christmas holiday. That being said, we weren't sure what kind of audience turnout to expect. It turned out to be a great show. There was a nice crowd and we got a pretty good response. We played reasonably well and had a great time. Our set list went something like this:

Weigh In
Sugarteeth
Run!(Go On)
Always
Country Song
The Arrest
Say The Word
Give Up
All At Once
Sweet Business

Thanks to all who came out to see us that night. We're starting to get our legs under us again and have some new songs coming together. We have another show booked at Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn on 1/17. It's a great place to see bands in a great neighborhood, and they also have indoor bocce courts. I have no idea how to play bocce, but I'm pretty confident that I can beat Travis at it. Hope to see you there.

Until then, have a great 2009!

-Don

Take a trip down mammory lane with Your Action Set this holiday season. We've posted our demos of 'The Arrest' and 'Give Up,' which were recorded a long time ago by our friend Derek. Derek is a good dude who is a bit of a metalhead and told us he had never recorded a band like ours before (which I think mostly means he hadn't recorded an acoustic guitar). Anyway, we were very happy with the demos and thought they were a good indication of our progress to that point.

Fast forward to a week ago and we are working on a new song Pat brought called 'Always.' We expect to play it at Arlene's Grocery on the 27th so if you're in the city and able to make it out you'll get to hear a new jam. If you can't make it, you can find a lo-fi recording of our practice on this very myspace account.

Also, and we're serious this time, we're going to record... something, somewhere, soon. Once we have more details we'll post them here.

Have a great Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Ramadan/secular Xmas! Love to everybody, and a safe, happy, and healthy New Year.

Hope to see you on the 27th.

sam

Hi, all,

Just a couple quick points. We played the Delancey last nite, and I believe the consensus within the band is that we didn't play very well. Truth is, we didn't play as well as we would have liked, but we weren't awful, either. There's this whole cause-and-effect thing where if we're not playing well, then we don't have a good time on stage, which contributes to us not playing well. It's a tough loop to break, and I probably let myself get caught up in it easier than I should. We have pretty high standards (believe it or not), and I think we we let ourselves get disappointed over something that really isn't as big a deal as we make it out to be. With the exception of Don, Action Set is the first "real" band any of us have played in. We've recorded an EP and we're looking to record an album soon... we've played a lot of cool shows at a lot of great venues, and met a lot of great bands and new friends along the way... Playing these songs is generally so cool and so much fun that we allowed one sub-par performance to really get under our skin. I think your Action Set needs to take this as a learning experience -- an opportunity to step back and see how far along we've collectively come, and appreciate our band and our friendship as a whole. In the scheme of things, last nite wasn't really all that bad. A more experienced band would have learned to let something like this roll off their backs, and we have to try to do that as well. We're playing again this week, and we have a couple more shows booked in the near future, so we hope to see you soon, and we promise to play our hearts out for you.

Despite my bellyaching, we're grateful to Baby Teardrops for the opportunity, and we got to play with some really cool bands who we now consider our friends. Seriously, check out Baby Teardrops. They're an excellent new band with very catchy songs and very sweet vocals.

Also, please check out MarginalMinds.com. It's a really well written blog primarily about music, and we got a very nice review so please show some love.

We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving by the way. See you soon.

sam

Sam: <3 Goodnite.

Don: See u friday. Sorry for the bad performance

Sam: Don't apologize. You'll make me feel like a dick. You played well. I'm just being mopey. See you Friday.

Don: Its ok to be mopey we were awful

Sam: No, really - I'm sorry. We should try to have a good time, and we didn't, and I take the blame for that. You played well.

Hi, all,

Hope all is well with you as always. It's been a slow couple weeks in the Action Set family. We played a bunch of shows at some great venues, and now we have nothing booked coming up. Which is fine. The truth is, and I can only speak for myself I guess, we needed the break. Travis is out in Vegas and San Diego and Don has been working o/t with Redorange Morning. BTW, they have a new drummer who I hear is really doing a great job, and Don is playing bass. I have not had the pleasure of hearing this new incarnation of the band, but they are playing tomorrow nite in Philly at the World Cafe, so if you're looking for some good music go over and check them out.

Pat and I have been, predictably, using the time to do... well, not much, to be honest. I've been exhausted for the past couple of weeks. I've been trying to save a few bucks so I've been eating crap food and I think it's taken its toll on me. At least, that's the best excuse I can come up with for being so lazy.

But finally, the beginnings of new songs are beginning to creep in, and when it rains, it pours. I'm looking forward to having some new stuff for our friends soon. I know I say that a lot, and I know a lot of the time it probably sounds like bullshit, but this time it's for real. Pat and I spent the last couple days sitting down and working on ideas. We've both brought some things to the table, so whether you're a "Pat Fan" or a "Sam Fan" you can look forward to a couple of new songs.

Once Travis returns to the east coast and Don can squeeze in a practice between working with ROM, we'll be able to flesh out some of these songs even more. We'll probably be posting some songs from practice in the next couple weeks (hopefully), so stay tuned.

Keeping it real,

sam
OGC

Hey, all,

Just a quick update from the Action Set folks. Pat has been tirelessly booking shows for us, so we've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of us. That's a good thing. We're really excited to be playing at Maxwells, Arlene's Grocery, Union Hall, the legendary North Star Bar and, of course, Otto's Shrunken Head tiki bar. These are amazing venues and we're thrilled to be playing at each of them. So whether you've seen us recently, not-so-recently, or not at all, please come out and show some love. It's always good to see some faces you recognize. We've got some new material we're considering playing, too, so hopefully something new works its way into the set. We shall see.

We've also been mailing our EP to a bunch of radio stations. If you happen to hear us getting played anywhere, please drop us a quick message. We would love that.

I'm telling you, and I shit you not, we're getting better all the time. I'm the first person to point out the things we could be doing better (just ask the rest of the band), but we've been practicing as much as possible and I feel like we're solid. I'm sure it'll take some time for us to grow into the new songs, but I really think we're a better band now than we were even a month ago.

Well, that's it. Once again, we're in the center of a flurry of activity, and it's good to be back. Hope to see you at one of the shows. Hope all is well.

sam

Hi!

I always have this urge to blog after a show, particularly if I feel the show went well.  What I really ought to be doing is writing a blog before a show.  You know, spread the word, maybe generate some interest.  I guess Pat usually sends out bulletins, and he's good about it.  I'd miss some vital bit of information, like the venue.  Regardless, we played a couple shows this week, and (in my opinion) they went really well.  As you may know, I relocated to Brooklyn, and Pat is in the process of doing so as well.  He has a job, but he's currently sleeping on my couch (much the same way I slept on Cyndi & Ryan's couch - thanks guys), so if you know anybody looking to rent a room, hit us up.  Back to the show - we played our first NYC show at the Red Lion on Bleecker St.  The way it works is, they do an "invited" open mic on Monday nites (I guess to control the caliber of the performer), and each week they have a featured act that gets to do a full set.  Redorange Morning was scheduled to play this week, but due to a work obligation, Cyndi was unable to play, so she suggested we fill in to Michael, the guy who organizes this thing and books the bands.  Now, I've performed there myself, but anybody who knows me knows I'm a nervous wreck on stage and it's really not a good representation of either the band or the other, more confident version of me when playing with the band.  Let's just say it's not "putting our collective best foot forward," and I don't expect it to generate many shows.  But Michael decided to let us play anyway, and I think it went really well.  A couple days before the show, I get a text message from Michael and he's explaining that for this week only they're gonna throw the open mic format out the window, and they'll have two performers do full sets before we do ours.  Which was fine with me.  Michael was the first performer, and he had a great set.  Usually, because of the format of the nite, he's limited to about four songs.  But because of the longer set, he got to play a bunch of songs I hadn't heard before (a couple of which were really new, as he later informed me.)  Anyway, he was really good.  He's got a good voice and he's really confident on stage and very impressive on stage.  Next, a band called the Prarie Dogs performed.  They're kinda bluesy; they've got some good harmonies, and one of the guys in the band did some really cool stuff with the guitar.  We played third.  Okay, this is kinda complicated, so bear with me.  Travis, our bass player, was gonna be outta town for the show we played last nite (at Studio Luloo).  So we asked Ryan from ROM to fill in.  Ryan has been practicing with us for a couple weeks, and so we agreed that he should play the show at Red Lion to get his feet wet, and because the band hadn't practiced with Trav in a few weeks.  But Travis, being such a cool guy, came up from SJ to watch the show and show some love <3.  Jen also came up from SJ <3.  Don came up, too, but he was playing drums, so, y'know...  He brought a bunch of equipment, and then Pat... kinda sorta forgot to bring drumsticks.  So that was a little embarrassing, but we played like two songs without Don (one of which was planned that way) and then Don found some sticks and jumped in.  We played, and I saw a couple people by the bar shaking their asses, and when Cyndi (who made it after a couple songs) came in, she overheard somebody at the bar saying "These guys are good."  Should I leave out the part where she told me she wasn't sure if they were talking about us or something on the television...?  Anyway, I think we played pretty well and we got a really nice response.  Michael, told me he was really impressed and he even sent a text message the next day to say he had a great time (with the whole evening).  I was really flattered on behalf of the band.

NOW... on to yesterday.  It was rough, mostly because it was so damn hot outside, and we had to move a ton of equipment.  We were all pretty gross.  Travis was in Myrtle Beach, so this was the show Ryan was officially filling in on bass.  Cyndi also played on some of the songs on the EP, so she's been playing with us at the last few shows.  What made us giggle was that I've been filling in on bass for them, so it's almost the same band, with the exception of Pat.  We unloaded the equipment, the other performers showed up and got to sound check quickly, and the show got started.  The first band was By Surprise!  They played an acoustic format without their drummer.  I've only heard their CD once, and I liked it, but I'm not very familiar with their songs.  I thought they were really good though.  They looked like they were having a good time, and they each took turns singing (which was really cool).  They had some odd time signatures in their songs, which only a butthole like me would notice and point out because I like that stuff.  Next was Classic Brown (aka Stacey - she performed solo).  She has this great voice (I can't describe it well - it's like it's in a low register and a high register at the same time) and it was so cool to hear the crowd noise just die.  Everybody was so into it.  She played guitar and this great old Casiotone 410, and she covered Death Cab for Cutie and Phil Collins, with a mix of originals from her CD.  I saw them before as a band, and when I heard she was performing solo I was a little disappointed (because I really liked the band a lot), but she totally carried it by herself and I liked it equally, if for different reasons.  The third band was a little band called Action Set.  I felt a little silly going on directly after Stacey because she was solo, and the place was so quiet, and I knew we were gonna be really loud, with drums and electric guitars... I got a little nervous, but I think we did really well.  I think we probably played over our time a bit, but it was a really relaxed format and nobody seemed to mind.  Ryan was great on bass, he's added a lot to a couple of the songs (particularly Hide & Seek).  Cyndi was our "all-purpose" performer - she played keyboards, glockenspiel, melodica, tamborine, and just generally had a good time on stage.  Thank you guys so much, you're awesome.  We got a lot of compliments from the other bands and from the crowd afterwards, and it felt really good.  You know, the show's the payoff.  It's nice to feel like your hard work paid off.  One guy told us he had gotten our EP from marsRED, and that he liked it, but it doesn't measure up to seeing us live.  That's often the case, but that's exactly what you wanna hear after a performance.  Another guy told us he saw us perform two years ago (which was just about the time the band was getting together) and he said we had gotten so much better.  Scott (from marsRED) told me we were "fucking great" after the show, which was good to hear.  So, we were satisfied, and flattered, and it was great that so many of our friends and family came out to show love.  It made me forget about moving the equipment and sweating my ass off.  The fourth act to take the stage was Junior Thomas.  They were really cool.  The bass player was really inventive, I loved some of the stuff the second guitar player was doing (particularly on the last song they played), and they were just well-written, well-practiced songs.  To be honest, this was the only act I was completely unfamiliar with.  Not anymore.  And isn't that what these shows are really about?  Redorange Morning performed last, with me and Don pulling double duty.  There was a lot of energy in the songs they chose (which included a lot of new material), but for me the best songs were "Come On Baby Please," "Memory Storm," "The Logic," and "La La Song," which is a total singalong song once people get to know it.  There was a good response from the crowd, and Cyndi encouraged everybody to move up, and at this point we were all friends and it was good to see everybody's face in the xmas lites that we hung around the "stage."  We ended with "Snowdrop" and "Circus Pigeons," both from the EP, and then Scott brought up "Either Way" from the new Wilco record, and the nite came to a successful conclusion - for most people.  We still had to load up all the equipment, clean up a bit, and unload the equipment at home.  After that, a few of us went out for a bite to eat, where we learned that the title of "Circus Pigeons" came from a dream our friend Steve had.  Today, Pat and I will travel back up to Brooklyn, and we have no shows booked in the future, so hopefully we can begin working on some new stuff, which Pat has a wealth of and I have been stalling on because I need to work more.

Thanks to Studio Luloo for lending your space, thanks to Scott from marsRED for helping us book, organize, and promote, and thanks to Dave from Gradwell for getting roped into doing our sound.  We didn't want to make him work, but it was great to have somebody who knows what they're doing at the controls.  Thanks for checking us out, and check out all the other bands I mentioned if you haven't already.

Thanks,

sam

p.s. - I'm listening to a Best Of the Beach Boys this morning.  Don't get on my case about it.  I listen to Pet Sounds all the time, I just felt like hearing some of their early stuff like "Help Me Rhonda" and "Surfer Girl."  Besides, "God Only Knows" is on there.  So relax.