Ohh nine, what an awesome year for the Panda crew! We were able to extend our touring circuit as far south as San Francisco and we are all but sold out of our 2nd album Road Soda! That's pretty impressive considering it took nearly twice as long to get rid of 1000 of our first CD Lunar Migration. Some of the years highlights include performing to a packed Folklife crowd of roughly 2000 people, drunk girls crashing into TJ's pedal board in Tahoe, Late night parties in the Van Halen and a smokey Bellingham crowd full of laser beams blasting at our panda mascot. We've come a long way I'm quite proud of all our adventures and we're well on our way towards creating many more in 2010!

  Speaking of 2010, we want you to come out to Nectar Lounge for a VERY special event on New Years Eve featuring Sandy's new band BIG HIGH with Mesa, Ari and Barret Martin (Mad Season, Screaming Trees)  Damon and his crew The Elements will kick the night off with some quality HipHop, then Pandacon takes you right up to the Countdown and after that get ready for some full throttle rock! Its going to be amazing. You won't want to miss this show! We have worked with the club to keep ticket prices reasonable on a night where you would otherwise expect to pay lots more. See you in Fremont!

$15 adv $18dos 9pm 21+ @ Nectar in Fremont 12/31/09

Get tickets here www.nectarlounge.com

Representn' the #1 yo.

Its pretty funny cuz were not playing at the marathon anyway. We just do commercials  now. the money is WAY better.

OMG! Life can get so crazy busy! The good thing is so much art and music is being produced all around our scene right now! I’ve been writing a bunch of songs lately and getting stoked again on that farfisa organ sound, Infact I picked one up from the guitar player from Voyager One. (Another awesome Seattle band)  This Saturday, Kent (KJ Sawka, Sky Cries Mary, Dabouge) and I are performing as soldiers in a burlesque production from the Zenzi Girls. It’s called the Gong Show. It will be held at Columbia City theater. . its gonna be a riot!

And a big hell ya to my house mate Steve Barci (Vast Capitol, Lionheart) He's hitting the road this summer with Backdoor Slam! they're gonna be doing it up bigtime at all the Major festivals Rothburry included!

Road soda is out and in the local record shops! A great way to support our local scene is to go out to a real music store and buy actual local music. I recommend Easy Street or Sonic boom but we are also in several other shops too! and the Yakima Fruit Market in Bothell!

When is the next release from Panda Conspiracy ask you? This summer we will be putting out our first 7” !!! We love vinyl and it will be a great way to listen to the new songs! We'll also have an MP3 download availible.

New web site: www.thepandaconspiracy.com

Side Projects galore! I’m sure you know the nature of our local scene by now ☺ We have so many great side projects: if your looking for some new music check these bands out and then once you do that, check out the other bands that make those bands up (seriously)

Publish the Quest   www.publishthequest.com
Project Lionheart     www.projectlionheart.com
Missing Players     www.missingplayers.com


Check out our calendar for upcoming shows, We just booked a bunch of em and I’m really excited for Panda Conspiracy’s summer schedule!



Peace,
Chris

Some of you know I went to Austin for this years SXSW w/ Alisa (my trusty child bride and partner in crime). It was so awesome! Of course I wanted to bring the whole band but I didnt really have any idea as to how it would work. Now I do! Big thanks to John Warner (or logo/poster designer) for setting me up with a solo gig at his showcase at Headhunters! That was awesome! It motivated me to find a way to make a very unhuman instroument (the keytar) and make it as expressive as an accoustic guitar. It was fun I split the keyboard playing bass lines in the Left hand and chords on my right! ha ha! I performed a set of about 12 songs, a mixture of Pandacon tracks and Chris Poage solo tunes.

I also went to a cool party called Fuck by Fuck You and hung with Seattle band: A Gun that Shoots Knives. Then we got in to a special M. Ward Concert that was also a KEXP broadcast / video shoot! That was awesome! We saw Staxx play as well as the Elevaters from LA and Kentucky Nightmare from the midwest. . and many more bands too many to mention but the whole time I  promoted Panda Conspiracy a lot by means of My hot shorts.




here I am handing some flyers to a group for myhotshorts.com If you haven't seen it yet, check it out!

Today I woke up like most days, got my coffee got checked my email and everything was quite normal. Then i grabbed my music gear and headed to Bothell High School.. Ok this is where it gets awesome! With the help of the NPAC staff we set up a showcase in the cafeteria to promote our show this Saturday. Wow it was so cool! We must have signed 100+ autographs and handed out equally as many CD's, Stickers, Flyers etc. I never thought I'd be back at my Highschool 10 years later with my band! ha ha Gotta love how the world works sometimes! I remember being underage and absolutly hating that i had to be 21 to see most of the shows that I wanted. (thankfully i snuk into a few) Here are some pictures from our shows w/ Staxx Brothers today at lunch:

 

The Home Grown Music Festival this weekend is all ages and at the Northshore Performing Arts Center which is Attached to BHS. We were fortuante enough to be able to hire an internationally acclaimed light designer that Flowmotion turned us on to this New Years, Jeff Silverman. Smoke alarms and venue contract permitting, this will be our best light show to date! We got interviewed by the Bothell/Kenmore Reporter and a crew from KCPQ 13 will be coming to film! Wow this is turning into quite a momentus event! Doors open at 7, show at 8. Joining us will be the legondary Trolls Cottage followed by the Staxx Brothers This will also be my last local performance before I head out to Austin Texas to play a solo set (of pandacon songs) at the SXSW music festival! woha.. things are moving fast this month! Hope to see you on Saturday, we play around 10pm There is no bar so prefunk it up if thats your bag. . . and, I'm not saying anything yet but I feel an after party brewing. .

See ya soon,

Poage

For TIckets & More Info Visit: www.npacf.org

 

www.thepandaconspiracy.com

www.myspace.com/pandaconspiracy

www.reverbnation.com/pandaconspiracy

HOLLY HOT CAKES!! It was nice today here in Seattle! 3 things;

1. We have a show at the Jet in Mill Creek, Wa This Friday feb. 6th. . It's our good friend Electric Jake's 30th Birthday Party!!! This will be crazy good fun. We play 2nd dont miss it unless your in bellingham. . .

2. We have a Bellingham show this Saturday. Feb 7th with Trolls Cottage. It's our B-ham CD Release party for Road Soda. We go on first so dont be late! infact you may want to get tickets now. . check the Buffalow website.Warm Clothes Warm Souls! Get your groove on and help make a difference.  Donate your used winter clothing at the Pandacon party with Trolls Cottage, this Friday, Feb 7th @ the Wild Buffalo. Terra Roots is hosting a month long winter clothing drive. All donations benefit We Care Whatcom and earn you a chance to win FREE Summer Meltdown tickets. Men's clothes and children's coats are the most needed items. Visit terraroots.org for a complete list of shows and information on accepted items.

3. We have a new video released today on youtube from VC Publications. Find out why Ryan Maiden is such a HATER. . Watch the video here: 
For those of you who didn't catch our first youtube commercial with VC Publications view it here. It may help you understand a part of our new video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpfzBFD56KwLove, Pandacon 

Hello,

Check out my favorite (Local) band video on YouTube. click here. I don't know the band and have never seen their show but am planning on it. They're called the Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam band.  This was a promo video they made for their CD release party at Nuemos. The way they start it out cracks me up especially with the typewriter, genius! Check it out for a laugh if nothing else.

Well, if you’re on this list you probably know Pandacon is a diverse band. We have dabbled in styles and genres that push us past the traditional sales pitch that all the papers and indie media seem to eat up. We're almost Punk in that sense yet were not filed under punk.  Many people expected our second album to be a follow up on the first and were surprised as it was more of a departure. Yet somehow we heard our track “Hear what I say played on 107.7 the end yesterday! We play the music we love and play the shows that we want. Its an amazing place we're in and we are forever indebted to our fans and supporters that have helped us grow into the band we are.

Its been a while since we have done a Tropical / World music type show. So we’ve decided the dead cold of our Seattle winter was the perfect time to make it happen. Saturday January 31st we will warm up the stage at Nectar in Fremont opening for Jamaican native, StudioOne recording artist and Sly & Robby collaborator: Yami Bolo. This is his first US appearance in YEARS. To think that Yami traveled all the way to Seattle from Jamaica is an amazing feat in its self.  I hope you can come out! The speakers will be bumping some positive vibes on this night!

Cheers,
Chris and Pandacon

Support your Local Music Business and pick up a copy of our new album “Road Soda” at any Sonic Boom, Easy Street or Silver Platters Record shops.

Hey, I know this is not realy band related but I thought you might want to check it out! Oh, and it does have an awesome song in it! Steven Barci and I made this video durring the snow day yesterday because, well, what else were we supposed to do? . . I think its time i get my own myspace page. .
-Chris



or use this link to check it out on the youtube site. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwNq4rpf-Ac

2008 is coming to a close and what a crazy year it was! OMG! We finally released our new album, played a bunch of great shows, Zombie Prom, 420, Summer Meltdown, Lyrics Born, Folklife to name just a few. . . broke back on to the Portland scene and now we're getting ready to play an AWESOME NYE show in Seattle! I have to admit we are going to miss Twisp for the insane afterparty and drunken sledding and debauchery that typically follows the show. . but to be home for the holiday is actually an exciting prospect for us. We hope you can make it. There are only 299 tickets available and they are going fast. If you don't get them soon it may be too late.

Buy tickets Here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/48582

EXCITING NEWS: I got a call from my uncle the other day saying he was almost positive that he heard us on channel 15 as the background music for a snowboarding show. Then Sandy emailed just the other day and confirmed it! He heard it too! We're totally on the air! Thanks to a connection a few years back i almost forgot about! So Cool! Nation wide exposure that's not MySpace orientated!. . . too bad I don't have a TV! ha ha ha. . To top it all off TJ mentioned that our song "California" off Lunar Migration is being played on XM satellite radio! WOW cool more non internet exposure. Hopefully we can get out of Seattle and on the road sooner then later and play some shows to some brand new crowds!

KEXP is a great local Seattle radio station that has turned me on to A LOT of music over the years. They are doing a countdown to the top 90.3 albums of 2008 not sure how they get the .3 but whatever. . . Be sure to go on there and cast your vote. Don't forget if you dont see a band on the list that you want to vote for you can do write in's at the bottom! I found I had to write in quite a few bands new albums such as Lionheart, Publish The Quest, and well... you might be able to guess the others. I did see a quite a few friends bands that were listed! There was SO much good music released this year.. its overwhelming Common Market, Fleet Foxes, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, The Raconteurs, My Morning Jacket, Lyrics Born. . sheeeeeit... hard to simply vote for 10. but no matter how you vote, you should! Especially if your a local Seattlite! this is OUR community!

VOTE HERE: http://kexp.org/top2008/top903vote.aspx