THIS SATURDAY!?!?!
October 10th just snuck up on too fast.  But that's cool.  It just means we get to hang out with you guys soon.
 
A couple changes are going on for the event.  channelAustin: digital fusion fest will still have all the fun stuff like the kid's events, the tours, and the FinalCut contest.  As far as we know, Jessi Torrisi will perform at 2pm on the outdoor stage.  After that, the main studio will become the center of the event with Soundfield, The Banters, and Distant Lights playing music until 5:30.  So if you wanna see us, be there by 3pm and then you can get into the main studio for the broadcast.
 
During the EXSE broadcast, we had to play to a quiet room... well semi-quiet.  There were some tourists that couldn't hold back their approval at the end of the set.  For this, please come and feel free to cheer and make some noise.  I don't know what the studio folks want, but we want you to be part of the event!


In the works...
Blah. Blah. Blah.  Yup.  We're still recording.  The process is taking longer than expected.  All we can do is cross our fingers and hope we don't miss anymore submission deadlines.  The one for SXSW is coming up so we're giving the final push to finish tracks and mix!  Wish us luck...
 
The Super Awesome pre-Halloween Extravaganza is on October 30th.  The flyers/posters for that are finished and will be put up this week.
 
For the event, we've decided to give prizes to 3 individuals for sexiest, scariest, and funniest costumes.  So dress up and you might go home with a surprise.  I'm not talking about about the antibiotic treatable surprise you get during Spring Break... huh? what? umm... ignore that.
 
For the Super Awesome pre-Halloween Extravaganza we've got special guests FLUSH opening the night at 8pm.  For those of you that came to the SXSW show at Gueros, you might remember them playing a couple sets before us.
 
You've got a couple weeks, so make your plans now.  And don't forget your costumes.  We're dressing up.  BTW, which one of us do want to see as a French Maid?  Cam Ehly, right?  Wouldn't that be cool to see a Frech Maid on lead guitar?

We own the interwebs!
We are proud to announce that we now have our own little corner of the internet.  WWW.THEBANTERS.COM is up!  Ok, that's not entirely true.  The domain name is ours, but the content isn't up yet.  Currently, an "under construction" page is all you'll see.  The tentative official launch of the site is October 15th.  That all depends on how much more needs to be done in the web design.  Could be sooner... could be later... Either way, you'll be the first to know.

So I'm taking it easy today.  Yesterday was a big mess.  Someone had torn down flyers from a few places I had posted them.  It looked like some jerk was going around shredding people's flyers.  That's just rude.  Anyway, I ended up replacing them and then hitting the bottle hard out of frustration.  Bad idea.  Let's hope the hangover is gone before the flyer-ripper bandit hits again...  actually, let's hope the hangover is gone by tonight's band practice.  It's all about forward momentum, right?

Speaking of "forward momentum"  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BABY BLAINE!  Dave's little rugrat turns uno today.  He's such an awesome kid and it's amazing to see him grow before our eyes!  He's gonna be one of those kids growing up in a band trailer... breaking hearts in every city we play!

So are you coming to the show this Friday?  I know we've been stuck with lots of midweek shows lately, but no you should have no excuse to come out.  BTW, why didn't anyone tell me I misspelled on the flyer... Too late to fix the printed ones so at least this one is fixed.  This show is going to be tons of fun.  We're playing with Mobley.  I hear they put on a great show and have lights and other fancy stuff.  We'll probably have some of that going on too... remember the bubble machine?  HA!

Oh, a couple reminders....

Don't forget we're on Facebook.  CLICK HERE.

For the show on Friday, you can invite your Facebook friends!

We're also on Twitter.  Still, new to that, but it's a fun way to keep in touch.

Well, that's about it... See ya on Friday.  Here's the flyer for Friday and a video from the last show at the Tiniest Bar.





 
 

So it's about 11:00pm. It's another sweltering evening here in Austin. The drought issues were teased today by grey clouds until noon, only to break up with NOTHING. Well, maybe nothing. I think some outer areas got a few minutes of light downpour. But all that did was add humidity to those areas. All in all, this has made Austin feel so sluggish and kinda boring. Now, I'm not speaking for everyone. I know a lot of other people that make the most of this and actually spend the time doing fun things like tubing, or swimming at Barton, or frisbee golf at Pease, or whatever "Austin" thing there is to do. For this guy, it's waiting until sundown and then chowing down at some of Austin's best eateries.

Has anyone ever tried to log on to find their profile was deleted/canceled? Happened to me last night... I FREAKED!

But I'm writing this... so I guess all's good in the world again.

We got on it... we are now on twitter. The page is brand spanking new and we don't have anything there... but mostly it's cuz we don't quite get the twitter madness yet. I'm sure it'll set in... much like the friendster did... and then myspace did... and then facebook.

http://twitter.com/thebanters

Oh, and don't forget about the show next week!

Ever notice how so many celebrity musicians have a lot of spare time to go get knocked off horses while the paparazzi watches or to jet-ski after beating up their significant other?  Do they ever actually work?  When do they actually sit and write a song?  Or what about just normal life stuff - like grocery or clothes shopping?

It's been about a month since SXSW and even though it seems like we've taken a hiatus, that couldn't be further from the truth.  I (Joel) just moved from a small apartment to a small house and then got sick.  Please, no "I told you so" comments.  It started as a basic allergy or hay fever that got worse.  And my stubborn butt didn't go to a doctor until I was basically bedridden.  Turns out all the sneezing and coughing led to me getting sinus and bronchial infections.  Remember how I got pneumonia last year?  I almost let it happen again!

Aside from moving and being sick, Dave and I have been working on some recordings that will be used for another EP and some tv/film licensing.  We've also been in talks with some booking and management companies.  Those are taking longer than expected but it's better than the fiasco we rushed into with "Good Plan, Fair Deal".

Right now, the next live show date we've got coming up is on June 3rd in Midland.  So we've upload more clips from the SXSW show to keep you guys entertained for now.  Take these in and in the next couple days, we'll throw a couple more up.

As for us, we'll continue working on music stuff while the celebrity musicians do everything but.....

Well, we just survived a pretty awesome SXSW week. WOW! What a time to be in Austin?!?

First, we did a LIVE television performance. We'll post that up once we get a copy of the DVD. That was so much fun. We weren't suppose to have and audience, but some folks touring the station stopped by and ended up cheering us on.

Then on Saturday, we closed the showcase at Guero's. SO MANY PEOPLE! Even with the massive crowd and lack of parking, people were in great spirits... probably from drinking spirits all day. This was probably one of the best time we've ever had. Even though we couldn't really hear a thing we were doing, we still rocked it out like we had some sort of reference monitor. Seriously, it was so loud and everything just sounded muddled to us... but not to the audience. I don't think I've ever seen so many people singing along to our songs! Well, below is the first video cut from that performance. I'll be uploading those as I finish editing.

Between all those, we had some great friends also come down - either to perform or to just show their support. Mad props to Matt Reveles, Lizzy Dannemiller, and Petesimple. Super thanks to the JP Hops House crowd of Houston for coming out to Austin for the event.

Tomorrow night, THE BANTERS will be playing at Lucky Lounge again. This will be our last show for a bit. We're taking a short break while we finalize some plans and ideas, and for Joel to get moved into a house... We pity the new neighbors that have to put up with our practices!

SXSW music has begun. Austin is in full swing. And we're just getting the party started. Here's video #4 from our last show.

Tomorrow night... Thursday March 19th, THE BANTERS will be playing LIVE on ChannelAustin 16 at 7pm. We'll be on for about 30 mins playing some of our favorite newer songs. We'd play all our favorites, but then the band in the studio next to us might get mad.

Also, don't forget that Saturday is the big showcase... We'll be at Guero's playing with some of the best bands in the area. It's free.. no passes needed... and you the margaritas there are DA BOMB.

Right after the hoopla of SXSW starts to calm down, we'll be playing at Lucky Lounge again. 10pm show.

The info for all this is below - right under this video!






Click Here To View Event

It's that time again. Here is video #3 from our last show at Jovita's last month. This one is called Long Way Home (When You're Not Around) and we debuted it that night. Maybe it's because it's new, but this now one of our favorite originals. This will be one of the songs we're performing LIVE on ChannelAustin 16 on Thursday, March 19. Tune in if you're in the Austin area.

I also wanted to let you guys know that I (Joel) made a big boo-boo with the previous poster for SXSW. I had created it immediately after the lineup was announced... well, there were changes just hours after that announcement and I failed to double check all that. Here is the new poster with the correct lineup and times. As you can see, THE BANTERS will be playing around 9pm instead of the earlier 4:30pm... which is great, cuz we don't have to rush through our set to get the next band on.

So depending on late or no-show acts, we'll actually be on anywhere between 8:30 to 9:15pm... You know how flakey artists are... So to be safe, you should come at 8pm and have some grub and margaritas with us. This is such an awesome lineup of acts. Regional faves like Dan Dyer, Petesimple, Suzanna Choffel, and Matt Harlan are on the list. By the way, congrats to Suzanna on getting the Austin Monthly magazine's top 9 musical acts to watch in 2009!

Also, don't forget, THE BANTERS will be at the Lucky Lounge again on the 25th. Don't you just love Austin in March?






Click Here To View Event and /or RSVP