The Soft Hands will be doing a FREE show tonight at 3 Clubs (1123 Vine) in Hollywood.  Bands begin at 10 p.m. sharp.  Soft Hands will take the stage at 11:30 p.m.  21+. 

Its always fun to see what people have to say about art and music, especially the art and music you make yourself. Enjoy!

The OC Weekly

The District Weekly

Web In Front

Thanks to everyone at The Partisan in Merced last night for making us feel so welcome. We had a great time and can't wait to get back up soon.

We just wrapped up our first weekend in the studio working towards our upcoming full length album. These initial 10 hour days allowed us to get most of our songs down on tape. It is so much fun working in a creative environment, using old equipment and tracking our songs on a per take basis. If only our day jobs would go by this fast!
We would like to thank coffee, Bud Light, American Spirit and last but not least, chips & salsa for all their fine work. Stay tuned.

Thursday: Playing a free show at Cal State Long Beach in the Nugget at 8pm sharp.

Friday: Matt goes to NYC for the weekend, Casey and Elizabeth explode with joy

Next week: Practice makes (almost) perfect

Tuesdsay, May 20th: Let's Independent show at Boardner's in LA w/ the Karabel Knightlife

June: Buying a van

July: Recording an album

August: Lots of gardening(at night)

Tell us what you're doing.

Thanks to Kat and KROQ for the airplay on their "Locals Only" program Sundays from 9-10pm and to 88.9 KXLU on their "Demolisten" program Fridays from 6-8pm.

If you have some time, request us on 106.7 KROQ at 1.800.520.1067 and 88.9 KXLU at 310.338.5958

Thanks!


KROQ
KXLU

Thanks to The District Weekly for their recent kind words about us

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I've got a mile of numbers and a ton of stats and the Soft Hands still do not add up—probably America's only good band to ever unswamp from an Internet ad and besides that they're all content and pleasant roommates now, too, an overlap of impossibility that reveals the rare mercy of the most intricate mechanics of the universe. This is how I am told it was in the old days, when bands tuned their instruments only to make sure the tension of their guitar strings felt good against their fingertips—likely personalities attached together by destinic imperative, like the Mission of Burma guys starting a band because they both did the same dance to a Ramones song, or the encounter with the rare twin EML synthesizers that made sure Pere Ubu knew to keep going as a band. That is why Soft Hands have that old sound—all their songs happen purely accidentally, guitarist Matt Fry told me once, which I take as a modest way of saying it was meant to be.

"Put unique people together," went the Ubu rules, established 1975 A.D. in Ohio, U.S.A. "Take the first idea you get." Let's be who we are, said Fry, who moved here years ago from Ohio, U.S.A., and the results are gonna be the music. How often would I really hear that? Maybe only from everyone's first bands—the kind of idealism bled out by years of strangers' suck. But Soft Hands got strangers who connect correctly: drummer Casey Stuht, the Horsemouth Wallace fan who was born in Long Beach and who moved back after a band house in Portland collapsed under undone dishes, and bassist Elizabeth Lindsey, who played in Pixies-covering Irvine band the Molly Bolts and who got Soft Hands their first rehearsals in a tiny UCI storage room, and Fry, the thoughtful guy from Ohio who wants references on unheard Pere Ubu pen pals because he'd like to examine home state history. How do Soft Hands keep their soft home happy? "Everybody cleans up after themselves," says Stuht.

And they're all equal in the band, he says—Watt's Minutemen philosophy of no leaders and no laggers. No egos, said Stuht. Proud to be humble, said Lindsey. What kind of music do you like best? "I will earnestly say," says Fry, "that I like it all." And what does he like most about Long Beach? "The cooperation," he says. I forget that real people really think in these kinds of ways—put together a band from such a pure and accidental place—but then I haven't listened to a Minutemen song for months (a personal problem, I know). Soft Hands is the Southland at its honest simple best—Fry scrapping at his unprocessed guitar, Lindsey goosing the vocal melodies from the next octave over and Stuht snapping no-show-off bullseyes into his snare, and only thing missing is the dogeared SPOT production. Their newest big change is that they learned how to sing harmonies. Unique people play uniquely, said the Ubu rules; "It felt right right away," says Fry, "when we started doing it."

10 CDs I Love by Matt of The Soft Hands


Friends and people of Earth. Here's a list. Seems like we like these. So I made one of 10 of my favorite albums/cds/cd burns/blah. This will be a continual installment with updates from all three of us. Be a pal. Send us a list, make us a mix tape, tell us what we're missing out on.....


Afghan Whigs - Black Love

A peaceful, ambient intro gives way to a ten song cycle of love, lust, conceit, "blame, denial, betray, divide, a lie, a truth.....". Dulli gets the deserved props, but this album is a band on fire.

Broken Social Scene - BSS

Put yer headphones on and hear the swirl of a little bit of everything. Than close your eyes and imagine the songs stripped down. They'd still be great.

D'Angelo - Voodoo

Make a classic. Disappear. That's the way to go. Bulletproof

NoMeansNo - Wrong

This was my first NoMeansNo and its so loaded with genre bending riffing and vocals, dark humor, bludgeoning beats.

M Ward - Transistor Radio

This album is one of a cycle of great ones by M Ward. Its music to relax too, drive too, take a bath with, etc.

NMH - In the Aeroplane over the Sea

So some girl put Aeroplane over the Sea(the song) on a mixtape for me years ago and I finally bought the album about three years ago. Sat on it with lukewarm response the first year. Then one night I listened to it all the way through, and I was hit by a beam of light and converted to the legions who howl about this being a out of time classic.

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Let Love In

Every one's favorite literary lord of darkness and love. Is this the best Bad Seeds album, who knows, but its the one I play the most. Loverman, Lay Me Low, and a bunch of carny good(bad?)ness

Pretenders - I

Any album with Kid on it has to make my inaugural list. Plus Chrissy Hynde is originally from Ohio.

Robyn Hitchcock - I Often Dream of Trains

This is one of those British guys you either love or hate. In his more humorous songs(Uncorrected Personality Traits, Ye Old Sleeping Knights of Jesus, Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl), he's like a Monty Python Character with a band. In his more serious mode, he writes bone chilling classics like Cathedral and Nocturne.


The The - Dusk

Matt Johnson is great. He has a cool first name. Lyrically, sometimes he's sort of like a British Greg Dulli, in that they tread a lot of the same territory of bad love and the things we do to each other and ourselves for it. Other times he tackles more political topics with a broad brush that still feels genuine. This album is his second with Johnny Marr on guitar and harmonica and the guitar playing is perfectly played and never over played.(Historians, help me: Did Smiths fans hate The The for having Johnny Marr in the band or did they just hate/like The The music?). Anyways, this album features at least 4-5 songs that are classics to in my world: Love is Stronger Than Death, This is the Light, Helpline Operator, Lung Shadows,


Wire - 154

The 15th is such a great tune and this long album(17 songs) is littered with great songs of various presentation. A colder, more muted album the Pink Flag, its just as great.

So, we do have CD's available.

We have a 7 song cd that we bring to all our shows and sell at a suggested price of $5. If you want to get a cd and can't make it out to a show anytime soon or live outside of Southern California, send us a message and we can work some thing out by the good old fashioned US Postal system. Also, look for us to have some PayPal thing going pretty soon.

We have also been giving away for free a 3 song CD. We bring those to all shows and everywhere we go out to get drunk at. If you see us at the corner of Atlantic and 19th late at night, chances are, we've got it on us. Just ask. Its free. we will give you what you want.

Please feel free to share those songs with as many people as you want. Burn them a copy, e-mail them the tracks, play it in your car for them. If they like, tell them who we are and where they can find us. Tell them we don't bite. Tell them we have good balance. Lie if you have to.

A final note. This is so great. The three of us we're really struggling to get things going for a long time prior to meeting last year. To be able to play shows and bars and parties and to have some people like and respond to our songs has been the greatest reward we could ever ask for. We really appreciate all the support, all the kind words, and every single person who makes it to the shows.

Thanks