Hello friends, fans...

2009 will be a year for the ages, and quite a year for The Common Men.

January - Filmed a set for Access Sacramento's LISTEN UP.

February - Played a set to no one (whoops :))

March - Debuted at the G Street Pub to a PACKED house and nearly brought the house down (to put it modestly) and The Common Men get published in a new book by Mick Mercer.

April - Played a great set in Dixon

May - Our first ever tour. We came, we saw, we fought, but we conquered, and L.A. soon had an earthquake in our wake (true story)

June - August - Recorded "Hearsay"

Unfortunately, we lost Pol von Common. We wish him the best of luck in his musical endeavors. The show must go on.

September - "Hearsay" is released and Kim Common debuted on drums. She is an overnight success and quickly becomes the favorite of all TCM fans (much to the dismay and bruised egos of J and KIC ;))

October - We headlined The Sacramento Horror Film Festival's Lobotronic Show and begun work on new recordings with Kim Common.

November - "Hearsay" receives glowing review from none other than Mick Mercer

December - Contributes answers to a special XMAS edition of Mick Mercer's newsletter, and begins to write BRAND NEW material.

We have experience setbacks, but we overcame. I think we have become a better band, and the chemistry keeps growing between all three of us.

Here's a list of what we have coming up in 2009:

- Two music videos
- Entry into an energy drink jingle contest
- A live music set for KDVS (90.3fm DAVIS)
- A special supplemental CD of tunes recorded with Kim Common and possible Maxi-Single releases
- Another tour
- NEW MUSIC

We look forward to the new year, and thank you all for your continued support in The Common Men. You keep us going ;)

- Kevin Ian Common

Kind Reader, Fan...

The CAVE SESSIONS refers to the little space in which The Common Men record. This is not an actual cave somewhere. It's actually just my room :)

The CAVE SESSIONS also allows me--as an experimental producer--to record the band in interesting ways. I might throw a few random microphones up, take away microphones... get different kinds of reverb, etc.

From this, we hope to release a supplemental Compact Disc of recorded material on top of the album. Since Kim's orientation into the band, we've been wanting to not only update the look and sound of the site, but also give her audio with which to advertise the band.

We still want to keep our album in the forefront, as we're still trying to promote it. We were put into a tough situation where we released our album, but instantly lost a member in the process. Be patient, and we will eventually find some kind of balance.

We hope you enjoy CAVE SESSIONS and stay tuned, we have new music and new recordings to come :)

- Kevin Ian Common

We have updated a few things, and we're going to post some videos from our last show here!!!!!

Hope you enjoy them!!!!!

Hello Patient Readers,

Without going into much detail, we will say: Welcome Kimberli Common to The Common Men as our new drummer.

She will play out the rest of our obligations (Our CD Release Show, SF Show in October, and The Sac Horror Film Festival) and she will decide whether or not she wants to join on a permanent basis. Of course, without adding too much bias, I am personally hoping she will stay :)

This change came suddenly, so we are scrambling to get ourselves together before September 5th. However, we are all confident that we will not only be ready, but still be one of the most exciting live shows... EVER.

Kevin Ian Common

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4336-Sacramento-Rock-Music-Examiner~y2009m8d14-Remembering-Les-Paul--Celebrities-and-local-musicians-honor-musical-innovator

Hello Gentle Readers and Not-So-Gentle-Fans :)

So, whilst sitting around my computer one hot afternoon... a thought popped into Pol's mind... and being the blunt man he is... "I don't like some of these songs anymore."

Josh second the motion...

Which only left one reasonable thought in my mind... "Fuck."

So, there you have it, with less than two months until the album comes out, just when we all thought it was ready to go, we're a few songs short of what we want.

So, over the course of three days I wrote six songs. I was about to present them when I had realized that what lie in front of me are six good ideas, but nothing more. While we have taken on a more collaborative writing process, I knew these songs had to be at least 75% finished so Pol and Josh could easily learn them and put their own spins on things without spending too much time mulling over parts.

Six became two, and I prayed... hard. I almost sacrificed a few animals ;)

One practice later, we have both of them reasonably figured out, and then this strange moment of zen: ALL THREE OF US LOVED BOTH TRACKS AT THE SAME TIME.

So, there you have it. Josh is going to be away for over a week, leaving Pol and I the burden of completing what we can... and Josh doing his takes as quickly as possible so it's ready to go by our August 20th deadline. Think we can pull it off? I hope so :)

I also took the liberty of uploading 10 mp3's to our site. Included is our theme song to Listen Up! Sacramento and some album tracks already considered. These mixes will change slightly as we progress in the post-production stage. I also included some Her Benign Touches tracks as well as the remainder of Hide EP as well.

We MIGHT release newer songs as we get closer to the release parties in Sacto and San Francisco. Stay tuned, and thank you again :)

- Kevin Ian Common

The album is entitled HEARSAY.

There are 10 tracks.

We recorded the album through a tape player with very inexpensive microphones. The end result is a very raw and lo-fi recording that is at times challenging and exciting to listen to.

I experimented with sounds on-the-spot and sometimes just turned knobs and hoped for the best. I realize that this may be a very chaotic way of choosing tones and even running a session, but the energy that such chaos brought out of us made making this record something almost enigmatic and possibly even ethereal. Because of this, I am very excited and even though I dislike listening to our own music (I feel so conceited when I do that), I hear new things and find Easter Eggs in recordings I did myself.

You get a very warm sound and at times very harsh as the intensity increases. It's really hard to explain, but we're sure once you hear the album, you'll understand.

It is still very DIY, but after listening to many studio recordings done by local bands, I see no other way of best capturing OUR sound. I think you will all agree too, that this record stands as our best in terms of songwriting, performance, and personality. I really do feel like you can actually HEAR Pol's drum moves and see my face when I feedback the guitar :)

As we have some time before our next gig (we have a pending gig at a Tomato Festival in Fairfield, a gig in San Jose, and a pending show at Java Lounge in Sacramento), we might try and work out an 11th song into the mix.

We've finished the other 10 tracks thus far, but seeing as we are taking our time getting everything together, we're going to make sure everyone is happy with the mixes. We've also some left-over money from the band fund, so we've looking to make the CD a big deal with packaging.

We all hope you will remain patient. We anticipate an awesome fall :)

- Kevin Ian Common

ps - We MIGHT unleash a new song or two in the coming weeks :)

I'm too excited about what we have done thus far with the album.

I have decided i'm going to rerecord some parts to PENSIVE and THE HEATHEN YOU KISS.

They sound fantastic already, but i figure--why not give EVERYTHING fresh on the album?

I think many of you will be surprised by not only what WILL be on the album, but also the new and OLD stuff we will put on it. We're considering this our first MAJOR release, so we wanted it to be a best-of-the-best-with-the-rest-new-stuff kind of album.

And... while i know this is not NEW... i'm thinking of putting together a common men show where we play the album in it's entirety... in the order it appears on the album.

I know the cure did the same thing... but i don't know of many local bands who would have the guts to do that ;)

I'm confident enough in ALL of our material... so neener ;)

Expect it to get quiet around here for the next few weeks. We're off doing the album, and my own personal life is about to get beyond hectic for a bit. When we have an update, we will... and when we have the release show planned, we will post that as well :)

Thanks again, everyone :)

- Kevin Ian Common

Things I Learned Whilst on Tour:

- The reason why the ocean is so salty: "There's so much shit in it"

- Air Hockey is one of the most dangerous games ever invented. Just ask the girl behind Pol. She was carrying her balloons so innocently.

- Clovis, 3 am, inbetween private property and state property is the best time to argue with your bandmates, loudly.

- Carrying your bandmates whilst trespassing on said property is also ideal.

- Denny's Build Your Own Slam is the best thing. EVER.

- 99 and 5 are boring as hell.

- Sometimes a few arguments can lead to the best motel room. EVER.

- Local bands--no matter where "local" is--are some of the nicest people you will ever meet. That's crazy.

- The same applies to fans--old and new :)

- Small town diners in the middle of nowhere are not the best places to experiemnt with things that seem "delicious." Chances are, they are not.

- Some people like a little turkey sandwich with their ketchup.

- Gatorade is one of the only drinks ever known by their colors: "Dude, BLUE is so awesome!"

- Even after spending an entire night arguing and fighting, your bandmates/friends will still stick up for you :)

- Playing a triumphant last show always makes the journey worth it :)