One fewer Wizard

So, back in September I told So Many Wizards that I needed to leave the band. This Friday, January 18, marks my final appearance as bassist in SMW. We’re playing at the Smell, and we’d love it if you came. You can RSVP on Facebook.

Though necessary, my departure leaves me with a heavy heart. I’ve had a lot of fun playing with the Wizards, and I’m proud of the album that we made together. I’m also really glad I’ve had the opportunity to become great friends with such talented and warm people as Nima, Erik, Frank, and Melody. Even more than that, I’ve enjoyed playing for the most energetic and supportive group of fans I’ve ever known.

However, I’ve put a lot of my personal priorities – both musical and non-musical – on hold to be in this band. Now it’s time for me to return to them.

I wish nothing but the best for the Wizards! This band deserve all sorts of accolades, and I hope they’ll give me tickets to watch them be inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 2037.

Here is a video we made with director Walt Gorecki. Enjoy!

Filed under: so many wizards, Video, geoff geis, i like it here, so many wizards

Pre-order “Warm Nothing” by So Many Wizards

Last October, I joined the band So Many Wizards. The guys in the band were my good friends, and I was a longtime fan of their music — I included their initial single “Fly a Kite” on the Big Whup Industries compilation I co-curated in 2009, and the next year I reviewed their album “Love Songs for When You Leave Me” for LA Record. They needed a new member around the same time that I was looking for a new band, so I lobbied singer Nima Kazerouni to let me in. Because they’d already added Frank Maston as a guitarist, I bought a bass and took to learning it. A couple of weeks later, I played my first show.

Since then, things have been pretty interesting. In January of this year, I started getting emails from Nima with acoustic guitar/drum sketches of songs I’d never heard — I’d listen to each song twice, write a bass line, record it directly into my computer, send it to Nima, and then get another song. I even had the pleasure of helping to produce one song, “Deep Down,” which required electronic drums. I don’t think that I even knew that we were recording an album until Nima said “it will be called Warm Nothing and it will be released this summer via JAXart.”

I was still dubbing parts on top of new tracks when the boys started mixing the songs with Niko Bolas at Capitol Records. The next thing I knew, it was early March and we were in a stranger’s kitchen in Liverpool sharing mastering notes via Skype with Richard Dodd. And then it was done. Other things have happened since then, but this is a post about the album so I’ll keep it at that.

So now it’s about to be released, and I’ve had a little bit of distance from the whirlwind recording — enough of a distance to actually listen to it and think about it. And it’s good. It’s cohesive, it’s compelling, and it’s brisk. If I were still outside of the band, I’d give it a glowing review.

Anyway — leading up to the August 7 release date, we’re offering a special deal to people who pre-order it on iTunes. Pre-order the album for $7.99, forward your receipt to somanywizards@gmail.com, and you’ll get bonus tracks including a B-side and some live versions from our UK tour.

Here’s a link to the iTunes pre-order.

We’ll be celebrating the release on August 18 at the Smell with some of our loveliest friends. Would you like to come? You can RSVP on Facebook.

Filed under: so many wizards, Uncategorized, geoff geis, jaxart, so many wizards

Tonight!

What an all star lineup. Even if I wasn’t in So Many Wizards, I would attend this show. Come and get a peek of our new video, “I Like it Here,” directed by Walt Gorecki (who did an excellent job directing the video for my song “Jeremy” last year). This is the only chance to see the video before its official release!

RSVP on Facebook.

Filed under: Events, so many wizards, home room, I.E., luna is honey, michael nhat, so many wizards, walt gorecki

New Exquisite Corpse-style EP from the members of So Many Wizards

Okay, so last week I regaled you with the illustrated story of So Many Wizards’ trip to the UK in March. Now, I bring the jams.

Much of the time on tour was spent in our van, which was ably piloted by Dave Buck of Bare Necessities Tours. While riding, we came up with an “Exquisite Corpse“-style game to pass the time. It went like this: one of us would make a beat and a simple melody using the iPad, and then that person would pass it to another person who’d layer a part over it, then pass it to another person, and another person, and so forth until we’d completed the circle. We ended up making five of these jams, which I present here.

In addition to the four members of So Many Wizards (Erik Felix, Nima Kazerouni, Frank Maston, and myself), these tracks include contributions from our good friend and videographer Sergio Munoz, Jr.:

Making these tracks was a special bonding experience. Just look at how excited Nima is as he builds his first loop!

We call this EP “Play ‘Fly a Kite!’” because people keep yelling that at us when we play shows back in the States.

We decided to call the project Geordie Shore because… well, DUH…

Filed under: geoff geis, mp3, so many wizards, Video, exquisite corpse, free music, geordie shore, so many wizards, united kingdom

Selected photos from Britain

Last month, I went on tour to Britain with So Many Wizards. It was fun!

We saw this guy rocking hard in the London Underground on our first night. I didn’t realize that he was missing a limb when I started videoing him.

The next day, we played our first show. Before we could play, we had to rent an amplifier using the Internet. We tried finding one on Facebook first, but we failed.

The Mexican food section at Sainsbury’s was predictably poor.

My favorite band of the trip was Brilliant Mind. We played with them at our second show, in Newcastle.

In Edinburgh, I saw a man playing with fire in the street.

Erik “changed over” at midnight in Edinburgh.

There was a Taco Bell at the mall in Manchester. We all decided to go because we’re all such fourth meal fanatics. Sadly, Taco Bell isn’t the same in Britain. My burrito was folded like an envelope, and the cheese was sharp cheddar! Everyone who ate the meat said that it tasted funny, but I think the beans were pretty normal. After that, Sergio and Nima decided to get apple pies at McDonald’s and it took a really long time. I didn’t get a picture of that.

After Taco Bell, we played a show. Sergio made a video of our soundcheck before that show. Boy, he can sure hold a camera steady!

Erik had a good birthday. That night, we went to a fast food restaurant and he was in such a good mood that he ate rice left behind by another customer. This video is from that night. We never drove.

In Leeds, Frank danced to R. Kelly.

I saw this sign in Liverpool.

This bird was hanging around near the “Elderly Crossing” sign. The seagull, not the fiddle-shaped bass guitar, is the official symbol of Liverpool.

Frank and I agreed that this was an example of “Too Much Information.”

The sleeping arrangements in Liverpool were not ideal. I had a hard time snoozing, but Erik, Frank, and Dave did just fine.

I saw this pink sparkly donut at a gas station when we were on our way to the airport on our last night. It reminded me of Sarah so I took a picture of it.

Filed under: geoff geis, so many wizards, Video, donuts, so many wizards, taco bell, uk tour, videos

March 2012

Happy birthday, Shaq! (March 6)

My debit card has had the expiration date of March 2012 for as long as I can remember, which has made it seem like kind of a milestone for years even though I’ve not had any reason to think of the month as anything particularly special. It seemed very distant once, but like all expiration dates it’s now come and will soon pass. Hopefully my bank will remember to send me a new one.

Oh, but in the meantime March 2012 actually became a real milestone. Thanks to So Many Wizards, I’ll be in the United Kingdom next week participating in my first overseas tour. Immediately after that, we’ll be at South by Southwest. We’re really excited to be supporting “Lose Your Mind,” the first single from our new album Warm Nothing that will be released by JAXART soon:

Juiceboxxx has been crashing at my house for the past month, stressing about meeting his new goal to blog every single day. Apparently, some TED Conference speaker convinced him that blogging everyday is the key to making stuff happen. I buy the argument completely. I’m not prepared to publish something every day, but Juice’s blogging has inspired me to blog at least more regularly than I have been blogging. March 2012 seems like a fun place to start, so here I go. Starting next week, I’ll be posting dispatches from the road…

Check the rest of the post for tour dates.

Filed under: geoff geis, so many wizards, Uncategorized, geoff geis, mp3, so many wizards, south by southwest, tour dates

Thanks KSPC

KSPC, the college station out in Claremont, has been awesome for as long as I can remember. But this year’s staff takes the cake! They’ve just released the results of the staff and listener “best of” polls for this year, and I’m really honored that they mentioned Princess as one of their favorite local albums from 2011. So Many Wizards also gets quite a few nods. Check it out!

Thanks again, KSPC! I hope to see more of y’all in the new year!

Filed under: geoff geis, princess, so many wizards, geoff geis, kspc, princess, so many wizards