big, big atmosphere: coming this friday

A june show and a june show post: ubik.s returning to the Rendezvous on Friday (June 19)... which is a great venue for us: we sound really good there, they have a screen for projections, and it's a really comfortable room (a lot more comfortable than the December show we played there. Hooray for summer).

Friday, June 19
ubik. @ The Rendezvous
w/ Same-Sex Dictator
& Anon Remora
10:00 - $5 - 21+

Rendezvous shows usually start kind of late, so the show's at 10:00, and ubik. is the opening band... mostly because these shows feel their best when they get heavier as they go on. This bill is extremely interesting because all three bands have a lot of spaciousness and atmosphere built in, but there's also plenty of crushingly heavy density in there as well. This is a really cool line up, and a great show to be a part of.

Sunday at the Bit

Okay, so the upcoming show was sent out on our mailing list and on the ole' myspace... what else? Oh, yeah: there's a show tomorrow and there's no show post. Let's fix that.

May 24
ubik. @ The Bit Saloon
w/ Sod Hauler,
& Sindios
8:00 - $5 - 21+

Fixed.

We're pretty excited about this one: it's a Sunday, but everyone has Monday off (yay!), and we get to play with Sindios and Sod Hauler... who are awesome.

forward...

so, the Josephine's kind of an odd venue, eh? Last night's show turned out to be a lot of fun (and fairly foggy), but we're moving forward. ubik.s got a tour coming up in September, where we will bomb down I-5 as fast as the big blue van will carry us, crashing into venues as we go. We're also finishing up a recording of Cyclocosmia, which is going to be released on a 10" vinyl spit with The Ever Changing Sky... because that band and that medium both rule.

(though it will probably be streamed as an mp3 once we're done, too, so all the vinyl-haters will get to hear it. It'll be on the new album, too, when we get a new album out)

That, and Michelle's currently booking Subcultural Awakening benefit shows, which also happen at the Josephine, on the first Saturday of every month. These shows are highlighting the Seattle underground... the kinds of bands that don't get massive hype in the normal channels, mostly because they don't sound like everything else. The Subcultural Awakening shows are benefits-- the bands play for free-- and the proceeds are split between paying for the venue and putting out a Subcultural Awakening comp, which will be released in the fall. ubik.s going to be on there, too: we're playing the last show of the season, August 1st.

Before then, we've got a show coming up on Sunday, playing the Bit Saloon on May 24th with some excellent, excellent bands-- Sindios and Sod Hauler. But that's a few weeks off, and will get a proper show post in future.

Well that was interesting

But what can you expect playing last on a Wednesday night? We decided to just wing it and have a little fun. It was pretty loose. This was the first time we've ever played a show without a setlist. And we couldn't play certain songs because of a problem with Michelle's vocal processor. But we'll get that fixed. Plus, we filled the Funhouse with fog! I couldn't see my drums for the first song. By the time it cleared just about everyone that was there for the other bands had left leaving our friends right up front. Michelle got someone to dance his ass off on stage for a shot. And so we finished with "Gwen", broke down, and went home.

Next up, we're playing at the Josephine with two out of town bands and one local. Abiku from Baltimore, JonnyX and the Groadies from Portland, and Are You a Cat? from Seattle. It's all ages too, which we haven't done in a while. This is going to be a fun, strange show.

It looka lika dis:

The Josephine
Abiku,
JonnyX and the Groadies,
ubik.,
& Are You a Cat?

9:00 - All Ages!

-The guy that hits things with sticks

Post Monkey-- we're at the Funhouse on Wednesday

Though there are few things as riotous and just plain fun as a Monkey Pub show, we're topping off yesterday with an upcoming gig at the Funhouse. This one's a party being thrown by the Dead Baby Bike crew, so it will probably get pretty crazy.


Wednesday, April 29
ubik. @ The Funhouse
w/ Skwish,
& Fairies Wear Boots (Black Sabbath cover band)
9:30 - $3 - 21+

Saturday Show at the Monkey

ubik's up this weekend at the Monkey Pub, one of our favorite neighborhood haunts-- The Monkey is an excellent little place in the U-District where the drinks are cheap, and if you smoke, you can have a great time giggling at the spectacle across the street in front of Dantes. We're playing with Blicky, who are excellent (you may have seen them play with us before), and the whole thing is as much fun as a bar show can get. The show post looks like this:

Saturday, April 25
ubik. @ The Monkey Pub
w/ Blicky
9:00 - $5 - 21+

coming soon...

ubik.s usually in motion (we don't tend to do much resting) so there's plenty on our horizon-- we are about to head into the studio to get some recording done, which is pretty exciting. ubik.s planning to do a vinyl release: a split 10" with The Ever Changing Sky(who rule... we wouldn't split vinyl with just anybody). We're taping this weekend, so it'll be a little bit before mixed, mastered, and reproduced records are going to be available, but we'll keep you posted.

We will be laying down Cyclocosmia, which is the song that our patches are referencing. Patches and shirts (you know we have new shirts, right?) are available at shows, and speaking of shows...

Also, there's been a lot of booking in our world. This stuff is always available at our shows page, and this sort of thing is widgetable for quick reference.






The next one is at the Monkey on April 25th, and that's just the first of the batch.

come see us Saturday

another show coming up, another show post for the world: we've got the opening slot at The Funhouse this Saturday (March 14) with Slave Traitor and Hellgrammite, and the crushingly dense Nine Worlds are in from Salt Lake City for this one (yay!)

We also have a new addition to our merch table-- ubik.s got shirts! (and you should definitely buy one)

March 14
ubik. @ The Funhouse
w/ Slave Traitor,
& Nine Worlds,
& Hellgrammite
9:00 - $6 - 21+

as promised

toldya there'd be more...

so we have locked down an opening slot for Nine Worlds' visit to seattle come March 14th, at The Funhouse, which is plenty exciting for plenty of reasons. First off, we dig Nine Worlds. Second, an opening slot means we're breaking with our Funhouse tradition of going on at around 12:30/12:45. Third, our friends in Slave Traitor are also on the bill (we've been trying to set up a show with those guys). Add Hellgrammite to the mix and this is looking like a really excellent show.

Block, blocked

Well, that was a healthy block of shows, eh? Three in less than a week... I think we need a little break.

Much love and thanks to everyone who came out and backed us: everyone in Portland who hadn't seen us before, all of our friends down south who took care of us, all of the Seattle people who traveled south to show support... and tons of love to the die-hards who made it out on Wednesday (seriously-- you guys are core. Nobody goes out on Wednesdays)

And there's more to come. We'll have more set up soon, and we are working on getting some studio time, because it's about time for us to be recording again.

If you need to be in the loop, our mailing list signup is right here:

Home in warm beds until we rock wednesday

Portland was fantastic-- much thanks to our awesome showmates and all of the J people that took care of us while we were down there (seriously: everyone's name starts with a J. They booked us, fed us, drank with us, gave us a place to sleep... Js one and all). We had a great time: it was our first Portland trip, and we're looking forward to going back.

And happy birthday Eric.

So now we have time to get some rest tomorrow, let the ubik.bassists wash their white shirts on Monday, head to Belltown on Tuesday (ubik. drinks in Belltown every tuesday night, at the Lava Lounge and/or Shortys... and you are all invited), and then go up to Capitol Hill on Wednesday night to play The Comet. We haven't played Seattle in a while, so you ought to come on down.

February 4th
ubik. at Comet Tavern
w/ One Undone
& Breviamor (OR)
8:00 - 21+ - $5

Hello Portland!

While overplaying has presented a few drawbacks and led to us playing fewer shows, fewer shows have led to BIG GAPS in posts... which is its own problem. We are making the most of our time: ubik. now has patches, we're finalizing our T-shirt design (shirts soon, folks), and we're locking down our first ever cover song. So: time well spent.

But not to detract from the present: we're playing Portland this weekend, and however many Portland people we have really ought to attend, as we don't get down there very often. Or, ever. Seriously, this is our first trip.

So this is a repost of our show post... now with fliers.


January 30th
ubik. @ Slim's
w/ Mongoloid Village,
& Exit Collapse,
& Brown (of Tecumseh)
8:00 - 21+ - Free!

January 31st
ubik. @ The Know
w/ Order Of The Gash,
& 57 Octaves Below
7:00 - 21+ - $3

Taking a weekend in Portland

Well, taking the zombies downtown for New Years Eve was a lot of fun-- lots of love to everyone who turned pasty and bleeding and took up the moaning hoard of a marching band through Seattle. Definitely one of our better celebrations.

next up, we're heading south. We're booked in Portland for Friday the 30th and Saturday the 31st (you know, making the most of our travel time). This is our first Portland trip, so any support our southern people can send our way would be awesome.

Here are the listings:

January 30th
ubik. @ Slim's
w/ Mongoloid Village,
& Exit Collapse,
& Brown (of Tecumseh)
8:00 - 21+ - Free!

January 31st
ubik. @ The Know
w/ Order Of The Gash
8:00 - 21+ - $TBA

what's this white stuff? why does the traffic suck?

Super ultra-thanks for everyone who came out and partied on Friday... most of the town was pretty well snowed in, and the ubik.van has a new set of chains (never knew we needed chains until this show), but the whole thing was fun, even if Requin and Slave Traitor didn't make it. The Ever Changing Sky were excellent as always, and Jeremy from John Wayne Autopsy filled in last minute (thanks, Jeremy!) after all the cancellations.

... and, with any luck, we'll catch up with Slave Traitor and Requin a show or two down the line.

From the Monkey to the Vu

Okay, the Monkey rocked (though there was slightly more puke than at most of our shows. Not sure how much, it's something we've never quantified) and we're setting up for the next one. The Next show's at the Rendezvous, on December 19th for Michelle's birthday.

December 19th
The Rendezvous' Jewel Box Theater
Michelle's birthday party!
w/ Requin,
Slave Traitor,
& The Ever Changing Sky
10:00 - 21+ - $5

up and coming

ubik.s got a show on the horizon-- we're at the Monkey Pub on Saturday, November 29th with Barefoot Barnacle. That's nothing but big happy goodness: we love Barnacle, and we love the Monkey (it's as close to a house party as a venue can get-- playing the Monkey is like being home with friends). The show post looks like this:

November 29th
Monkey Pub
w/ Barefoot Barnacle
9:00 - 21+ - $5

beyond that, we've been taking our downtime and working hard. There'll be a new song in the setlists soon (maybe for the Monkey Pub, maybe not-- this is one of our fast, complicated ones), and we're settling into our new practice space. Also on the horizon, we're looking into some vinyl: November might be a recording month for us.

Saturday Show, updates and directions

So, about the show on Saturday: The Greenhouse said we should advertise the show, so we've got a map. It's a DIY house party show, so chances are, not everyone knows how to get there...

and, we've got the updated show post:

October 25th
ubik. @ The Greenhouse Halloween Party
w/ Sod Hauler,
& Anon Remora,
& Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
8:00 - ALL AGES - Suggested $3 donation

Greenhouse lineup change

Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond anyone's control, Lesbian had to cancel their headlining spot at the Greenhouse Halloween show as well as some of their upcoming tour. So Sod Hauler will be taking over. Don't worry, this is still going to be a great show. Don't be late because we're playing first!

busy week ahead

we're pretty excited about our show next saturday-- we're playing at the Greenhouse (an awesome house known for great house party shows) with amazing bands: the amazing, dirgy Lesbian, and Tad Doyle's new epic outing, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth. This has been a big star on our calander for a while, and the we've got posted like this:

October 25th
ubik. @ The Greenhouse Halloween Party
w/ Lesbian,
Anon Remora,
& Brothers of the Sonic Cloth
8:00 - ALL AGES - $3 suggested donation

and then we got a call-- a band dropped out of an opening position on the Creature Feature show down at Studio 7. That makes this one kind of a wierd bill for us to be playing, and kind of a short notice listing, too... but that's one of the cool things about this show: it's very different from what we usually do.

October 23rd
ubik. @ Studio Seven
w/ Creature Feature,
Black Houses,
& Girl On Fire
7:00 - ALL AGES/BAR W/ID - $10 Adv./$12 DOS

#20 in the Monkey Pub jukebox!

We're happy to announce that we are now in the best jukebox in Seattle! So next time you're having a drink at the Monkey, put on some Melvins, Killing Joke, Skinny Puppy, Toadies, Pixies, Ween, and oh yeah, us!

Thanks Anthony!

5303 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

Oh, by the way, keep in mind that the last song ends with over 3 minutes of cymbal squealing. The choice is up to you. ;)

ubik. needs a place to live

after a successful voyage to Everett and back again, ubik.s back to work fleshing out new material and, with any luck, we'll be back in the studio doing some work on getting a split 10" done (it'd be cool to have vinyl)

Besides that, we were supposed to be out of our old practice space September 1st... but we just don't have a new place to play yet. If anyone's got a line on a practice space, let us know. We're in need. Seriously.

Last, we've got a show coming up on the 25th, which is going to be awesome.

back to everett

Everett tends to see us as a pretty strange band... but so be it: the crowd is always pretty responsive, and we make an impression. Friday's show went remarkably well, even if we were the only one of three bands to play a real set. It was actually sort of gratifying; we filled about an hour because of the other two bands' complications (departing members, singers too sick to sing), and could have filled more if we had to. Being the "Girls Rock" showcase, it was undoubtedly the place to play Let's Hunt and Kill Gwen Stefani.

Anyway, it looks like we're going to play fewer shows-- three weekends in a row to empty floors and/or blank faces can get a touch depressing, and, honestly, it does us very little good. On one hand: a friend mentioned her band stripped their schedule down to playing one show every three months, and at the shows they did play, attendance skyrocketed. This point is made more clear by several people who like us saying "You're playing in 2 weeks right? I'll just catch you next time."

On the other hand, if the show is packed full of people who already dig us, then we have missed out on every opportunity to play a little show where we impress one or two people who had never heard us before.

The happy medium, which is what we're probably going to be doing, is to cherry pick: only take the really good shows, play a little more sparsely (twice a month, maximum). The real trick would be to begin opening for bands more popular than ours, and exposing this music to people who didn't know about us-- by no means is it a bad thing for us to play shows for our fans and friends, but "headlining" when you're as underground as we are... well, it has its limits.

ubik. in Everett on Friday

so it's to be another northward trek for us on friday-- which is cool, because we've only played Everett once before. The tagline on this show is "Girls Rock!" (which, though true, only applies to 1/4th of ubik.), so we're opening for two other female-fronted bands out at Flights Pub. It's a free show, but we are opening, so broke is cool, but late isn't going to work out.

Here's the show post:

October 3rd
ubik. @ Flights Pub
w/ Truth Failed
& Holophrase
9:00 - FREE! - 21+

hmmm... online music sales

no one in ubik. really uses iTunes, so we're a little out of this loop... but The World Is A Glorious Biomechanical Nightmare is actually available for sale at the iTunes store. Lots of people use iTunes, so if any of you lovely, wonderful people are logged in, plugged in, and iTuning, you can shoot us some reviews in the iTunes world, and we'd love you for it.

ALL AGES show this Friday

We don't play nearly enough all ages show, so it's excellent to have this one in the mix.

September 26th

ubik. @ The L.A.B.
w/ Point Blank Range
& Enemy Camp
7:00 - $5 - ALL AGES!

Come to the High Dive: Sunday, Sep 21

Okay, so a little late on the show post... but we've sent out the mailing list and done the MySpace event invites, so everyone's probably already in the know.

But show posts are a tradition, so:

September 21st

ubik. @ High Dive
w/ 200 lb. Spider
& The Ever Changing Sky
7:00 - $5 - 21+

Shows coming up

Remember-- there isn't a show at the LAB on September 13th. (well, there is, but it doesn't have anything to do with us, and is therefore meaningless. Ha!) I know this stuff is on our shows page, but we don't want anyone's night to go south because they didn't know.

We are, however, at the LAB on September 26th... it's still a weekend (a Friday), it's still, all ages, and it's still free.

Even before that, though we're at the High Dive on Sunday, the 21st (which will serve you booze and charge you money, so it'll be sort of a different vibe), where we will be debuting a new song... if all goes according to plan.

...and then we go to Everett


Also-- ubik. is in the market for a practice space again, so if anyone knows of a place we can play on Wednesdays and Sundays (usually after 7:00PM), let us know.

new toys! ubik. on Twitter

Not to be left out of the thundering progress of the internet machine, ubik. can now provide all of you wonderful people with Twitter status updates. What's cool about this, you ask? Well twitter is a micro-blogging tool that does short bursts of info (I think it tops out at 150 characters), but is integrated into pretty much everything, and is a big deal in the Web 2.0 landscape. It's already the default Status ticker at ReverbNation, for example, and we've got it at the top of our News page as well.

Since Twitter can be updated by cell phone, it's pretty keen for at-the-show updates (as in: when we are going on) and keeping people posted while we're on the road and away from computers.

Abort! Abort!

Okay... a couple boffs, mix-ups, and random hits have taken a few shows off the boards.

First-- There is no show on September 6th in Queen Anne. We're not going to play that show, but will probably play Floyd's in Queen Anne at a later date.

Second-- No all-ages show at the L.A.B. on September 13th. There's a really crappy story behind that, but we're not there on the 13th. We are penciled in for September 26th, and we will probably be playing then.

It's better to play shows than not, but these things happen.

CD for sale online!

CD IN STORES NOW!

ubik.s album The World Is A Glorious Biomechanical Nightmare is available now both online and at record stores around seattle. Buy it online here:

... or you can find the CD at these stores in Seattle:

Cellophane Square - University District
4538 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 634-2280

Silver Platters - Queen Anne
In Lower Queen Anne (at the old Tower location)
701 5th Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-3472

Silver Platters - Northgate
9560 1st Ave NE,
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 524-3472

on sale now: our new album!

the first ubik. album, The World Is A Glorious Biomechanical Nightmare, has just been released, and is currently available at Silver Platters record stores in Queen Anne and Northgate. We'll have these available at our shows, of course, and we're going to have them for sale online very soon (for anyone outside Seattle). For now, we're just happy to have the discs in-hand, and thrilled to have them in stores.

This is where you can get them:

Silver Platters - Queen Anne
In Lower Queen Anne (at the old Tower location)
701 5th Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-3472

and

Silver Platters - Northgate
9560 1st Ave NE,
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 524-3472

Come play with us on Thursday

We're setting up at the Funhouse again this Thursday (August 14th), going on with the King's Cabaret and Burlesque show. Kind of an unusual gig for us... but that's a good thing. Points for variety and the rest of the fun stuff.

The show post looks like this

August 14th

ubik. @ The Funhouse
The King's Cabaret Burlesque
w/ Dino Haak
9:30 / $5

...but that's not even the half of it. There are tons of performers and acts for this one, so this should be a fun night out.

keeping it going...

Many thanks to everyone who came out to see us at the Rendezvous-- It was a Wednesday show (never anyone's favorite going-out-night), it was too hot to move (and even hotter in the Jewelbox Theater, where we played), and we didn't start until after 1:00AM... so, for everyone who saw us, you are the die-hards, wonderful people all.

Sorry we only played for about 20 minutes, though; it was just the way the night went, and we had to shut down before we could play all the songs on our setlist simply because the Rendezvous was closing down.

If you want to see a bit more, though, we're playing again really soon: an all ages show this sunday at the Squid & Ink, down in Georgetown. It'll be a longer set (promise), and it's always good to play all-ages shows.

last wednesday, this wednesday

ubik. had a great show at the final party at the Happy Lucky houseparty-- we love playing house parties, and were really lucky to have Jinza there to keep people off the pedalboards and to keep the mosh pit off the band. We'll be reuniting with the King's Cabaret later this month, even though the Happy Lucky Place is shut down, we're getting together at the Funhouse on the 14th.

...but that's still to come. This Wednesday we're playing a Ladies Choice Presents show, returning pretty quickly to the Rendezvous. That mean's we're running the visuals with the show... though it's important that the class not get so rowdy the teacher has to flip the lights on during the filmstrip (that was a real buzzkill last time).

oh, wow...

jesus... now that was a fucking Monkey Pub show!

the show completely kicked ass, several of us drank way too much afterward-- the whole night was a big ball of good. We have to thank everyone that came out, not only skipping the Capitol Hill Block Party (which, as far as we can tell, is largely haircut based), but also The Melvins. For as much as I love me some Melvins, saturday was one of the amazingly fun ubik. shows. Yay!

we've got a lot on our plate right now-- we have a house party to play on wednesday, to a Ladies Choice show at the Rendezvous on sunday, and more... check out our shows page for more details.

Also, the CD is at the pressing plant, and we're pretty excited to get those discs pressed in everyone's hands.

Saturday show at the Monkey...

It's Monkey Pub time again-- this time ubik's up with the B-Side Project. Everyone probably knows by now how ubik. feels about The Monkey, but this time it's enhanced by a panda suit. Joel will be in full panda garb, matched by Monkey Pub stalwart (and bartender) Anthony in a bunny suit.

This will make everyone else in the room look comparatively normal. Face it-- you can't pass up that kind of opportunity.

Here's the show post:

July 26th
ubik. @ The Monkey Pub
w/ The B-Side Project
$5 / 9:30

Thanks for all the orders

Okay, crew, the pre-orders on the new ubik. album are now closed-- thanks to everyone who placed an order, but now it is time to count our pennies, fill out the forms, and send that puppy off to be mass produced. So if you didn't pre-order a disc, you'll have a crack at the instant gratification version (hand us money, get a disc!) in another show or two. We'll also be selling them online.

Coming slightly sooner than the album, ubik. does have an upcoming show at the Monkey Pub, with the B-Side project. It's a saturday night show at one of the few bars we always go to-- the people are good, the drinks are cheap, and (when we're not playing) the jukebox is fantastic.

Last Chance to order

ubik.s just about ready to send our stuff off to the plant. This disc is ready to go, and go it shall. We've got to get these into production in order to get the pre-order people their copies by early August (as promised)... therefore, this weekend is your last chance to get on the pre-order bus.

Come monday, you'll just have to wait.

The link's still the same... but here it is, regardless:

$6.50*

*The pre-order has closed-- we're putting in the order and will have physical CDs for you soon.

Pre-order the new ubik.EP today!

The 6-song CD, The World Is a Glorious Biomechanical Nightmare, is finished and will be packaged and printed before the summer is out. Pre-ordering helps a band finance the physical production of the disc, and speeds up the process of getting them produced.

The CD sells for $5.00, but we need to cover shipping and packaging (we need to buy a bunch of CD mailers), as well as covering PayPal's back end, so the flat price for the Pre-Order is $6.50. That gets the disc on your doorstep as fast as the postmaster general gets the CDs to us.

$6.50*

*The pre-order has closed-- we're putting in the order and will have physical CDs for you soon.

Benefit show on Saturday

ubik.s playing the Benefit Show for Metal in Iraq this saturday, which is a benefit show for Acrassicaudi (the band that is the subject of the documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad, which played at SIFF this year).

July 5th
ubik. @ the Rendezvous
w/ The Keeper
& Shogun
$5 / 10:00PM

The Rendezvous is one of our favorite places to play, and we'll have our video backdrop rolling for the set (the Rendezvous is fantastic for video).

mutantfest pics, anyone?

so... ubik. had a great time at the autonomous mutant festival, but we don't have any pics of the shows. I know, I know, if we wanted photos, we should have made arrangements, but if anyone has any ubik. at mutantfest pictures, please send them to us.

We're at ubikband@gmail.com

MutantFest 2008

ubik. partook in the Autonomous Mutant Festival (or AMF) last weekend, and man, what a weekend. We pulled in on Friday just in time to catch (A)symetric Warfar(e) start their show at Wondercamp at sundown. Then it was Red Rapture, then ubik., then In The Age Of Terminal Static, Wondercamp's hosts. That first night was fraught with difficulties as we tried to work out generator power and basic Show At Camp fundamentals (which we'd never had to deal with before). Michelle's processor hates generators, and we powered her with the electricity from (A)symetric Warfar(e)'s completely kick-ass tour van (a former bread truck).

ubik.s sound is fairly dependent on Michelle's ability to echo and distort... that Digitech vocal processor (the purple people eater) has been tweaked and customized over time to the point where Michelle really plays it like an instrument over several songs-- recording the EP (almost done!) was a crash course on how inimitable that thing is. You can't take a dry vocal and make it sound like Michelle sang it through the Purple People Eater with post-effects-- you have to use the original effected vocals. We can't live without it.

We played pretty much every song we knew that night... we didn't have a setlist, and everything ended with "what should we play next?" We didn't exactly put on a "show," but we played for a long time, to a big crowd, and everyone had a good time. We closed with The Planet's Kerploding!, and since Tyler's toes had frozen, we had to stop.

Saturday night at AMF went more smoothly, after we'd learned about generators, camp setups, and how to get all of this done. Red Rapture, ubik., and then In The Age Of Terminal Static again at Wondercamp-- (A)symetric Warfar(e) played over at Unicorn Camp that night, to one of the best mosh pits I've seen in years. ubik.s set leaned towards the mellow and the trippy, simply because Michelle's scream seems to scare off some of the more chemically enhanced campers. Of course, we still played Seven Feet Under, and we closed with No Such Thing As an Open-Ended Equation, but it was the kind of night where we brought out Silence, which isn't on our setlist too often.

The voyage was... eventful. After testing the ubik.van (now possibly named Rita, Edith, or Bruno) past Portland, plus another hundred-plus miles on Route 26, we learned that we do, thankfully, have a spare tire in there somewhere, but no jack. ubik.van was also carrying Andre, of Red Rapture, and Andre and Joel worked out a frightening-looking contraption out of a rock, a piece of lumber, and two borrowed jacks... and the wobbly, oversized spare tire happened. After limping to Madras for nearly an hour on a temporary spare (emblazoned with "do not exceed 55mph"-- I don't think we exceeded 45, due to wobble), we did learn that Les Schwab is the most awesome franchise in the country-- those guys had us rolling again in less time than it took to buy camp groceries.

We also had an odd issue where the van lost power and needed a jump. A nice woman attempted to pray over the engine (lord, please let this car start), but, for some reason, that didn't help. Jumper cables did, though. I think our van is more into Science than jesus, but, hey, whatever floats your boat. They were going to look us up on MySpace, and we don't want to seem ungrateful (we really needed that jump), but I can't imagine them digging a song like External Retraction... which is fairly overt in its anti-religious message. (unlike Glitch. I had to have that one explained to me.)

Regardless, we made it, there and back again. Andre maintains that the four of us actually manage to be more odorous than Jeremy (the other half of Red Rapture. If you're not listening to Red Rapture, it's your loss. Seriously)... but that was after a few days of camping. We're all really happy to be back in the land of toilets and showers again. Playing out of state let us meet some Oregoneons, and hopefully have a line on playing Portland sometime soon, which we've always wanted to do.

ubik.s playing in Seattle again in about two weeks, 4th of July weekend, and we're all geared up for the Autonomous Mutant Festival next year, too. We might stay longer and play later. We'll work it out.

camping gear

ubik. is packed and ready to go-- we're southbound, playing the Autonomous Music Festival down in Oregon this weekend. The festival's already underway, buy we're there and playing on Friday and Saturday... so if you're coming down, we'll see you on the grounds (and we hope you have one of those huge, house-like tents, with a full bar).

If you're not camping, wish us (and our van) luck, and a speedy return.

new song

proof that we are actually doing some mixing and will eventually deliver that EP we've been promising, a new recording of !!!!!! is up and online now.

ubik. never seems to name songs conventionally, but !!!!!! is practically Aphex Twin in its unpronounceability.

thanks for the wednesdays

Thanks to everyone that came out on a Wednesday: it's not a big show night for most people, and it was good to see so many people come out. It was a really wild line-up, too, with Blicky and Black Noise Cannon. The sonic progression of the night was very cool.

ubik.s set was fraught with technical difficulties... but that sort of thing happens. As far as we can tell, the setlist is cursed. We tried to play it at Jimmy Z's, but it got chopped because of a couple line-up mix-ups and truncated stage times. Last night we attempted to play it again... but, like I said, this setlist is cursed. If Black Noise Cannon didn't loan us a bass amp, we wouldn't have gotten to play at all (we really owe them for that one). Setup difficulties meant we had to chop songs out of the accursed setlist again...

we didn't even know a setlist could be cursed.

ubik. @ the Central on the 11th

This show was flying below radar and just popped up on us: ubik.s playing at The Central this coming Wednesday, Jun 11. Even though it was fairly short notice, we brought in some really good bands and have a solid line-up for the show. So here's the show post:

ubik. @ The Central
w/ Black Noise Cannon
& Blicky
$5 / 9:00 PM

The EP is chugging along and a ton of shows are up and listed for the near future, so we've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of us.

road gig

Yay! ubik.van made it to Everett and back without exploding or leaving us stranded, curbside, with an uncarryable amount of gear (this was a watershed event for us). All in all, we had a successful night, though something got fouled up, and our line-up was married with another to create a 6-band bill. Craziness abounded and setlists were cut short, but it turned out to be an excellent show for pretty much everyone. We have to send out super-love to The Keeper for playing the opening set (going on fairly early)... it was a rough spot to fill, but they offered to do it, and helped a lot of people out in the process. And they covered a Tad song.

It was also very, very cool for so many people to make the Seattle-Everett trip to come see us-- that rules, and we love you. We needed some support on our first ever road gig, and it was really encouraging that you came out. Also-- man, we met a lot of new people in Everett. That was a great, positive environment, with lots of new folks hearing us for the first time and really digging the ubik.thing. We love that: it was great to play for all the people who just stopped by Jimmy Z's for their Saturday out not knowing what was going to happen. People were really in rare form for this one.

Some time fairly soon, we will have another gig in Seattle, hopefully before we head south to play Mutant Fest.

Saturday Night in Everett

Tomorrow is looking like your special day for northbound fun-- face it, you just don't make it up to Everett as much as you should. And if that's not convincing enough for you (why wouldn't it be?), ubik.ll be playing a show up in the Green Room at Jimmy Z's with The Keeper and The Ever Changing sky... which makes the show post look something like this:

ubik. @ Jimmy Z's
w/ The Ever Changing Sky
& The Keeper
1712 Hewitt Ave,
Everett, WA 98201
8:30 / Cost: $7

Remember: ubik.s in the Green Room, so enter the venue at the Green Room door, or you'll end up paying for the bands on the other stage.

moons, Z's, mutants, and mixing

thanks to everyone out at the Blue Moon last night-- fun show all around, and we're always pleased when we can include the visuals (thanks to Heidi for loaning us her projector... the shows are always better with the projector running).

We're driving up to Everett next saturday (the 31st) to play The Green Room at Jimmy Z's, and we're driving down to the Autonomous Mutant Festival (in the Cascadia region... better directions are forthcoming) next month, as well as another Monkey Pub gig on the books for July (though ubik. strongly recommends you head down there daily, as the Monkey's just added a kickass white ale to their drafts, more Melvins and Ween to the jukebox, and still has the some of the cheapest PBR and Oly in town.

It's fair to say the mixing is half done for the ubik. EP-- three songs down and moving forward. Music will soon be musicing with the music on CD.

Friday night fun (no money down!)

It's another ubik-tastic friday, with everything that goes along with ubiktastic fridayness. We're playing at the Blue Moon, so it's a free show (the Blue Moon never charges at the door), and we're up with Red Rapture and Forefathers, and you're all going out this weekend since spring finally sprang, so you may as well come see a show.

The show post looks like this:

ubik. @ the Blue Moon
712 NE 45th St
Seattle WA 98105
w/ Red Rapture
& Forefathers
Free! / Doors at 8:30

ubik. at CYQO.com

check this out-- ubik is currently the #2 band sitewide on CYQO.com, which has grown and streamlined itself impressively, even in the short time we've known them (the new music players look great). ubik has no idea how these rankings are derived (we don't receive crazy amounts of plays or page visits on our cyqo page), but it is very cool that they're listing us at the top of the heap.

CYQO's been really good to us since signing up-- they really like ubik, and the community is live and supportive... which is a really rare thing. They put us on their podcast a couple weeks ago, and one of the site owners has been on us to provide new material because he's really digging what we've got uploaded so far. We'll be able to accommodate them soon...

mailing list

a pretty keen utility being offered at ReverbNation, this mailing list tool is looking like a much better way of keeping track of the ever-growing ubik.mailing.list. We've got this little guy on our home page, as well...







the mailing list, of course, is the best way to keep up with ubik-- all of our shows and upcoming events are all more reliably communicated via the mailinglist than any other source (i.e, myspace), so there it is: do the thing with the stuff.

The Mix Has Begun

ubik.s studio time is at an end: the tracks are in the can, laid down and called done. We've just broken ground on the mix. Faders have been pushed, pan pots have been turned (though we still have yet to get treasured Motley Crue drum sound. More reverb!) so the mix is underway.

This has been a long ride, so far, and there's still work to be done, but this CD will be appearing on our merch table soon.

Stay tuned.

so monday, so metal

no one can really guarantee a good turnout on a Monday, so we have to send tons of thanks to everyone who came out to see us at The Central-- that was a big, supportive crowd, and we love you guys for it. We had a good lineup with Mokshya headlining and Year of the Serpent filling that TBA slot (on super-short notice, too), both of whom are much more Monday Metal Madness than ubik...

we had a good show, which marks the first time ubik. actually raised the dead-- we've never had a zombie at a show before, so this was kind of a first for us.

In other news: we are just about done taping, and the mixing starts soon... probably tomorrow. There will be an EP. And soon.

Monday Night

ubik.s up at The Central next week, playing with a touring band from Arizona... it's us and Mokshya, along with good ole' TBA (we've played with TBA before-- they're not always great, but their unpredictability is part of their charm). The show post looks like this--

Monday, April 28
ubik. @ The Central
w/ Mokshya & TBA
207 1st Ave S
Seattle WA 98104
$5:00 / 9:30 PM

Narwhal vs. Unicorn

I know it's short notice, but ubik. is playing the Narwhal vs. Unicorn party in South Seattle this Friday. The party shall rage, and the animals (or, people in animal costumes) will fight. Or wrestle. The details are still a little sketchy, but still... Narwhals vs. Unicorns. At the very least, it's going to be better than Alien vs. Predator. We're playing some time after 9:00.

(as a brief aside, I have no idea who Carisa Swenson is, but it couldn't believe I actually found a picture for this post)

click tracks suck

ubik is now about a week and a half, 20 tracks, and one "buy it and then return it to Guitar Center" microphone into recording our EP. It's been hard going under some incredibly DIY conditions... but we're working quickly and getting good results. I know, I know: we were supposed to be done by now, but our studio recordings ended up in the garbage and here we are again, starting over on our own. So that's that: we're half done with the recording, and we'll have a CD out pretty soon. We'll keep you posted...

Risen after 3 days and now eating brains

That was a hell of a weekend, eh? Much love to all for coming out to see us this weekend... it was a bit of an endurance run, sandwiching in a Zombie Walk to The Octagon between two shows. We know Monday shows are rough (and this one was especially rough), but it was great to see you all at the Re-Bar on monday night when you could just as easily have been in bed.

Okay-- back to working on the EP. We've got a line on a few places to play in April (we'll keep you posted on the shows page, of course), and we're looking forward to the next gig. See you guys soon.

Mailing list blues...

just sent out an email to the ubik.mailing.list, which we do before every show, and... well... I have to drop the disclaimer: if you've ever signed up for our mailing list, and you don't get email from ubik., we're really sorry. Most shows, people don't sign up for the mailing list until many drinks have been consumed-- sometimes, the email addresses aren't really legible (once, someone even spilled beer on the sheet, smearing a lot of the sign-ups), so every time we send out email, a number of addresses come back as Not Recognized. Anyway... if you're one of the people who signed up but never hears from ubik., we're really sorry about that. Tell us you want to be on the list, and we'll take care of it.

And... of course... show post:

Saturday, March 22
ubik. at Goofy's
w/ Only Human
& Holotype
8519 15th Ave. NW
Show at 9:00 / $Free!

...and...

Monday, March 24
ubik. at Re-bar
w/ Imperial Legions of Rome
& Greenriver Thrillers
1114 Howell St, Seattle
Show at 9:00 / $5

Oops on the Hunab Ku

So... late breaking news on the upcoming show on the 22nd-- we just saw Hunab Ku's final show with their current guitarist at El Corazon last night (which was a really cool show: Barefoot Barnacle played after them). Because Hunab Ku requires such an odd variety of sounds from their new guitarist (and such specific and uncommon gear to get those sounds) the band isn't going to be able to make the show at Goofy's next saturday. The new poster up at Only Human's page lists the lineup as them, us, and Holotype... and we hope to have a little more info on Holotype pretty soon.

ubik.bot

Check out our ubik.bot-- you can print and construct your own robot from the template provided here:

ubik.bot.template

... it prints bigger if you print it in Landscape (as opposed to Portrait), and you should be able to print it directly from your browser.

You should definitely bring one of these guys to one of our shows next week (remember the shows... you want to come to the shows...)

Recordings...

Well, our studio time was a partial bust, but: we have turned out a couple decent recordings and put them up on the site. ubik. has uploaded recordings of Seven Feet Under and External Retraction... so this ought to hold everyone over until we get a proper CD recorded. So-- hooray for having new material up

and don't forget, we have shows coming up on Saturday the 22nd and Monday the 24th.

the pros and cons of using Party as a verb

ubik's up at a Ballard house party this friday (March 7th), so this is another good one for anyone who can't make it to our shows in the bars and clubs we usually play. We've got a good lineup, and ubik. loves playing house parties-- the crowds are always excellent at the parties we've played, so we're excited about this one.

House Party!
w/ Year Of The Serpent,
& The Ever Changing Sky

The full listing is on our shows page.

So much for time off...

Well, taking February off did get a bit accomplished (the EP is well under way, and all sorts of happiness will come of this later. Not too much later, but not just now. Stay tuned), but ubik. is tackling March with a vengeance. We've got shows listed for the 22nd and 24th of the month, which is pretty keen, but here's some late-breaking news: we've just taken on a house party for Friday, March 7th. It's a little on the short notice side, so we're letting you know with quickness and urgency: house party in Ballard on the 7th.

Details will be forthcoming, for sure, but one of the important bits is this: playing parties is as close as ubik. comes to playing all-ages events at the moment (we'd like to do more all-ages, but they're hard to set up). So this is the first flare into the sky... contact us if you need location info, and...

as always...

... more to come

a little space

we've got a show booked a little further out, on March 22, which is a bigger break than ubik. usually takes... but we've got a pretty good reason. ubik. has recently emerged from the studio, and we're currently working out some mixing and overdubs-- we're not too far from scraping together some funds and shipping a disc off to the printers. It's not an easy job, but the work is getting done, and ubik will soon have a 6-song EP (which we hope to have in the Monkey Pub jukebox as soon as possible).

Late Sunday Night

We really have to send the love out to everyone who stayed for the show last night-- we went on pretty late, and last call actually went out while we were playing. Rough timing for the day when most people are recovering from their weekend and getting some sleep for Monday morning... so for the late partiers and late late supporters-- you guys rule!

Come hang with ubik. tomorrow

tons of fun to be had with this one tomorrow. The poster has all the relevant data, but here's the block of text again, just for kicks:


ubik. @ The Funhouse
206 5th Ave N
w/ Hunab Ku,
Spirit Of Radio,
& Thin the Herd
9:30PM / $5 at the door

video of Let's Hunt and Kill

Add to MySpace Profile

Yay-- Tyler uploaded some fun stuff on our MySpace. This video looks and sounds good enough to replace the little flash player on the songs page.

the voice is an instrument

most vocalists tend to play it pretty effects-free: the sound man might put a little reverb or chorus on the singer, but for the most part, it's pretty dry. As far as I know, there are two vocalists in town who really use effects and processing: one is ubik's own Michelle, the other is Mike from Hunab Ku. ubik's playing with Hunab Ku for the first time this sunday, making it the most vocally processed show you're likely to see any time soon.

Standard show-post format, anyone?

ubik. @ The Funhouse
206 5th Ave N
w/ Hunab Ku,
Spirit Of Radio,
& Thin the Herd
9:00PM / $5 at the door

We'll see you there... ubik knows you don't have plans for sunday night

helluva party

the octagon was rockin' last saturday... if you missed it, you missed one hell of a party. we played a wild set, in a line-up with KGB Suspect, Rad Touch, and Red Rapture-- the place was absolutely packed (any more people and you wouldn't be able to move in that house) and the stores were completely depleted when the doors closed and they started throwing everyone out.

A full on rager, all around, and the fantastic attendees did their part to Save The Octagon. The house is still alive, and will be around for many parties to come.

Save the Octagon

So, yes-- you are all invited to the Save the Octagon house show this saturday. ubik's playing with Rad Touch, Red Rapture, and KGB Suspect. The Octagon's got the booze-- all you need to do is bring the money. It's a benefit show, remember: all proceeds go to keeping The Octagon alive and functioning for future shows, and as a practice space for myriad local bands (including ourselves).

...at The Octagon-- let us know if you need to know where it is.

preserving the Rock

Wow-- thanks to everyone that came out to the Rendezvous on Saturday... tons and tons of people in that place. It's got to be the weirdest lineup we've ever played (three cheers for diversity), and Leeni took off before we could grab one of her CDs, but... dig this...

we taped the show!

ubik hasn't had any new recordings in ages, and we've finally got some more audio on tap, including a nice live version of Seven Feet Under, one of our most popular songs. New stuff is up at our songs page as well as uploaded on our MySpace, because... well... everyone looks on MySpace when they're looking for you...

but that's just the appetizer-- ubik's in the studio this week, hoping to lock down some recordings that aren't derived from mic's at the back of one of our shows. We're looking to record as much as we can in the time we've got, so we'll have more to upload soon. And then there will be CDs at shows. Pretty keen, eh?

Saturday Night! Make the "wooo" noise!

Okay, kids-- it's party time. Return of the Living Dead style. (not really the part with the zombies, but the other stuff. Naked dancing and stereos in the cemetery type thing). I know we've fed you this block of text before, but here it is:

Saturday, January 5th
ubik. @ The Rendezvous
w/ Leeni
and Desmond
$5 at the Door
10:00 PM

That is obviously the best thing that ever happened, which is why you need to make the "wooo" noise and head out to the Rendezvous. We've got new sounds, new visuals, maybe an awesome For Dummies book, and we've washed our clothes (so you needn't stand in the back).

See you there...

Live Music in Belltown

I was initially skeptical when I got an email telling me The Crocodile had closed... their website was still up, and the rumors of the venue closing have been around since... um... how long have I lived in this town? Anyway, you hear these things, but you never believe they'll happen.

But Belltown ain't dead yet-- there are still shows at The Rendezvous. This place sounds really good, it's about two blocks north of the Croc (R.I.P), and-- here's the best part-- ubik plays there. We're up on Saturday, January 5th, so... check out the show post:

Saturday, January 5th
ubik. @ The Rendezvous
w/ Leeni
and Desmond
$5 at the Door
10:00 PM

and we're bringing visuals to this one.

happy Non-Denominational Everyone Gets A Day Off day

Phew... closing out December. ubik finally has our van, so not only can we get to shows without doing any begging, but we can also record. Can you believe that-- our biggest obstacle to recording was us not being able to move all our gear to and from a studio? All a thing of the past, friends... we can get there from here.

Now, we just need to record.

Van Up

ubik is now solvent-- we need a van, and we have the cash to get it done. We're looking for something reliable and hefty, something that can haul us as well as the gear (i.e, we need a back seat), and it has to be able to survive some freeway driving if we're ever going to play... say... portland. We can drop $1000 (tops) on the van... wish we had more, but we've got what we've got, so if someone's got a line on a good van, let us know.

and don't forget: we're up at the Rendezvous on January 5th, rocking Belltown on a Saturday night with Desmond and Leeni.

ubik needs a van

we're in the market for a van-- we're poor, that's for certain, but we can probably spare maybe $1000 (maybe, we're still working it out) to get ourselves a van. If anyone has a line on a good work vehicle, get in touch with us. Having our own transportation will solve a number of our problems, not the least of which is our ability to record: ubik can't manage a recording until we can somehow transport our gear to a studio... it's already a struggle borrowing a vehicle for every show. Thanks go out to Heidi for her truck; Heidi's pickup has gotten ubik to our last two shows.

ubik wants to play on christmas

we really want to book a show for December 25th, so if anybody has something set up and wants us to play, let us know. It's no stretch to claim that christmas is really, really boring: even if you have family in town (and 3/4ths of ubik do not), by 7:00PM on christmas day, you're pretty much done, holiday-wise. By 10:00, you wish there was something, anything, to do... on a day when even the local Safeway is closed. Well, we want something to do, too: we want to play, and then we can offer you something to do on a day when nothing ever happens.

slushie

thanks to everyone who came out to the Monkey Pub on saturday-- the weekend was cold and snowfall quickly turned to slush in the roads; plenty of people stayed home this weekend, so ubik's extra-thankful for everyone who braved the elements. We played with our frequent co-conspirators, Red Rapture once again, and the show kicked plenty of ass... ubik. even broke out a new epic, Let's Hunt and Kill Gwen Stefani, which would be our bid for radio popularity (if it weren't for the song's unwieldly length).

Monkey Pub this Saturday

We are rocking the Obligatory Show Post (OSP)

this OSP has been generated for the following show:

ubik. @ the Monkey Pub
w/ Red Rapture
5305 Roosevelt
Seattle, WA 98105
9:00 PM / 21+
$5 at the Door

Now that the official business is done and the OSP has been filed, I intend to spend the rest of my night making silly beeping noises, none of which should prevent you from coming out to the Monkey on Saturday, which is going to be lots of fun: playing with Red Rapture is always a good time, and we love the Monkey Pub.

deep breath

ubik needs a nap... we aren't used to playing shows three weekends in a row. After a really late Sunday at the Funhouse and a rockin party at The Octagon, we just played The Blue Moon on friday, which was a pretty unique experience for us. The Blue Moon comes with its own built-in crowd, so that set was played to some unusual folks that had never seen us before.

Much thanks to everyone who made it out to see us over the last few weeks-- we're taking the next two weeks to work the kinks out of a new song, maybe get some more writing done, and show up well rested for the show at The Monkey Pub on Friday, December 1st. Any of you may have seen a random ubik member staggering blindly out of the Monkey some night around closing time: that is one of our favorite bars in the U.

--eric

Free on Friday

We're playing the Blue Moon with Red Rapture on Friday, which can't help but to be awesome: we played a dry run with them a The Octagon house party on Saturday night, and that party was great! The music was fantastic, and the incredible (technical, trippy, and heavy as hell) Barefoot Barnacle was on the bill, the room was packed, and the crowd was phenomenal. Pack a bunch of us in a small room and the energy level goes up! (My apologies to the woman I was always almost stepping on and/or smacking in the face with my headstock)

Also, you only get to hear flirtations like "You hella don't wear your contacts anymore" at house parties. That's a lot of contact-not-wearing. It blew my mind and completely reconfigured my concept of math, as I thought it was a binary system: either one wore contacts, or one didn't wear contacts... but now we all know there are hella permutations to the system (only in the U-District, where the IQs are high and the education runs deep).

We're up on 45th this Friday, so we're rocking the convenient. The Blue Moon is on myriad bus routes, is right off of I-5, it's a Friday night show, and it's totally free. Stack all of that stuff together: it's not a school night, it's easy to get to, and it doesn't cost you anything... and that's a winner. That'd be a winner even if you didn't like ubik, as you could sit around and laugh at us for free, and we've got variety on tap: singer-sonwriter Paul Jameson is our first ever hyphenate billmate, and Red Rapture rocked the Nectar Lounge with us a few months back (not to mention the rad house party).

Standard showlist format:

Ubik @ The Blue Moon
712 NE 45th St
Seattle WA 98105
w/ Paul Jameson
& Red Rapture
& Mutilated Goat Sewage
9:00, $0 at the Door

We're still soliciting contributions to our genre-naming in the post below, so feel free to contribute. No-- don't feel free; feel obligated. This has even become a feature on Artomaton, so it is obviously something you need to do.

--eric

Mailing List

Oh boy... appy polly logies to anyone who put pen to paper on our mailing list, but still doesn't hear from us. Truth is, the mailing list gets filled out after we play, and... well... sometimes the handwriting looks a little creative. We do our best to include everyone that signs up, but there may have been drinking involved when the mailing list got filled out, and some of the entries are tough to translate.

If anyone is accidentally omitted, you can put in for the mailing list here.

Genre Naming Contest starts now!

So... what do you guys sound like?

Aargh! The most hated question: what do you sound like. ubik has never had an answer... we aren't slavish to any genre, though we do use a few traditional genre flourishes here and there. But we're not the sort of group that can answer The Big Question with a simple "We're a punk band." (we are so very much not a punk band. or rock band, or a metal band, or...) well, you understand our problem.

So what do you call us? A few ground rules: First, we're digging for a quick descriptor, so the "genre" name is limited to five words. Second, no band references: "Rammstein combined with Soul Coughing" isn't really valid... for so many reasons. Comments are enabled on this blog, so you can reply right within this post-- the contest begins now.

Early Monday Mornings

The Funhouse had a completely rocking lineup last night-- it is very hard to climb onto a stage right after Wah Wah Exit Wound just played (those guys rule!), but the ubik mailing list grew significantly, so it looks like we impressed a lot of people... even played our first encore. It's not easy playing first thing Monday morining (we went on around 12:30AM), so thanks to everyone who stuck around until last call on a school night. This was a late one, and you guys have the big bouncin' yar blockos.

That was a tough day: we want to thank Jon from Barefoot Barnacle for coming through at the last minute and loaning us a van... that was supremely awesome and really saved our collective asses. Intra-band, we have to give the love to Michelle for going down to Auburn to get the van: ubik is a collection of bike riders and bus takers, and she really put herself out bussing down there.

So... keep up with our shows page: we've got a free show at the Blue Moon coming up on the 16th, which is a Friday, so... do the math with me here... Free + Friday = Good.

Funhouse on Sunday

Playing season is really ramping up-- we've got a lot of playing to do over the next several weeks. First things first: We're at The Funhouse this Sunday (November 4th), once again with Wah-Wah Exit Wound. It should be pretty telling that we like these guys; this is our second show in a row with them. Also on board are The Wayward, who are touring and up here from Virginia, and Fortress of Victory. Here's the listing:

November 4th
Ubik @ the Funhouse
w/ Fortress of Victory
& Wah Wah Exit Wound
& The Wayward
21 and over
$5 at the Door

This will be your chance to have some nice, calming beer after the massive sugar shock of Halloween. (that many vodka & red bulls... what were you thinking? You may never sleep again)

Pedal Power

Okay, what I want to know is: who's got the largest pedalboard in Seattle? I'm pretty pedal obsessed, and I want to find the other pedal aficionados in town and see how other extravagant pedals are used.

Here's the rules: I'm measuring the pedalboard by its number of pedals. Rack gear doesn't count (because rack guys are different from pedal guys; controlling myriad rack effects with a midi pedalboard isn't the same thing as having a chain of pedals), and multi-effects only count as one effect (one unit, one effect).

My rig is 21 pieces, spanning three boards: 16 active effects, 2 looper/bypasses, 2 control units, and a tuner... we can debate which of these count (or don't) when we start tallying.

So... who's got a wild pedalboard? I wanna see.

--eric

toldyaso

I think it was on the MySpace event invite we said that the Rendezvous show was going to be twice as good and half the price of the El Corazon show, and... Ha! This one was a knockout, so muchos thankyous to all of the attendees. Kickass show (though someone boosted Rad Touch's bass, a Fender J-Bass, from the back room of the venue. If you have any info about bass thieves, let Rad Touch know).

Keep up with our shows page-- we're at the Funhouse on Sunday, November 4th, where I'm sure we'll all drink our weight in PBR.

See You Tuesday

ubik. has a show coming up this Tuesday, October 16th, down in Belltown: we're at the Jewelbox Theater in the Rendezevous (pronounced: REN-sa-fuss), with Rad Touch and Wah Wah Exit Wound, which is going to be a hell of a show. Change Versus Comfort (we had a great time with them at the Chop Suey) shares a member with Rad Touch, and we've been wanting to play with Wah Wah Exit Wound since we first saw them play... so this is looking like one hell of a show.

Rendezvous - Jewel Box Theater
2322 2nd Ave
Seattle, Washington 98121
Ubik, Wah Wah Exit Wound, Rad Touch
$5 at the door / Doors @ 10:00

with any luck, we will be breaking out a new song at this show, too; we're really excited about the new one, so here's hoping lots of you show up for it.

Thanks, Ben

Many of you may know that we had to rent a U-Haul for our first show, back at the Jules Maes. We haven't had to do that since: glass blower extrordinaire Ben Ostrom has lent us his van for every single show we've played. I doubt we can fully convey in text how phenomenally awesome this is-- Ben has helped this band more than anyone else. We really couldn't do this stuff without his contribution... and he's never asked for anything in return (though we do our best to put $20 of gas in the tank after every show. It's would be extremely rude to use his van and burn all his gas)

Thanks, Kyna

Recently back in town from LA, attending Occidental College for photography, Kyna Shilling has been the main contributor to the ubik photos page over the last few months. We've got full galleries from our El Corazon and Chop Suey shows up, thanks to her.

Thanks, Dowell

How cool is this? Ubik has merch. Swag. You know... stickers.

We got this done after many sessions with our graphic designer, Dowell Eugenio, meeting over beers at the College Inn and Shorty's. The man is obviously a superhero, and the stickers look fantastic.

We've got to give the assist to StickerRobot.com... ubik was obviously going to order from the robot-based sticker company, but these guys delivered a really nice sticker.

All Ages (more or less)

Thanks to everyone for coming out to see us at El Corazon-- the conditions may have been rougher than normal:

• We hated pre-selling those tickets. None of us was actually comfortable asking you for money, and we're grateful you guys bought some
• Packing seven bands onto a flier was no easy feat, and...
• Yeesh, a bill with seven bands is pretty unwieldy, isn't it? Why would anyone book an evening show with that many bands?
• What, no drink tickets? We didn't even get water for on-stage.

...but we really enjoyed the show and hope you all had a great time. We're hoping to have some merch on offer sometime soon, and we really, really need to get ourselves recorded, so if anyone has a line on some affordable studio time, drop us a line.

Remember, we have a show set up at the Rendezvous on October 16th, so mark you calendars. We'll give you the details when we have all the details

Sale Ending Soon

We will be wrapping up the sale of tickets over at Silver Platters at the end of business Monday, September 24th. You can still buy tickets from the band members right up until we start loading our gear into El Corazon, but we're going to collect our tickets from the Silver Platters store on the 24th, so you still have a couple days to do the official-seeming, over-the-counter purchase of Ubik Tickets.

On Sale Now (pt 2)

If you were having trouble acquiring tickets for our September 26th show, we've just set it up so that you can buy them at Silver Platters, at these locations:

Queen Anne
In Lower Queen Anne (at the old Tower location)
701 5th Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-3472
Store hours: Tue. - Sat. 9am to 11pm, Sun. 10am to 10pm, Mon. 9am to 12midnight

Northgate
9560 1st Ave NE,
Seattle, WA 98115
(206) 524-3472

Store hours: Mon. - Sat. 9am to 10pm, Sun.10am to 7pm

So Ubik tickets are now available at the counter... just head over to Silver Platters.

Tickets On Sale Now!

Ubik is playing an All Ages/Bar With ID show on Wednesday, September 26th at El Corazon. This is the first show where we've been asked to pre-sell tickets, so it's all a little new for us. If you'd like to buy a ticket, they sell for $8. Get in touch with us here, the Ubik email account, and we'll set up a location.

I'm a behind-the-counter sort of guy, so you can purchase tickets at Reckless Video, between 4:00PM and 10:00PM every day except Sunday and Wednesday. It's at 90th and Roosevelt:

Reckless Video
9020 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle WA 98115

--eric
(do not be alarmed by my lack of lab coat)