Back from break

Heading home from practice at Chophouse last week, after trying to figure out how we were going to re-emerge in June (and not quite sure how it was going to go,) someone was yelling from the practice space's top floor windows-- Slave Traitor nearly-literally dropped a gig in our lap.  Suddenly, our comeback show was set. Yay!

Thursday, June 2
ubik. @ The Highline
w/ Slave Traitor
& SinDios
& Evangelist
Show at 9:00

Down time is anything but

I know, I know... no ubik.shows booked.  With the upcoming release of the new record, A Hideous Triumph of Form and Function, we're feeling ambitious: it's time to dig in, keep to ourselves for a bit, and write some new songs.

This always takes work and time.  ubik.songs can veer towards the complex (not always, but it's been known to happen) and it takes time to work out all the changes and get these weird little contraptions assembled, living, and moving under their own power.

...and, hey-- so far so good.  We've been working, writing, jamming, and figuring our some new songs.  The consensus was two months, so we'll be taking April and May for this under-the-hood band stuff and pop back up in the world in June.

See you then.

Making Sundays Worthwhile

Sunday has been scientifically proven to be the most couch-bound day of the week... well, ubik. doesn't believe in couches (of the four of us, only Joel owns one, and it recently tried to kill him,) and we're joining an excursion to make Awesomeness happen this Sunday. Head to the Josephine-- there's tons of fun to be had, we're joining Same Sex Dictator and Carrion Cathartid, and this is the 2nd (I think... does tour kickoff count?) stop on  Yellowthief's tour.

Sunday, March 27

ubik. @ The Josephine
w/ Same Sex Dictator
& Yellow Thief
& Carrion Cathartid
Show at 7:00

This Friday: St Patty's Recovery Show

St. Patrick's day is on Thursday, so we're playing the after-party: The Galway Arms is a default destination for this holiday, and when you're finally shaking off the previous night's revelry, we're setting up for an insane show in the newly remodeled pub (new sound system too!  woo!)  It's a Friday, you'll be recovered and well enough to be out when the show kicks off at 9:00 (and this one really starts at 9:00), and it's going to be one hell of a show.

Seriously-- we've got a weird one for you.  We're used to being the strangest band in any line-up, but this show features saxophones, a baritone guitar, and lots of guys in dresses.  Ponder that for a second...

okay.  We'll see you there.

Friday, March 18

ubik. @ The Galway Arms
w/ Mountainss
& The Mother's Anger
& Prawnyxx

Free show on Thursday

The Eastlake Zoo Tavern occasionally puts on free Thursday shows-- we've been meaning to do one of these for a while, and ubik.s finally on a Zoo Tavern bill.  These shows are notoriously awesome, we have a good lineup for the night, and it's been a while since we did a free one, so this is a can't-miss.  Free shows are cool like that: you always get more out of them than what you put in.

Thursday, February 24
Zoo Tavern
w/ Throne of Bone
& Future Kill
Free - 8:00

Summoning Flames

It looks like ubik.s in need of a new bass cabinet... because (has this ever happened to you?) our Ampeg 8x10 actually burst into flames.  We were playing a show on Christmas, and, as Joel plugged in and checked his sound for the set, we went through the classic stages of Speaker 'Splody:

• Um, what's that smell?
• Did you guys turn on a fog machine?
• Hey-- it's coming from your speakers!
• Holy shit!  Fire!

Then we hauled a box the size of a refrigerator outside, removed  the speaker, and pulled out hunks of flaming insulation.

What's strange about this is the Ampeg 8x10 is one of the most common bass cabinets in the world: these things are everywhere.  They're heavy as hell, but they practically live forever-- these suckers get passed from bassist to bassist and sold and resold so often it's a wonder Ampeg still makes them.  You'd think the world would be at the Cabinet Saturation Point by now.

Since none of ubik.s amps are super-powerful (no crazy 1000 Watt, circuit-blowing, speaker melting monsters), our ability to make speaker cabinets into incendiary devices is probably based on spooky supernatural powers. 

ubik.s going to Burning Man

Reportedly, there's a dearth of live music at Burning Man... so ubik.s working on fixing the problem. We're assembling a camp of bands and like-minded revelers to caravan down to the desert with us in August, because the gospel of variety needs to be spread, and it seems like the Burners are in desperate need of a camp that  bumps something other than dub-step.

A meeting for this illustrious project will be held at The Highline on Saturday, February 12th, at 2:00PM, so you can grab some lunch and a drink.  We'll all hunker down and work out the whos, hows, whys, and wherefores of the caravan and the camp: we need bands to come and friends to participate, so come on down-- this one's going to be an adventure.

At the Comet on Thursday, Feb 3

We're rolling on over to The Comet next Thursday, because (let's face it) February needs a little help in the fun department.  We're firing up the sounds with Ahyahuasca Travellers, Serial Hawk, and Noise-a-Tron... a multi-faceted show, with a lot of different colors on the palette.

Thursday, February 3

ubik. at The Comet
w/ Ahyahuasca Travellers
& Serial Hawk
& Noise-a-Tron
Show at 9:00 - $6.00

First listen

We've been talking about it for a while, and yes: there is a new album in the works.  We're done mixing, ready to move forward, but here's a glimpse of one song from the upcoming A Hideous Triumph of Form and Function:

Play eltit gnos

 

We've got to ship the album off the the mastering engineer now... but there it is-- proof that we do have songs recorded and ready to go.  Hooray for the new album!

Christmas Show!

Not to blow your minds, but... Christmas is boring!  Even if you've got family in town (and Seattle is a city full of expatriates), most Christmas festivities are done by 4:00, presents are open, there's wrapping paper on the floor, food's been eaten, and there's nothing left to do for the rest of the day: everything's closed.  Even the 24-hour grocery stores are closed on Christmas.

Well, we're fighting the good fight-- there's actually something going on this Christmas.

Saturday, December 25
802 NW 49th
Seattle WA
ubik.
7 Year Old Blind Girl
Numb
6:00-9:00

Yup, music starts and ends earlier than normal because it's a house party, and neighbors tend to get cranky when really loud things happen late into Christmas night.

Sunday: Music and Movies at the Highline

For all the Seattlites that didn't get to see the show with ubik. and Absence of Light down in Portland, we have good news for you: we're bringing Absence of Light up here.

Sunday is movie night at the Highline, the awesome vegan restaurant on Broadway, so we're bringing bands for sound and silent films for visuals. This one's on the books for Sunday, December 12th. We've had some last minute shake-ups, and we're going to bring in another band to cover a cancellation, but for right now, we have Absence of Light, ubik., and The Bell Witch (which features members of Lethe).

We'll keep you posted when we finalize the line-up, but you should definitely come to the Highline on the 12th.

Big weekend between Seattle and Portland

ubik.s taking a weekend-- we're back at the Galway on Friday night (with Order of the Gash up from Portland), and then we're going down to Portland on Saturday... so, a large Seattle/Portland exchange this week.  This is pretty excellent, especially since we don't get out of town as much as we should.

Friday, December 3
ubik. @ The Galway Arms
w/ Order of the Gash
& Barefoot Barnacle
& Guns of Barisal
9:00pm - 21+

Saturday, December 4
ubik. @ Pocket Sandwich

5245 NE 15th Ave
Portland, OR

w/ Absence of Light
& Fugue
& Honduran
House Party - donations at the door

Halloween (sort of)

Halloween's on a Sunday, so we're easing the party up a day (anyone want to argue the superiority of sundays over saturdays?  anyone?  Motion passed) and playing our Halloween show on Saturday night.  We're playing at the Galway in the University District, there's a great line-up, and we think we've got our costumes sussed...

Saturday, October 30th
ubik. @ The Galway Arms
Halloween Bash
w/ Squalora
& Barefoot Barnacle
& Salo
9:00pm - 21+

ubik. and Rollergirls

guess the silence got out of hand... We didn't mean to tune out for so long, but we've been doing some writing, and the last couple weeks also had ubik. in our mixer's studio, working on the new record.  So, there is newness in the pipe.

Beyond that, ubik.s back on stage this Friday-- we're with the Rockers and Rollers 5 fundraiser.  This might be plagiarisy, but I'm going to grab the writeup from the Tilted Thunder Rail Birds:

Come and join us for Rockers & Rollers 5, a fundraiser for Seattle’s non-profit banked track roller derby league. We've got an awesome line up (SHEDU, Lucid Spiral, and ubik.) and while you're rocking, you'll be helping us get one step closer to rolling on our banked ...track! With your help, we've gotten oh-so-close to getting our track - come and help us make our dream a reality! ...and don't forget, the sooner we HAVE a track,... the sooner you'll be able to WATCH us bout on it!!

So the show post looks like this:

Rockers and Rollers 5
ubik. @ Chop Suey
w/ Lucid Spiral
Shedu
$10 (tickets) - 9:00pm - 21+

Chop Suey on Saturday

So ubik.s been playing a lot after emerging from the studio, but this is the last one on the books for a while... also, we've been playing some lower-key, DIY style shows lately, and this next one's up in a bigger club, so it's going to be a much different show than the last couple.  We're on board for Witchburn's CD release show this saturday at the Chop Suey-- this'll be a large one.  There are even tickets on sale (that's not a usual thing for us).

Saturday, August 21
Witchburn's CD Release @ The Chop Suey
w/ ubik.
Stone Axe
Supernauty
$8.00 - 8:00pm - 21+

Overtaking Ballard this saturday

It is time once again to descend upon the Josephine, Ballard's DIY venue (over by the Tin Hat), which is a neat, low-key space with... er... slightly fewer rules than your more standard venues.  We've got a good line-up for this one (ubik.s wanted to play with Goly Gim again ever since our first time with them), so here's all the relevant info for this one:

Saturday, August 14th
ubik. @ The Josephine
w/ Goly Grim
Carrion Cathartid
Somnomballistic
$5 - 21+

Extra special show on Saturday

ubik.s show on Saturday night would be special if it were just Tyler's birthday, and it would be special if it were just The Ever Changing Sky's last show, but both?  Friends, that's an extra special show. It's scientifically verifiable (we checked). Combined with the fact that we're holding this event at the Monkey Pub, the most fun, homey, informal venue in town, where every gig is a party and the drinks are fantastically inexpensive, that may make it an even more extra special show... but the maths to verify that are too complex for us to work out.

Saturday, July 31
ubik. @ The Monkey Pub
w/ The Ever Changing Sky
& Scyphozoa
$5 - 21+

This one's going to be an actual party, because it's Tyler's birthday, and there's no reason not to see the Ever Changing Sky's last show... this is one of our favorite Seattle bands, and we're really going to miss them.

Galway on Thursday, and then camping

Sorry for the short notice on this one (I doubt our feed reader will even post this note to the ubik. Facebook account until after the gig... but so be it), but we're opening a show at the Galway Arms tomorrow.  Touring bands need our (and by extension, your) support.  And gas money.

Thursday, July 22
ubik. at the Galway Arms
w/ The Mall
Adarna
Lasers for Eyes
8:00PM

and we're opening: ubik.s on stage at 9:00 sharp, so don't be late.

After that, it's off to Beer Metal Summer Camp, which is going on all this weekend. Out at Lost Lake, there will be tons of bands there, and ubik. will be playing on Saturday night.

our return: the Rendezvous

ubik.s been out of the live show game for a little bit, taking time off for the studio.  So, yes, the next record is finished (well, recording, anyway-- there's still mixing and mastering to be done), but so is our break: we're returning to the stage this Friday at the Rendezvous, which has always been one of our favorite venues.

ubik. at The Rendezvous
w/ Labryrinth & the Desert
& Fire or Flood
& Michelle Pannell
10:00PM

Miss Us?

Phew... the studio is hard work, and it kind of precluded updating the shows page for a while (don't worry-- it's updated now).  ubik. hasn't been seen in the clubs for a little bit, but shows have been booked, and we will be playing out and around for the rest of the summer.

Past that, we've put the mics on the instruments, laid down the tracks, stuck Michelle in a vocal booth... all that fun stuff, and now everything's been recorded.  There's still mixing to be done, of course, so there's going to be a bit of wait before you get a new ubik. record, but it is absolutely on its way.