The Spoiled is an Austin, TX rock band that is slated to release their second EP very soon. On December 16, 2010 they performed at Momo’s in Austin, TX showcasing some new material that will be included on their new EP, and possibly other releases. Also the band was celebrating their guitar player, David Johnson’s 30th bday. They are a great rock band. They have truly become one of my new favorite bands in Austin. They can pull off 3 part vocal harmonies and still keep the music interesting with amazing chord changes that follow the melody. Below is a video of one of Doug Pena’s songs ” The other side of my head”.
On Friday December 3, 2010 Alpha Rev performed a benefit show at Antone’s night club in support of MHAT(Mental Health America of Texas). Other bands that played that night included Saints of Valory, and Final Exam. There were also guest performances by Junior Brown, Charlie Sexton, The Gourds, Sheridan Roalson, and The Soldier Thread. It was an incredible night of music for a great cause. Junior Brown played a couple of songs with his famous guit/steel guitar. Charlie Sexton came up and played a couple of songs including a nice rendition of his song “Impressed” that he had not played for about 20 years.
I tried to take some good shots of everyone. Im not the greatest photographer. I got some good videos though. check them out! Thanks for reading the blog.
Here is a video performance of Stewart Gersmann from Austin, TX band The Spoiled. He is performing a new song titled “Streetcar”. The Spoiled are slated to release their second E.P. very soon. Today along with this acoustic performance they are releasing two songs from their E.P. to raise funds to get the full CD pressed. Go to The Spoiled eye-rock page and buy “2nd” from The Spoiled.
Beaux Loy sat down with eye-rock.com to record a video performance of his new song “Goodbye”. Beaux Loy formerly of Austin, TX band Damesviolet and solo project has been working on new material for a new album. The upcoming album is going to be with a new band with a new name. Beaux told us the new album is said to be more of a long story told through songs. This performance of “Goodbye” is a prelude of new songs to come filled with emotion, energy and rock. Enjoy!
When I was in high school I played a few band performances with two girls named Sarah and Rachel Loy. They are two incredibly talented singers, songwriters, and musicians. A few years down the road I was watching tv and listening to the radio a lot. I kept hearing about this band Damesviolet. I was about 19 and working at Starbucks. I don’t know what it was about this band, but I hated them. The songs were catchy and annoyed me to no end because they played all the time on KLBJ and on the now defunct channel 15 Austin Music Network. It was probably because they were playing and I wasn’t. I ran into Sarah and she told me her cousins were in that band. I forgot about it. Two years later I transferred to a different Starbucks in tarry town. My boss told me that there were a few musicians that worked at the store and that I would probably like working there. It turned out to be Zak Loy. The first shift I worked with Zak, I asked him “Are you related to the Loy sisters? “ He said,” yeah they are my cousins.” We became quick friends, and started hanging out all the time. At the time I was earning my associates degree from ACC for Music Business. I was more focused on audio engineering. I had always been good at setting up equipment. Soon after I went to see Damesviolet and changed my mind about them. I thought “This band is incredible!” One day Zak asked me if I wanted to work for the band helping set up lights, and samplers at their shows. I didn’t know that this was the beginning of about 5 of the funnest years of my life. I said “Yes”. and did that for about 9 months. It was fun, but kept thinking I wish I could play with these guys. During these 9 months, the band was writing their second album “Room 107″. Right after it came out, their producer suggested that they get another guy to perform the extra parts from the album. They knew that I could play guitar and piano and asked me if I wanted the gig, and I immediately agreed to do it. Finally I was on stage! Another 9 months went by and the original bass player Evan Huston left the band. We asked Drew Walters to help play some shows. He was living in Katy, TX at the time. He kept driving to and from to play with us. He was in a band called Pilot Radio that we had played with several times. A very good band. We got word from him that Pilot Radio was breaking up. We thought, we should steal Drew. So we asked him to join the band. We all moved into a big house in Westlake, then Drew moved to Austin shortly after. We were touring and writing over the next year until we recorded “Upside Down” in Los Angeles. We toured on this album for another year or two. Then out of frustration the band broke up in May of 2007. Everybody parted ways and started playing with different bands. Drew and Zak went on to Mothers Anthem. Tommy started playing with Alpha Rev. Beaux released a solo album. I created Eye Rock started playing with The Spoiled, and continued to work for Durham Electronics building guitar pedals for rock stars.
The Reunion Show stemmed from a random facebook comment by Beaux and Zak Loy’s mom. She wanted to hear the band one more time for her birthday. Word started getting around, and everyone agreed to do it. I didn’t think it would happen so fast. Within a week we had a headlining spot at Antones playing with some old friends Lance and Tyler of Love at War.
It was a very fun night that brought back a lot of old memories, and old faces. It was good to see everyone, and perform with some of my closest friends.
Ok, So I got to build a couple of Sex Drive Pedals for __________ ___________ this week. If you can guess which guitar player they belong to, Ill give you 5 free download codes valid for any artist on www.eye-rock.com. Ill give you a hint.
“Its a bitch girl and It’s gone too far. Cause you know it don’t matter anyway”
I would like to introduce eye-rock.com’s new reporter/interviewer John Randycane. His first interview for www.eye-rock.com is with Stewart Gersmann of Austin, TX band The Spoiled. Watch the video for the latest news about The Spoiled.
I have been a huge fan of Pink Floyd for well over a decade. Pretty much for as long as I’ve been playing guitar. Something about incredible music with great guitar work, and ambient effects. While I was in the band Damesviolet my main job was to play keyboards, rhythm guitar, and make ambient effects. At the same time I started working for Durham Electronics building guitar pedals. Being surrounded in a creative environment and a musical electronic environment, I absorbed a lot of inspiration. Over the years I learned more and more about electronics and how they work. There was this one sound/effect done by David Gilmour in the song Echoes I wanted to know how to do. First I figured out how it was done. Then I realized there wasn’t a guitar pedal that featured that option. Next I bought some parts and built a prototype. Six months later I had designed a guitar pedal, and started yet another company. Eye Rock Electronics company that is a sister company to www.eye-rock.com. Here is the result, my pedal the Gullmour Wah. The demo video features my former bandmate Zak Loy. Currently he is a guitar player for Mothers Anthem. Please visit Eye Rock Electronics for more info about the pedal.
Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Over the past few months I had heard that Esteban was in town recording a new album. If you don’t know who Esteban is, you have probably seen him on the QVC channel, a Geico commercial or on the late night infomercials. He sells a guitar lesson package which includes an acoustic guitar, instruction video and booklet. He’s usually dressed in black, with dark sunglasses and a bolero style hat. He teaches you in his lessons that you can play anything from “Bach to Rock”. He is highly trained flamenco guitar player. Its not my taste of music, but when I worked in Barnes & Noble’s music department his albums were some of the best selling in the World music section.
My boss Alan had been invited to the studio to meet with Esteban to show him some guitar pedals and help out with some tones. When he got back he told me that Esteban wanted two identical pedal boards for his live performances with his daughter who is a talented violinist. I built and set up the boards with instruction from Alan. I documented each step of the process and created a video of it. I was hoping we could get a picture with Esteban, but he has already left town. Maybe sometime in the future.
The signal chain for his board is as follows.
Guitar>DE Sex Drive>EH Memory Toy>EH Holy Grail Plus>AKAI Head Rush 2>EB Passive Volume Pedal Jr. > Out
Hello,
My name is Nick Garza. I am a musician, electronics tech and small business owner. I work for Durham Electronics. I own and operate www.eye-rock.com, and Eye Rock Electronics. At Durham Electronics, I hand build his line of guitar pedals and occasionally work on amplifiers. Ive had the opportunity to build pedals for some of the most famous guitar players in the world and some people that are just famous. To name a few Charlie Sexton, The Edge(U2), Keith Richards, Ronny Wood (Rolling Stones), Bob Dylan, and the rest of his band. Johnny Depp is even believed to have a Durham Electronics Sex Drive pedal! www.eye-rock.com is a website I created while I was in the band Damesviolet. We traveled far and wide to try and sell our music. We would sell our albums for $10, but always would get several fans at shows not having enough money to buy it. They would say, “I only have $5, can I buy the cd for $5?” Unfortunately we would lose a sale. In response to that happening all the time, and assuming that it happens to every band out there, I created www.eye-rock.com. A place where any band/artist of any stature can sell their music online, and create download cards to sell at their shows. In that situation, of I only have $5, you can say, You can buy 5 songs! Eye Rock Electronics is a company I started this year to sell a pedal I created called the Gullmour Wah. Its a pedal that Ive thought about for a couple of years. A very neat effect that makes some crazy noises. I finally built a prototype a year ago, and showed it to some friends. Now the pedal is out and is getting a pretty good response.
The reason I’m creating this blog is to connect everything I do into one place. I will be attaching this blog to my websites www.eye-rock.com, and www.eyerocktronics.com. I’m going to create videos of events I attend, how-tos for the musician community, write articles on things that I find interesting. Pretty much a broad scope of everything I do.
*Thanks for checking out the blog, and stay tuned for a new blog! I have several coming up!
