Tango In The Attic

June 26th, 2012

Artwork for our Tango In The Attic remix

We recently just wrapped up a very cool remix that we are quite proud of, and we would love for you to check it out and share it around. One of the things that is so cool about this remix is how it came about, being that the Scottish band, Tango In The Attic, somehow knew about Inspired Flight and liked us enough to reach out to us about doing it. This is somewhat of a first for iF, and is especially cool because I have such a love for melodic, indie rock music from the UK. Getting to do a proper remix for such a band, and of such a good song with great elements for remixing, was definitely a treat, and we had a lot of fun doing it! Another great thing about this remix is that they decided to use it for a lot of their current promotion, rather than use their own version right now, which we take to be a real honor. They must not think it sucks… Sadly we’ve never met the Tango In The Attic guys, but apparently someone involved with their band, I think with management, saw iF perform at SXSW in 2011, and that’s how they got hipped to us in the first place. Having done a remix for them now that we are so proud of, and that we even have began performing live at our own shows, we would love to actually meet these dudes. I’m sure it’s a matter of time until our paths do cross and we find ourselves sharing a pint and some big laughs, but until then we are bonded by this musical collaboration, and I think I can safely say for all of us that we would love for you to listen. Cheers!

- Chavez

P.S. One other thing, today is Eric Poline’s birthday! Yeah boi!!!!!! Happy Birthday maing!

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Remix of Beats Antique

June 5th, 2012

Beats Antique is a really cool electronic music and dance/performance group with a rapidly growing career. Since Inspired Flight joined the ranks of the Madison House booking agency, who also books Beats Antique, we have been fortunate to open for them on a number of shows, and play with them at a number of music festivals. Towards the end of last year Beats Antique reached out to iF about doing a remix for them of their song, Cat Skillz, which is a featured song from their newest album, Elektrafone. Remixing their song was a blast, and they loved it enough to include it on the remix album they just put out featuring 12 different remixes of Cat Skillz by 12 different DJ’s/producers/groups. The iF remix includes a feature by our boy, Scarub of Living Legends, and can be downloaded for free, along with the rest of the remixes, from the Beats Antique bandcamp page here. Please check it out and spread the word! Also, you can catch us opening for Beats Antique again later this summer on July 28th at Britt Festival in Jacksonville, OR. It’s gonna be such a dope show!

- Chavez

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Coachella 2012

April 23rd, 2012

Coachella 2012

So we’re back and still recovering from weekend 1 of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year. Coachella is a special festival because it happens on such a grand scale as far as size of the venue, amount of people that are there, and the great number of superb performances that happen by some of the best music acts around. It’s a LOT of fun, but the senses are overstimulated, the body is overworked, and personal space is overcrowded to such a high degree for three days straight to where it is incredibly exhausting by the end of the whole thing. That isn’t to say it’s a not great experience and super fun time, because Coachella is awesome, but a week later we feel like we are still recovering.

Prior to this year I have been to Coachella three or four times, and it has always been a highlight of my year! I haven’t been able to attend for the past few years though so finally getting back was an exciting feeling, but besides all of the awesome music and art to be seen there was something really special and trippy about attending this year: Inspired Flight was actually a performing act on the Do Lab stage! WTF?! This was definitely special for a number of reasons, but two of the main ones are that I have always dreamed of playing while attending the other years I’ve gone, and Eric had never been to Coachella so his first time experiencing the festival at all was going to be as a performer; so special for us both in different ways! We performed on the super vibey Do Lab stage from 1-2pm on the closing day of weekend 1, Sunday, April 15th. I must admit I had fears of there being hardly any people watching us at such an early time slot, but by the time we started there were already a few more than I expected would show, and the crowd got bigger and bigger with each song we played. By the end of our set there was a really good-sized crowd hanging at the Do Lab stage, and they were all showing us a lot of love, dancing it up, and having a great time. Our set went well, and we got to have my brother, Zach, who is a really talented MC, perform with us and rap over three songs. This was very special for me because he and I have never performed together before, plus he had never been to Coachella either, or any proper music festival for that matter. It was so cool for iF to be able give my brother the experience of performing his first time attending Coachella, and what a context for him and I to finally take the stage together for the first time! I really look forward to when we’re old men, reminiscing about that time we first played Coachella together…
For all of our fans who wanted to be there to see us play but couldn’t, and I know that sadly a lot of you couldn’t get to Coachella this year, or were going for weekend 2 and missed our set, here is some cool video shot with my phone by our friend, Tabatha Conrad, that shows the vibe and energy of the crowd, and the experience we all had. We can’t wait till we’re rocking the Sahara tent at one of the next Coachella’s. See you there : )

- Chavez

Note: If the video looks too grainy please change the quality to one of the higher HD settings. Word!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Ah, wonderful music…

February 3rd, 2012

Man, it has been quite awhile since I’ve written a proper blog, and for anybody who enjoys reading these I do apologize for that. I assume there may be only one or two of you out there that the last sentence pertains to, and I’m probably related to you, but nonetheless, I never meant to fall off the grid this long. At least the reason for it mainly has to do with being so busy creating music! Eric and I have been putting in some serious work on our album, and having some serious fun, and getting some pretty serious results that Sirius radio may want to transmit to Sirius Black. What does all of this mean? That we are sponsored by the word “serious…” But seriously, our second album is sounding very good so far, and when I just burned a CD the other day of the songs we have in the works I couldn’t believe it was already at ten songs! What’s kind of crazy is that we still have a lot more we’ve talked about doing for the album that we haven’t even started yet, so we are going to have too many songs… I guess this is good though cause it means we can take the 11 or 12 worst ones, put them on our album, and then sell the rest to Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus. Anyway, the point is that there is lots of new music happening, and it is all very inspiring, and we can’t wait to share with the world! The album is realistically a few months away still from release, but just know that we are working hard on it, trying to give you something you will love and be excited about.
And on that note, I want to share a song I just discovered that is very inspiring to me right now. It is not often that new music comes along, especially something mainstream on the radio, that hits me in a good way like a ton of bricks. I was driving last night and caught half of a song that kind of tripped me out. I was so intrigued by the melody, and even more so the phrasing, of the chorus, and just the whole sound and production of the song struck me as very unusual for something current. When I got to my friend’s house I asked him if he knew the song, which I proceeded to sing to him since I had no idea who or what it was. He had no idea either, but thanks to the wonderful world wide web (it should have four w’s) it didn’t take long to find the track: Gotye, “Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra).” We downloaded it and then sat in silence as we both listened to the song in its entirety on my friend’s good speakers, and wow… I mean, whoa…seriously good. I checked out the song again this evening on YouTube, and after hearing it again and watching the video I am hooked. There are so many things about this song that inspire me! First off the production is perfect for it, and the instrumentation and reverbs on everything create such a cool mood. Then you have the tone and expressiveness of the vocals being so intimate and raw, and emotive. The lyrics are great as well! It’s kind of incredible how someone can take the theme of a relationship ending and things being bad, which has been sung about SO many times, but make it potent, poignant, and non-cliche, which is not easy to do at all in my opinion. Then there is the melody, which is so simple, but so beautiful, and which gets really creative with the choruses. I’m amazed how there are only twelve notes in Western music, yet somebody can still arrange them in such a way that it sounds original and exciting. Based upon the number of YouTube views and the very unusual number of “likes” and comments I got on my Facebook thread about this song I am not the only one inspired and excited about Gotye. Whether you are already familiar with this song or not I want to share it here because it’s the first song to come out in a long time to make me feel like this. Isn’t it awesome being excited about music? I’m also going to attach an epic cover of this song because I think it is way worth taking the time to stop and watch; and as if I wasn’t already pumped up enough about the Gotye song, this cover made me feel really, REALLY good inside about life, about music, about being human… There is power in this music. Enjoy…

- Chavez

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Working on the new album and adding a drummer, finally!

January 13th, 2012

Wow,
it’s been a long time since we’ve put a blog post up; I apologize for that! Things have been pretty busy and hectic the last few months, but most of that craziness has passed and we are now officially on the journey of making iF album number 2, and blogging again. We are so excited for this, and I am so happy with how the new songs are coming along so far. Eric and I have been putting in work and we filmed this video at our last get-together. We’re stoked to be integrating Josh Olmos on drums to our live set as well, which has been something we’ve wanted to do since we started iF. It’s taken awhile, but things are beginning to organically line up for the addition of a live drummer, so this is also very exciting. 2012, on like Donkey Kong, yo.

- Chavez

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

iF featured on new Eligh and Amp Live album

November 9th, 2011

Therapy At 3

On 11/15/11 there will be a new album released by two very strong forces in hip-hop. Eligh of Living Legends crew, and Amp Live of Zion I, have teamed up together to make an album, Therapy At 3, which is going to be a really dope release! Not only are we happy to promote this because Eligh is our boy who has rapped on three Inspired Flight songs to date, but Inspired Flight is also fortunate enough to be a featured guest on one of the tracks, titled “Ego Killer.” This is the second time iF has now been involved with an Eligh release, and we are very excited for it! The album also features appearances by Zumbi, The Grouch, Basik, Grieves, Blake Hazard, Steve Knight, Busdriver, and more. From what I’ve heard of the album so far it is not only really good hip-hop all around, but the song iF is on, “Ego Killer,” just so happens to have one of the coolest beats I may have ever heard. The song actually has two parts, the first half of it being the main song including vocals by myself and Ashley Marie Mazanec, who sings on much of our We All Want To Fly album and has done many live shows with us. Then, when it seems the song ends, it turns into this whole new beat, which is very different and just instrumental. It feels like a new song, but it is actually the same track number. I just told Eligh how much I loved this beat, and asked for him to pass on props to Amp Live for making it, but what’s funny is that it turns out that this instrumental part is the only beat on the whole album that Eligh actually produced himself. I shouldn’t be surprised because Eligh is a REALLY good producer on his own. Amp Live’s production is way cool though throughout the album, and it’s an honor to be included again on a project Eligh is working on. Please check out Therapy At 3 and spread the word. Eligh is a very hard-working, passionate, dedicated artist who is extremely talented, and who is making music for all of the right reasons. He is an independent artist on the grind, so supporting him would mean a lot. And when you check him out, for those who aren’t already Eligh fans, really pay attention to what he is saying. His lyrics are more honest and intimate than most, and there is a lot of power and wisdom behind his words.
Also, if you aren’t already hip to Eligh’s last solo album, Grey Crow, you must check this out and buy it as well! The beats are sic and very creative, the lyrics are really well-written and powerful, the messages and themes are great, the guest appearances are awesome, and iF is fortunate enough to be featured on two of of the songs, which you can hear below. Psssst…pass it on!

- Chavez

Grey Crow songs:
Eligh – Wish I Would (feat. Inspired Flight) by Inspired Flight
Eligh – Desire (feat. Inspired Flight) by Inspired Flight

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Playing with Thievery Corporation

September 30th, 2011

Show poster, iF with Thievery Corporation

So last week what I would say has been the highlight of my musical career and journey happened. Inspired Flight opened for Thievery Corporation at House of Blues in San Diego, and the way it all played out was just incredible. It’s a little strange to think of the experience as the highlight of my career so far because there have been so many other epic experiences over the past year, but it’s kind of like each new one outdoes the previous, and I feel so blessed (I am so blessed) to be having so many wonderful things happen that all challenge each other as the coolest thing I’ve ever done so far with music. Since Inspired Flight got picked up and represented by Madison House as a booking agency about a year ago we have opened for Bonobo, played a number of amazing music festivals, played a bunch of shows with Beats Antique, I’ve met and kicked it with Inspectah Deck, we’ve done a handful of tours, flown and played shows out of state, played with Emancipator, and now opened for Thievery Corporation. There has been even more cool stuff that has happened I’m not remembering or am not mentioning right now, but these are the highlights all in contention for highlight of my career. I suppose in each one’s own way they are all a tie for the coolest thing I’ve experienced so far on my musical path, but here is what happened just over a week ago to make me say I feel like the Thievery Corporation show takes the cake.

I got a call on Wednesday, 9/14, saying that we got to open for Thievery Corporation on the upcoming Sunday, 9/18, for their make-up show at House of Blues since the original one was the night of the crazy, historical blackout that worked San Diego. Funny enough the blackout caused a bunch of huge pains in my ass, but all the while the cards were lining up, unbeknown to me, to allow iF to get this show. Funny how things work out sometimes… So we get this epic show to just fall into our lap out of the blue, and it’s super short notice, and just super crazy and exciting. By the way, if for some reason you aren’t familiar with Thievery Corporation let me just say that they rule super hard, and are hugely successful and famous for what they do, and playing with them is kind of a big deal, and a great honor. Anywho, Sunday rolls around and we show up at the venue, get all set up, do a good, thorough sound check, and then we wait for the big moment! And…..and…..and……..there is nobody at all in the venue : ( It’s well past doors and the place is empty, and I was kind of confused and a little bummed when someone on HOB staff explains that there was a gnarly flood in the room right next to the room with all of the electrical for the entire venue/restaurant, and that the show was possibly going to be called off till the next day, and that they weren’t letting anybody in until they got this flood resolved. This was very bizarre news to say the least. What ended up happening is that they couldn’t get the flood controlled enough to risk putting on the show, and a long line of impatient and uninformed fans were told after an hour and a half of waiting past the original doors time that there was no show, and it was moved to the next night, Monday. This seemed like a bad thing to me at first, but iF was still getting to open the next night, and we were able to leave all of our stuff at the venue, set up on the stage and ready to go, so it wasn’t really so bad, and regardless it was just one of those things where you really just have to go with the flow and not care. Well, this second, crazy cancellation of the Thievery SD show totally sucked for their fans, which kind of bummed me out to see, but it ended up being so awesome for us for networking and just meeting new, cool people. We had chatted a lot and bro’d down pretty well with the MC Mr. Lif while waiting for word about the flood, and he ended up inviting us with him back to the hotel that the whole Thievery camp was staying at for drinks at the hotel bar. Sunday night ended up being a super chill night of great conversation, food, and drinks with a bunch of people from the Thievery band and crew, and it was so cool to hang out in a context that had nothing to do with playing a show together. What made this so cool, I must clarify, isn’t the fact that it was Thievery Corporation, rather it is the fact that everyone involved with Thievery Corporation is really genuine and super cool. If they were all dicks it wouldn’t have felt special just because it’s “Thievery Corporation.” But these are great people and we had good times.

Now for Monday, day of the actual show. This time getting to the venue was so chill because everything was set up, plus there wasn’t any of that anxiety of meeting everyone in the band. Instead it was like, “Hey, what’s up man? Good to see you again…” kind of a thing, which was cool. Then we played for a crowd more receptive to what we do than any other we have ever played for, with the exception of a rather enthusiastic and drunk crew at a house party we did in SD once who knew the words to every song and shouted them along with us (that was awesome). But this crowd was mainly people who had never heard us before, and they responded so positively and strongly to our set! Plus we were told by everyone we know who was there who has been following us since the beginning that it was the best performance we had ever done by far. I have no idea why this would be, but if it’s true then that’s awesome, because Thievery Corporation watched us play our best show we ever did. If there was ever a time to be on point, this Monday night was it. And it was so cool that much of Thievery Corp. actually checked out at least part of our set, instead of not caring and totally ignoring us as the opener. Then, after we played, we were shown a lot of love and respect by the whole Thievery band and camp! It was so rad… Then Thievery Corp. played an incredible show that we got to watch alongside them from the sides of the stage, which in itself was such a treat; just non-stop awesomeness! It totally gets better though : ) After the show our singer that night, Erica Dee, and I set up a cipher on the street corner outside with Ras Puma and Lif, which Ras Puma had filmed and said would eventually make its way onto YouTube. Once it’s there I will add it to this blog post. But video or no video it was so much fun to have a random freestyle session together on the street all late at night. Good times! Then I had a lot of fun kicking it with everyone backstage for awhile, just shooting the shit and meeting more, new, cool people. As the night was winding down it was just about a third of the band left, a few of their friends, plus me and our merch guy, Kyle. Thievery wanted to go out to a bar so we all walked across downtown together to La Puerta, and then got the royal treatment by being let in even though the place was about to close and they weren’t letting anybody in anymore. We were told to go to the back, which was designated for Thievery, and then the staff proceeded to walk around with trays full of either mugs of cold beer with limes in them, or nice tequila shots in cool glasses with limes, all for free. It was definitely a trip for me, and the first time I’ve been part of anything like that. Lets just say that is definitely not how I roll, but there I was, and I was rolling with it, and it was great fun. I met even more cool, new people, and also got to bro down more with some of the band members I had been already hanging with a lot. When the bar finally closed all of the Thievery people got into cabs and took off back to the hotel, and Kyle and I walked back across the Gaslamp District to House of Blues, super high off life and the events of the night. I am still high off the whole two-night experience! So from all of that happening, plus Rob Garza, one of the main guys of Thievery Corporation’s core duo, telling us how much he liked our stuff and that he wanted a vinyl of ours (which we fully gave him), it was probably the highlight of my career so far. It may sound dorky, but I totally framed one of the show posters. I haven’t put it up yet for some reason, but I am looking forward to when I do. Maybe tomorrow I’ll do that : )

Man, I just realized that this year isn’t even over yet. What amazing adventure lies ahead? What is it going to be that outdoes this one? Maybe Radiohead will want us to clean their swimming pool, or perhaps Damon Albarn will hear our album and beg us to play frisbee with him. Or maybe Paul McCartney will discover us and ask me to shave his balls. A man can dream, can’t I? Well, whatever it is, I’m really looking forward to it, and I trust it’s coming. I feel like this is all just the beginning, but even if it were all the end and I die tomorrow, or the Yellowstone caldera blows next Thursday, or whatever, it’s been so cool. Like, cooler than cool…like…ice cold…
- Chavez

Thievery 2

Our stuff set up in front of Thievery Corporation’s stuff before the show.

Thievery 1

Cool view of Thievery Corporation performing, looking right over the sitar case.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Throwback Pop

September 14th, 2011

Kevin Martin

My old songwriting partner in crime, ex-bandmate, and one of my best friends since being young dorks discovering an obsession with making music, just put out his first solo album; his name is Kevin Martin and the album is called Throwback Pop.  It’s pretty much a pop record, and sounds nothing like the music Inspired Flight makes, but I want to share and promote his album on the iF blog for a couple of reasons.

First off I will honestly say that his album, in my opinion, has the most hip, creative, catchy, and maturely-crafted pop melodies I have ever heard on a pop album.  I know that’s quite a claim, and I’ve thought about it a lot before determining that that is really how I feel before saying so, but it is how I feel.  By the way, when I say “pop” I don’t mean Britney Spears or Lady Gaga stuff.  I’m referring to pop like how a band would play pop; think more along the lines of Ben Folds, Fastball, Beatles…  I’m not saying the songwriting is better than any other catchy pop album ever, but it’s as good for sure.  One might be surprised to hear that someone they know could make an album so legit, but with Kevin I’m really not surprised it’s as good as it is.   Kevin is one of the best songwriters I know of, and this album is a great representation of what he is capable of.  Also, the production and arrangements on the album are executed so well, sound so good, and compliment the songwriting in such a nice way, that the album is just really, REALLY good.  Kevin teamed up with a dude named Lauren Scheff who did all of the production, engineering, and much of the playing, and the collaboration of the two of them is fantastic.  Scheff’s work has a lot to do with why the album and songs turned out as rad as they did.  Also, the outside musicians they got to play on the album are all of a very high caliber, so from top to bottom the album was made right.  One reason to check this album out is just because it kicks ass.

Second reason I’m sharing this here is because of the musical history Kevin and I share, and how much we have influenced each other as songwriters, which ultimately has something to do with Inspired Flight.  Kevin and I met through our mutual friend Brandon Parker when Kevin was 12 and I was a ripe 15.  I may have had a few dark spots starting to show up on the peel, but I was still ripe.  By the way, I have no idea what that last sentence means.  Anywho, what instantly drew us together as friends and led to the friendship we made, and the careers we each even have right now, was our obsession with writing songs.  It’s like it was all we lived for, and we happened to do it together really well.  I’m talking Lennon/McCartney chemistry as far as sharing a passion and being on the same page with it.  Kevin, Brandon, and I ended up forming a band called Bliss, which became Azure, which ultimately became “jack the original,” and though we had a rotating cast of drummers (Nick Auen, Josh Olmos, Bryon Andersen, and Isaac Cass), we were a band together for 10-11 years!  All Kevin and I did and cared about was writing songs, writing songs, writing songs.  Did I mention we wrote songs all the time?  Then we wrote more songs.  There was also that one time when we wrote a bunch of songs.  And when we weren’t writing songs we were probably writing songs.  We were good at it.  And we got better and better.  For more than our first decade of being songwriters he and I wrote together, developing the craft and continuously influencing each other as we progressed with the skill.  I want to write, “as we progressed with the game,” because to me writing songs is just a SUPER fun and challenging game, but I suppose it’s a skill as well.  My point to all of this is that if you are a fan of the We All Want To Fly album that Inspired Flight put out, and you appreciate what is happening melodically with the vocals in our stuff, that songwriting style is somewhat shaped by Kevin because of my background with him.  Likewise, all of the songwriting and melodies on Kevin’s new Throwback Pop album are somewhat shaped by me.  None of this is intentional, but as far as I see it it can’t be helped.  He and I write differently, and we are totally different people, but we hugely shaped how the other writes.  To listen to his new album would be to understand me more as a songwriter, and studying iF would make you understand him more as a songwriter.  I’m not sure if this is making any sense to you as you read this, but it makes a lot of sense to me.   Anyway, check out his album here.  And if you really want to scope the 10-year+ musical background of mine to see what I was super focused on before Inspired Flight you should check out our band we had together here.  The song Smarmy People Rankle is pretty crazy; may want to check that one out to hear how out-there we could get : )  jack the original is quirky, indie-pop/rock music with absolutely no rules or boundaries to it, but it’s fun and it’s good.  Lots of people thought we were really good.  We worked hard, we took what we did seriously, and we evolved a lot and took it pretty far.  I’d like to think that somewhere in an alternate universe jack the original reached it’s potential and blew up, influencing and bringing joy to lots of people all over the world this very instant.  But in this universe it’s my story, and it’s Kevin’s story, and it’s how we got where we are now.  Inspired Flight would never exist if jack the original hadn’t began, grown, and eventually failed and ended.  If you are a fan of iF you may get a kick out of hearing the old jack the original stuff.  You also may hate it and vomit in your mouth a little bit real quick.  Either way it’s the beginning of Inspired Flight. Can you dig?

- Chavez
Throwback Pop by KevinMartinMusic

Kevin gabe

Kevin and I writing songs together at Gonzaga Bay in Mexico.

Kevin&brandon

Brandon, Kevin, and…I’m pretty sure that’s my ear on the left!  So young…

Kevin brandon gabe

Kevin, me, and Brandon.  Yes, I was a huge dork, and yes, I’m wearing a Jonny Lang shirt…

jack the original

jack the original band pic with Isaac Cass as our drummer.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Long and Winding Chode…I mean…Road

September 5th, 2011

Trying to have a career creating and performing music is really difficult.  Like…WAY hard.  I have been on a musical journey for nearly 16 years now, and most of that time I could consider myself being extremely focused and dedicated to the path.  The amount of passion, fortitude, growth, work, progress, set-backs, hopes, let-downs, egos, laughter, tears, frustrations, determination, tests, and faith I’ve experienced over the past 16 years is probably impossible to accurately describe with words.  At the least I know that it’s too much for me to try and describe right now in this blog, but it’s been “gnarly,” as I would say.  Side note:  the amount of SoCal-mixed-with-hip-hop slang I use on a daily and casual basis is arguably ridiculous; gnarly to say the least.  But I digress…  I have gone from believing with all my heart and soul in my band Bliss (which became Azure, which became jack-the-original), to making a solo Chavez album and a 17-track hip-hop CD(Beatniks), to creating an electronica album called Mechanical Cats that I thought would be my ticket to wider recognition and a career, to making another hip-hop CD I really believe in(Area Sound-Gemnastics), to creating Metrofique, which is some of my favorite music I’ve ever created by far, to making my Mister Mustard Beatles remix album, to finding Inspired Flight and having iF bring me here where I am now.  Of all of these projects the one that has my full attention and is still really happening is Inspired Flight.  Sometimes I feel like despite all of my progress along my musical path I am still so far from reaching the success I’ve always hoped for, which mainly is to have only music pay the bills and fully support a decent yet modest lifestyle of my own.  Other times I feel so incredibly blessed for Inspired Flight to have taken me where I even am now, with the incredible experiences of playing awesome shows and festivals with established artists, and getting to do some really great touring, and getting so much love and attention from fans all over the world, even if iF is still relatively underground.  I have worked my ass off for so long trying to do music, and I know that most people/bands with the same dream I have never even get a taste of the experiences I’ve been having over the past year with this iF project.  So in a way I have already made it.  “Made it.”  What does that mean?  How will I know when I have finally “made it?”  I suppose it’s all perspective because at times I feel like I haven’t, and at times I feel like I totally have already.  So maybe I have.  But I guess for me “making it” means I’m not stressing off of not having enough money to live.  I don’t need to be balling out of control like people on MTV Cribs, and I don’t want to be famous like Black Eyed Peas, or Katy Perry, or whoever.  I just want to make music for a living.  Actually, I have to make music for a living.  I don’t have a plan B.  I’ll never forget sitting in on a panel discussion about record labels at the first San Diego Music Thing, which was then called the North by North Park Festival/Conference.  Greg Laswell was a panelist, and someone asked for his advice to a songwriter/singer wanting to have a career with music.  Greg pretty much said that his best advice is if you have a plan B, do it!  He went on to explain how damn hard it is, how much work it takes, to have this be your life, and that you pretty much have to be crazy to really do it.  I remember feeling in that moment, as I do now, that his answer was great because I have no plan B.  I’m not sure how or when it’s going to work out for me, but I know it’s going to because it has to.  Anyway, as much as I love Inspired Flight and am aware of all of the blessings it brings, and all that we have accomplished and are going to do in the near future, it’s still hard sometimes to keep the faith and stay strong 16-years into a path that hasn’t gotten you to your destination you set out for when you started.  The whole reason I am even here now with my career is because I am always able to overcome the doubts and frustrations with confidence and faith, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t times where I wonder what the hell I am trying to do with my life, and how the hell it’s going to ultimately work out for me.  What’s awesome though is that no matter how lost I may feel in the struggle, something like an epic sunset at the beach will always calm me down, make me know that everything is and will be okay, and recharges me with the faith and surrendering to the unknown outcome that I need to make this dream happen.  Today I experienced one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen; it was near my buddy’s house in Pacific Beach.  I had been in one of the more lost head-spaces all day about my life/music, but this sunset totally put me at ease and brought me back to the essence, meaning I know that it’s all good, and it’s all going to be good.  I thank _____ everyday (fill in the blank with whatever you please.  Most people would probably insert the word “God” there, or perhaps “the universe.”) for all that I have and am super fortunate to have, and it’s such a joy and luxury to get to live somewhere where we can even see a sunset like the one that happened this evening.  Isn’t it amazing how nature can hit the reset button like it aint no thang?  Chicken wing on a string, son!

- Chavez

PB sunset 1

PB sunset 3

PB sunset 2

Sunset in Pacific Beach, 9/5/11

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Tour 4 sure

August 26th, 2011

Aaahhhhhh, being on the road.  I am sitting at a Laughing Planet Cafe in Eugene, OR right now having just gormandised a Che Guevara burrito.  I guess I didn’t quite gormandise it, but I did rather enjoy it, and haven’t had one since last time we came through Portland.  Side note:  Laughing Planet is the shit, and the Che Guevara burrito rules.  If they opened some Laughing Planet locations in SD, or even more specifically in my hometown of Encinitas, it would probably be the most popular restaurant there.  Anywho, I’m at Laughing Planet and now I’m eating a chocolate cookie that has way too much butter in it, and finally finding some time to blog again.  Being on the road is pretty gnarly as far as how much is going on, how much energy is exerted, how awkward sleeping arrangements can be, how late you stay up, how much work it is lifting, moving, setting up and tearing down our gear, how much time is spent sitting in a van driving, and how much PCP is injected into your face every morning by a complete stranger speaking Portuguese.  Well, maybe not the last one for Inspired Flight, but I’ve heard stories…  Touring is awesome though, despite the toll it takes on one’s body.  We are on the road this run with a new female vocalist named Miss Erica Dee, and she is fo sheezy Deezy to say the least.  We’re having a great time with her and she is adding something really cool to the iF sound.  Eric’s girlfriend, Abby, is also on this run with us, and she has been super helpful and lots of fun, and creates a good even balance of male-female energy that is making the tour great so far.  And what’s really cool about this tour is that somehow everything seems to be working out just right, starting with randomly stopping our first night at Avila Hot Springs to camp, and scoping Avila Beach the next day before our Santa Cruz show.  I had never been to or even heard of Avila Beach, but it’s so cool!  I urge you to check it out if you are ever on the road traveling California along the 101.  I am now in Eugene because we ended up doing somewhat of a last-minute house party in Eugene last night, and we play the Celebration Eugene festival with Emancipator tomorrow.  The house party was dope, and we played in a small room packed with enthusiastic people loving and dancing to our stuff, and there was a really legit LED lighting system behind us going off to our music, and the room was so hot from the bodies and the summer weather that Eric and I ended up performing nearly our whole set with our shirts off!  Playing shirtless is definitely not how iF rolls, but it was cool to just not care and rock it like that in this crowded, stuffy house party environment.  Our tour so far has been a lot of fun with a mixture of show experiences that kind of breakdown as follows:

Santa Cruz:  We played Moe’s Alley.  Not very many people but the people there knew who we were and were super stoked off of us.  We had some super fans come out which was a real treat, and one of the first times that has happened, if not the first, and we sold a lot of merch and had a lot of fun playing for people dancing hard to our set.

San Francisco:  We played The Independent opening for The Coup.  The venue was really cool and we had a big crowd to see us!  The room was especially packed by the time we finished our set, and the crowd was very attentive and ultimately receptive to what we were doing.  It was our biggest and best show in the bay area to date by far.  Note to whom it may concern:  pronouncing The Coup like “coop” to Boots’ face may result in feeling very stupid later when the rest of the night you hear everybody else, including Boots himself,  refer to them as The Coup, like “coo.”

Arcata:  We played Humbrews with my brother’s group, Area Sound.  The turnout wasn’t quite as packed as we had hoped, but there was still a great crowd with really big energy!  The show was lots of fun, and the live band backing up Area Sound killed it!

Seattle:  We played The White Rabbit.  This is a really vibey, great little spot in the Fremont area of Seattle, which is a super cool neighborhood.  Positives:  Abby, Erica, and two of her friends, danced to our set, and my brother who just moved to Seattle came out.  Also the sound guy was super cool.  Negatives:  4 people came out to the show and paid.  We made no money.  Not even the headline act showed up or the person who was to host the night.

Eugene:  We played a house party.  It was crazy, sexy, cool.  We rocked an hour set of just mashing up TLC.  Or did we????

And next we play the big show with Emancipator at McDonald Theater, which is why we are really on the road at all right now, and which we are very excited for!

So that’s the tour so far, or at least the quick version anyway.  We’ll get home late Monday night and then we’re playing a small local show at The Saloon in Encinitas, which is actually really fun to do.  Life is good : )  This cookie is still crazy buttery.  My laptop is about to die.  I’m tired.  Did I mention my whole mouth feels like a butter factory?  But life is good…

-Chavez

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

« Older Entries