Cafe Du Nord 8.8.08 Photo Blog

We stopped for foods shortly after passing through the grapevine.




Is it just me or does this panda seem like he's completely full of shit?








Once we were done playing, we got fucked up.










We arrived back at the hotel around 2:00 a.m. to discover, much to our disappointment, the pool had closed. Never one to pay attention to "rules", I told the hotel receptionist that I was going to do a cannonball into the pool at 3:30 a.m. I'm a man of my word. As soon as I stuck my head above the water after my initial plunge, I was greeted by the presence of hotel security and I said, "Hey! How's it going?" The hotel employee replied, "Okay...... so...... you can speak English and I'm guessing you're not illiterate so how about you get out of the pool now?" I respectfully went back to the hotel room and drank more beer.



This is the picture Regilio took that was suppose to be me in the middle of the air in cannonball form. He was drinking a decent amount.





We all made it back to Los Angeles safely. The bands we played with at Cafe Du Nord were amazing. LSD and The Search for God were dreamy and entrancing, Hot Lunch melted faces, and Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound were incredibly nice guys that blew minds on stage. San Francisco, we'll be seeing you again shortly. Special thanks to our tour manager, Mickey. Goddamnit, Mickey!

Video Flyers Save Paper

UK's

What does the goddamn line say Tony?

Danger week has continued to roll along for Useless Keys. Yesterday, Regilio managed to smack his shin into a fire hydrant as Guylaine and I strolled along the Venice boardwalk with him. He hobbled around for the remainder of the day. Later in the evening upon returning to his apartment, he tripped down some steps and faceplanted himself on his driveway. I guess you could say I "got caught up in the spirit of things" and sprained my ankle falling down a small set of stairs shortly thereafter. If you are ever in the Atwater Village neighborhood, I'm certain I'd be easy to spot these days; I'm the guy waddling down the sidewalk like a penguin, tending to a twisted ankle and a broken back.

Guylaine had a show last night with Sky Parade at a new venue in LA (Il Corral's old space) where she successfully blew out her eardrums. The room was all brick, incredibly narrow and her head was positioned inches away from a crash cymbal for 45 minutes. No one ever said that being a rock n' roller was easy.

Musically, UK's have been preparing new songs and tightening the set in preparation for our August shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles. We are playing at Cafe Du Nord on August 8th and Spaceland on August 29th. Our set time for both of the shows is 9:30pm. There's also been recent chatter concerning t-shirts in Camp UK. Be on the lookout for those. I hear they are Christmas 2008's "Ultimate Stocking Stuffer".

Lastly, UK's have been enamored over the past 24 hours by yet another youtube video. Meet Jack Rebney. He likes to cuss. "Get outta here you fucking flies." Personally, my favorte moment of the video is when Jack says to Tony, "Thank you very much, I appreciate that Tony, don't slam the fucking door!"







m to the b.
uk's

The Battle of Upland

Oh Upland! You savvy old veteran you! You put up a fair and respectable fight, attempting to defeat your opposition with self-inflicted wounds. While I do commend thee, I unabashedly claim victory and I do look forward to future confrontations....

UK's had a show last night (Sunday July 28) at Biacci's Pizza in Upland, CA with fellow Los Angeles rockers, Hello From Reno. The day started out with meeting up at the rehearsal space around 4pm, follow by a short run through of the set and a lengthy discussion of band politics. Guylaine had to tend to a sick cat so Rory, Regilio and I drove out in the van and we met up with her there. As we drove along the 210 Highway to make our destination, we grooved to Clinic's "Walking with Thee" and discussed beer production, Marblehead, MA, how Matt Damon has made it easier for Bostonians males to get action, the origin of the geographical term "east bumfuck" among other things. Personally, my favorite story was delivered by Rory Modica (UK's drummer with a thick Boston accent) as he recounted his initial reaction to Californian's probing of his Boston accent. I'm certain this isn't a completely accurate quote but read it anyways (and be sure to read it with a thick Boston accent in mind).

"You really stand out having a Boston accent in Los Angeles. I moved out to LA and people I'd meet in bars kept trying to get me to say certain words and shit. Like this one chick kept trying to get me to say "fork". I was like, fuck that, what am I? A fucking dog?"

That was the line of the night. "What am I? A fucking dog?" I assure you Rory is no dog. He's a motherfucking drummer that blasts the shit out of the skins, kudos to you Rory.

So the van rolls into Biacci's Pizza at 6:30 p.m. and we park right to the side of a beautiful, brand new, white, PT Cruiser. Michael Regilio, sitting in the passenger seat, swings open the passenger door and absolutely creams this beautiful new car. I was already walking toward the back of the van while he did so and noticed a large man with a bushy goatee, shaved head, rushing from Biacci's toward Regilio. This fine gentleman was the kind of individual one would envision belonging to a Hell's Angels-esque biker gang. So literally within seconds upon our arrival, UK's are already being threatened with getting our asses kicked. Goddamn you run a tight ship Upland! Regilio quickly and alertly decides the best course of action is complete denial, so after a hundred and twenty seconds of saying, "No, I swear I didn't hit it" the seas of masculinity calmed and Regilio found a quiet place to ponder his newly reestablished existence. After several clandestine efforts, we detected that no serious damage was done to the PT Cruiser and breathed easier.

Biacci makes one hell of a pizza.

Our set list was as follows:

Parking Lot Angel
Kamikaze
Down Threw
White Noise
It's All Made Up

We kept the set short in the interests of the new audience and Regill's was having some "tech diffs" which cut Neighbors. In my experience, after hearing 5 songs from a band you've never heard before, audience attention starts to wane. While taking apart his drumkit, Rory managed to smash his fingernail in, causing blood to squirt all over the stage and his shirt. Upland, you fiendish beast!

After playing, UK's decided to "tie one on" with the bartender since she was already leading the way. Hello From Reno had their first show and played a very tight and energetic set. My favorite song was "Roy Orbison" which was very pleasant on the ears, made me wish I was on a beach in Hawaii, not that I've ever been.

Around 10pm, it was declared by Sir Modica that it was time to load the van. I yelled at Regilio to help out, then I bent over, grabbed my amp in a bearhug, and picked up the 70 lb amp. Then.......you guessed it! UPLAND STRIKES AGAIN!

I completely threw my back out. I felt like a voodoo doll and someone just jabbed a needle directly into the middle of my back. I put the amp in the van, winced in pain and was unable to pick up so much as a mic stand the rest of the night. Ah, in retrospect, the pain was a small price to pay for this rock and roll life. UK's made it back to LA alive and ready to play another show, which is coincidentally August 8th in San Francisco at Cafe Du Nord, be there if you can.

Lessons Learned.

1. Be careful when opening up the van doors.
2. Be careful when breaking down the drums.
3. Be careful when lifting heavy objects.
4. Biacci's has great pizza and the bartender likes to have a good time.
5. Rock n' roll is bitch and pain is a small price to pay to enjoy it.



mb
uk's

And So It Begins......

Greetings fellow internet users. Useless Keys are 24 hours away from playing our inaugural show and we're feeling quite satisfied. After months of writing, rehearsing, procrastinating, sleeping, working, running, transporting, lifting, pondering, dreaming, drinking, avoiding, and accepting, we are ready to start performing. We do hope you enjoy the ride. Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times while it's moving, and in the event of an emergency, please remain calm and wait for instructions that will be transmitted to through the loud speakers.


As for personal information that can be divulged, Useless Keys is comprised of Guylaine Vivarat (bass, vocals), Rory Modica (drums, vocals), Michael Regilio (guitar, keys, vocals) and Michael Bauer (guitar, vocals). I'm pretty sure that all 4 of us want Barack Obama to become president in January of next year. It seems to me that rich Americans have had an ample amount of time to fill their treasure chests over the past 8 years and 2008 is the year that we make the playing field a little less lopsided. All 4 of us enjoy enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage, so we got that going for us, which is nice. We enjoy three part harmonies, even when one of us is notoriously off mark. Practice makes perfect, right? I'm trying, lord knows I'm trying.


Just for the record, Regilio's last name is pronounced- rah-jill-e-o. He hates it when people mispronounce his last name and harbors ill will until they make the correction, so you better get it right.


Okay, enough small talk. I'm sure we'll have something for you to buy soon. For now, just come to our show tomorrow at Spaceland. Rock and roll forever.


UK's

Welcome.

We will use this blog as other blogs are used, to direct and inform you. Welcome, good to have you aboard.

Michael