2007 Archives October 30, 2007 HALLOWEEN HAPPENINGS AT THE “GORY IN THE QUARRY.” We had a fun night at the legendary Nelson Ledges Rock Quarry Park this past Saturday Night. This is a festival that is put on every Halloween by Evan Kelley, the owner of the park. He puts on about 8 shows a year at this site. It must be amazing during the middle of the summer. The landscape is awesome! We were honored to be a part of this year’s event, and to have Barry Sless share the stage with us on guitar. He is a true professional and you can tell it the moment he picks up his axe. We took the stage for a 1½-hour set before The Ekoostik Hookah closed out the night.
It was good to get out of Los Angeles for a few days during the height of the Southern California wild fires. The air last week was thick with smoke, and everyday I went out to my car, it had new ashes all over it. I’ve never seen anything like this. My sister had to evacuate for 3 days before she could go back to her San Diego home. More than a half million people had to leave their homes. The winds, which last week gusted up to 100 mph, pushed flames across more than 500,000 acres, destroying more than 2,000 homes and forcing thousands into emergency shelters in seven Southern California counties.
The one up side of last week was that the surf was really good!!! I had 3 great sessions. We are looking forward to the show this Friday in New York City’s Highline Ballroom and the mid-west tour coming up in late November to mid December. See you out there shortly! Darren “DronP” Pujalet 10.27.07 Nelson Ledges Quarry Park - Garrettsville, OH (w/ Barry Sless) Gory At The Quarry Setist: Launchpad
September 12, 2007 Particle Runs Over Here and Then There! Hello Particle People! Quite a few things have happened since my last post. We just arrived back from a Colorado stint and our 7-year Anniversary run 2 weeks ago was an awesome experience. On September 13 th we played Canes in San Diego. It is located right on the water in Mission Beach. We were able to watch the sunset while we sound checked. It’s a beautiful setting. At that moment, I wasn’t sure weather I’d rather be surfing or playing drums. We had the band BOOMBOX on the bill again. They flew out from Alabama to do 2 shows with us. September 14 th was our 7-year anniversary show. What else can I say? It has been an exciting 7 years running around the US, Japan, Europe, Mexico, Canada while playing almost 1000 shows together as a band. We had a bunch of family in the house that night supporting us as they have since day one. It’s always a treat for me to see my parents on the dance floor surrounded by tons of Particle friends. I really enjoyed this show! We had a great jam with Boombox. It was a seamless transition in and out of Boombox’s music during our set break. One by one, they walk on, as each of us walked off separately, and then back on after the break without letting the music stop. They’re music is a great compliment to Particle. September 15 th & 16 th- C.P.G. (California Paper Gangsters) played a 2-night run at Club 115 in Austin, TX. Ben, Eric, and I had several guests throughout the weekend. We had a 4-piece horn-section; Tom Trombone, Meg and Margaret from Jabarvy and Russell from Toast on keys. These shows took place during Austin City Limits Festival. Eric and I had dinner at Stubb’s BBQ on Sat. night where Bob Dylan played a show in the back round. His show sold out in 20 minutes and it was as packed as I’ve seen that venue. September 27 th- We had an awesome show at the FOX in Boulder. The Shadow Sessions opened the show. They are a band that covers the DJ Shadow album Endtroducing from top to bottom extremely well. I was really impressed with their music. The band Green Lemon came by to play our set break. They took our instruments while we took a set break.These guys have become good friends of ours. They have come so far in the past few years. The crowd was off the hook in Boulder. I love that town. The fans have great spirit. I think the Hapa sushi helped fueled our show. September 28 th- This show was my personal favorite of the Colorado run. I had a blast on Friday night. Steve played with Phil and Friends to a solid crowd at the Fillmore earlier in the night, and then we rocked a late night show afterwards at Cervantes. We played my favorite Shoegoo to date as a show closer. I’m not sure what the mix was, but with a great crowd and fun music, came a great night. I look forward to getting back there soon. September 29 th- C.P.G. was back at Samana in Vail, CO. This was another really fun night. I had my old band mate, Bryan Wagstaff (from the band Jonas) play keys with us. I had not played with him in close to 8 years, so it was a blast from the past for us to play together again on the same stage. We also had some fun jams with DJ Blick and John from The Shadow Sessions. This town is very special for Particle. Now that 8150 is no longer, Samana has become our place to cause trouble. The fall foliage was in full effect and it actually snowed that night while we played our show. It was very strange seeing it dump snow in September. Who can predict the weather in the Rockies? September 30 th- C.P.G. played the REALM Festival with a host of great bands (Little Hercules, The Drew Emmitt Duo, Great American Taxi, Sucker, and many more). This was an outdoor fest in the middle of the Colorado Rockies near Glenwood Springs. We closed out the festival with a 2-hour set of almost complete improvisation. We had several special guests perform with us on our last night in Colorado; Bryan Wagstaff and Jeff Armistead on keys, Christian Basso from Little Hercules on Bass, Tyler Grant, Scott Kabel of Little Hercules, Drew Emmitt from Leftover Salmon, Rodney Coquia from Sucker all on guitar, and Scotty Stoughton of Sucker kicking the vocals. These guys are building a great festival. Special thanks to Pete, Scotty, and Chris for bringing out to this magical spot! I look forward to seeing you all out on the road soon! From over here, Darren Pujalet “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” - Sir Winston Churchill
2007 ARCHIVES September 12, 2007 ALASKA The area that became Alaska was purchased from Russian interests on October 18, 1867, for $7,200,000. The land went through several administrative changes before becoming an organized territory in 1912 and the 49th state of the U.S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" is derived from the Aleut alaxsxaq, meaning "the mainland", or more literally "the object towards which the action of the sea is directed.” We had another great run up in the northern most state. Our first day was a day off. The band and crew took a charter seaplane piloted by John Ellison over some glaciers, lakes, rivers and ocean. In 2 hours, we saw Black Bears, Elk, and Moose, Buffalo, Whales, Bald Eagles, Seals and Rain deer. The Anchorage show was packed with fans and first time Particle goers. Dan at the Moose’s Tooth took amazing care of our entire group. The Moose’s Tooth is the #1 independent pizza restaurant in the country. They ship pies all over the world. Our show was on 1 st tap. They introduce a brand new, never made style of beer on the 1 st Thursday of every month. The Fairbanks and Homer shows were also very fun. We had J. Wail and the band Gorilla Face support those shows. Special thanks to the GF guys for transporting us all over creation. This state is truly amazing. It is the best evidence of creation that I have ever seen. The mountains are mostly jagged volcanic peaks, often with glaciers that look like white melted wax that seep in between them. Wild life runs free everywhere. On Monday Sept. 3 rd, we played a show with Matisyahu in Missoula MT. The show was great, with over 2,000 fans in the audience. The sky’s there were tinted with smoke from the Idaho fires. I love that state. I will leave you with a quote: “All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particles of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together…..We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind.” Power VS. Force David Hawkins M.D.
The Gang off the Plane
In Flight
Glacier River
Glacier
Snowy Peaks
Eric in AK
September 10, 2007 Darren's Burningman Blog WHAT IS BURNINGMAN? I heard a quote my first day out on the Playa! This year was very different than any of the other 26. Our first night there included a Lunar Eclipse and an unexpected burning of the man. Some wise guy decided to put a match to the man on the first night. It was the first time in BM history that this has happened. It made national news and was on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. I was very fortunate to be able to play two shows with The Mutaytor. They have had a very tumultuous 12 months, yet they’ve really stepped up their show in that period of time. Their act is action packed and very entertaining from beginning to end. They are the perfect Burningman band. Get out to see them if you get a chance! I was also fortunate to play an impromptu jam with Rabbit In The Moon, a national band based out of Los Angeles. These guys have an awesome act. The other highlights included the Burning of the Man on Saturday night, the burning of the Temple on Sunday night, and another extra special event. They built an oil platform that pumped thousands of gallons of natural gas to provided an explosion that sent a plume of fire over one thousand feet into the sky. This installation cost several millions of dollars and lit the skies late Saturday night. This exemplifies the type of energy and creativity that exists at BM. It took us 6 ½ hours through the night to do a 2-hour drive back to Reno where I caught a flight to our show in Missoula Montana, without a wink of sleep. We are currently in Alaska having a blast. I will have more insights on that in a moment. Due to the difficulty of finding people at BM, I was unable to catch up with many of the peeps I would love to have spent time with. However, I am looking forward to next year very much. See you there in 2008! darren pujalet
Crazy Art Installation
Darren at the Temple
Dr. Megavolt at work
Dron's Crew - Tony, Bruce, & Braden
September 9, 2007 ASHEFEST Another great weekend for Particle! Ashefest is located at Deerfields, about 25 miles outside of Asheville, North Carolina. The grounds are amazing. The land emits a spiritual vibration and has a crisp, clean mountain smell that takes you far away from your daily responsibilities. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend attending an event there. We showed up on Friday night after traveling all day from
Los Angeles by plane. Saturday night went off. New Monsoon played prior to us. It was their drummer Marty’s last show with the band. He has officially become a Blue Man. We congratulate him and wish the band the very best. Our set went off! The festival promoters helped us stage
a theatrical event around the first part of our set. We had fire dancers
with whips, chains, hoops, and an enormous flame-throwing canon performing
for the first 30 minutes of our two and a half-hour set. We debuted 2 new
songs for the crowd, “FIND A WAY” and “THE GREAT UNKNOWN.” The
Great Unknown has a countdown from 10 to zero written into the song. At zero,
the pyro-dance group unleashed a sonic assault of loud canon explosions,
sounding like thunder and throwing flames over 30 feet in the air. The
new songs felt really good under the fingers. Our friend Dave sat in for
some crazy Theremin sounds on Ed and Molly. This show stands as one of my
favorites of the year. The love was alive in the crowd and up on stage all
night. I want to acknowledge the great family that put together Ashefest. Thank you Sammy, Brad, Ellen and all the other great folks who took care of us this weekend. I’m currently sitting in the Atlanta airport, where
it is dumping outside. It’s coming down so hard, you can barely see
out the windows. Only the lightening and not so delicate sounds of thunder
protrude through from outside. I’m waiting for my flight to Reno, NV
where I head off to BurningMan for a crazy week of art, music, sun and adventure. cheers,
August 20, 2007 Darren here! I will be venturing to this year’s 2007 Burningman Festival, August 27th thru September 3rd. Particle performed at the festival in 2004. The theme this year is Greenman. I look forward to seeing fellow Particle people, friends and family out there at this years burn. On Wednesday night (29th), I will be performing on the Playa with The Mutaytor, an explosive musical percussion, art, and dance project from Los Angeles. I would like to get in touch with people who are going to this year’s B-Man. Anyone who would like to contact me should post on the Particle message board, www.particlepeople.com or email me at myspace.com/particle. Please list campsites, cool events, or any other fun things happening over the week! My crew will be camping by the Soulicisous / AshramGalactic theme camps. Keep an eye out for a 12’ Moon Car that will also be part of our festivities. Stay tuned for the Burningman Blog following the event. Looking forward to it all! Darren Pujalet What is Burningman? There are no rules about how one must behave or express oneself at this event (save the rules that serve to protect the health, safety, and experience of the community at large); rather, it is up to each participant to decide how they will contribute and what they will give to this community. The event takes place on an ancient lakebed, known as the playa. By the time the event is completed and the volunteers leave, sometimes nearly a month after the event has ended, there will be no trace of the city that was, for a short time, the most populous town in the entire county. Art is an unavoidable part of this experience, and in fact, is such a part of the experience that Larry Harvey, founder of the Burning Man project, gives a theme to each year, to encourage a common bond to help tie each individual's contribution together in a meaningful way. Participants are encouraged to find a way to help make the theme come alive, whether it is through a large-scale art installation, a theme camp, gifts brought to be given to other individuals, costumes, or any other medium that one comes up with. The Burning Man project has grown from a small group of people gathering spontaneously to a community of over 40,000 people
August 8, 2007 Hello fellow Particle People! The past two weeks out on the road have been really fun for us. On July 28th, we played a cool festival in Louisville Kentucky. The band flew in from all different directions to make it in time for our set. I personally sat on the runway in Denver for 3.5 hours watching lightning in the distant sky while the wind skated across the pavement outside my little portal of a window. I read an entire book as the flight attendants lead the other passengers through a game of Trivial Pursuit. It was funny to watch the game deteriorate and change face as the passengers put down drink after drink. BOTTOMS UP! This day had several highlights though. The set was really fun, with the stage looking out towards the Ohio River. Right before the set, Doctor Andrew S. Mickler M.D. (The Roc Doc), came up to me and said, “ I’m a huge fan and I listen to Particle music while I perform surgery.” Now I’ve heard some crazy things in my time out there, but this really took me by surprise. He said it helps him stay awake. He really got the band pumped for the show by exuding so much enthusiasm for our music. On Aug. 3rd, we headlined the DUNEGRASS festival in Empire, MI. This is a great festival off Lake Michigan, in the northwest part of the state. The day had Larry McCray start things off before Keller Williams and Dark Star Orchestra brought their magic to the stage. After that, Yonder Mountain String Band performed before PARTICLE closed out the main stage. This set felt great. The crowd was giving back all of the energy we were putting out there, and more! This fest has an old-school feel to it, with a community bonfire, camping, swimming, and perfect weather. Cheers to Steve Volas for heading up this powerful event. On Saturday, the band went to Chicago to play a Lollapalooza late night at the Abbey Pub. 56 Hope Road opened the show. They were gracious enough to let us use their gear for the night in order to make the show happen. If you haven’t seen them, check them out live or listen to their music on line (56hoperd.com). The crowd was really geared during our set. After the show, I went over to sit in with Chicago Afro beat Project (CAbP). This band is a blast to listen to. I’ve sat in with them several times in the past, and every time is more fun than the last. I love Chicago! You can listen to live music until 5am if your up for it. This town has a real love for live music and down-to-earth music fans. I spent the next day (Sunday) at Lollapalooza. Pearl Jam closed out the fest. They had at least 70,000 fans going ballistic during first notes of every classic hit they pulled out. This is possible my favorite festival in the country. It’s run very well and they take good care of their artists. After the fest was over, my college buddy Don Bartlett (manager of the band Skybox, skyboxmusic.com) and I went over to the House of Blues. Perry Ferrell was playing in the lounge with his band Satellite Party for less than 100 people. This felt like someone’s front living room. It was awesome watching him in the trenches belting out a lot of old Jane’s Addiction songs. It’s been an event filled few weeks. I’m looking forward to ASHEFEST coming up! See you there or anywhere!!!!!!!! peace, Dunegrass
Particle at the Abbey Pub in Chicago - Post Lolla show
Darren sitting in with Chicago Afrobeat Project at Kinetic Playground - Particle Aftershow Sillyness at the Kinetic Playground!
From Dron's Cell: Lollapalooza Crowd right before Pearl Jam took the stage
From Dron's Cell: Satellite Party at HOB
Photo Credit Dunegrass: Copyright 2007 Robert Fischer/Sol-A-Koa.com Photo Credit Chicago: Copyright 2007 Valerie Levinsohn/expandyourelement.com Photo Credit Kinetic Playground: Copyright 2007 Amy Margolis July
24, 2007 Band Nerding Out
July 9, 2007 This was a really fun week for Particle. It ranged from bats under the bridge in Austin, and late night trio shows, to driving Rabbi’s around town. We finished up the first 3 weeks of Particle shows with a bang in St. Louis. I’m looking forward to hearing a recording of that show. On Tuesday, we tackled the 15-hour drive down to Austin, where our run with 311 started. Playing in a band and traveling this often, affords us the opportunity to see all walks of life, in every corner of the country. We stopped for lunch in the middle of nowhere. The only places open were Arby’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and some mutant form of Taco Bell. Food can be tough on the road. I walked into Arby’s and asked if I could have turkey on my salad instead of chicken. “I will have to charge you for both a chicken salad and a turkey sandwich,” she said. “I could email my general manager to ask if it’s ok.” “ EMAIL”, that could take hours, even days. I think my stomach would eat itself. Decisions are tough sometimes and substitution is a rather large word. Sorry to be confusing. Silly rabbit, tricks are for kids! Kevin, our Front of House Engineer and Jay, Lighting Director, came back from KFC empty handed. They had run out of Chicken. WHERE ARE WE? I’m not sure this place exists on the map. It’s all part of the lifestyle……..RIGHT? I will say that the sky there had the best rainbow I had ever seen. AUSTIN ROCKS! The run with 311 started off with a bang on the 4 th of July. The first 2 nights were sold out shows at the Backyard. The clouds teased us with on and off showers. The rain added to the excitement, but the humidity was more than this California kid can handle. The triple bill (311, Matisyahu, and Particle) has been awesome, with nothing but high-energy music from start to finish. Everyone has been getting along very well. No egos in this camp. The catering is lavish; we’ve been eating like kings. The 311 band/crew has given nothing but love and props to Particle. The entire bunch has been great to work with. I really enjoy the view from my drums as I watch these large amphitheaters fill in with thousands of excited fans. So far we have performed in Dallas, Houston and 2 nights in Austin. On Saturday, the tour had a night off to observe Shabbos. Matisyahu can’t perform after sun down on Friday until sundown on Saturday night. Ben, Eric, and I decided to do a trio show in Austin to fill in the gap. This show went off. It was at club 115 in the downtown area. You could not have fit another body in the place. It was way beyond sold out. We love doing random Below Radar (members of Particle) shows when we are out on the road. The energy was blazing, with the music and lights firing full throttle. The three of us decided to invite a crew of local musicians to add a twist to the evening. We had Lewis Landry, Silky Stu from DMT, and Russ from Toast all on Keys. Meg and Margaret of the M and M duo and Jabarvy sat in on Saxophone. They all helped add to this flawless night of free flowing music. This was my favorite show of tour so far. The night started and ended with free form jams and sweaty people bouncing around elbow to elbow. Lots Jagermeister and Grey Goose flowing backstage to enhance our experience! Steve wasn’t able to make this gig. He had the honor of playing another gig with Phil Lesh. They played a benefit at Sweetwater in Mill Valley, CA. He made the show and flights all in 24 hours. I know he had a great time though! Tonight’s show in Houston was my favorite so far. The night ended in a unique way though. “Do you guys mind giving Matis’s rabbi a ride to his hotel, said Ben (Matisahu Tour Manager)?” It is a definite paradigm shift going from a rock show to driving rabbis around the city. I love the transitions. We’ve experienced so much out here over the years, not much surprises me any more. I just want to take a moment to thank all Particle People. You are the ones that allow us to live this lifestyle and to do what we do. I’m very grateful for the experience and I look forward to bringing more music to the surface. It’s 4 a.m.; do you know where your mind is? cheers, July 2, 2007 The late night drives suit me...I am an insomniac to a We aren't usually a quiet bunch, and packed in a van
day in a while it becomes, '####### DEER GET THE #### OUT OF! Ben June 25, 2007 Hey Particle People, Eric here again. We just had an amazing experience We spent 3 days in Jackson Hole, Wyoming which is at During our time in Jackson Hole, Dron and I started The second night of the Moose shows was fun. The We had to leave Jackson Hole early in order to get up Yellowstone National Park was our fastest route to The craziest thing about Yellowstone is the remnants Bozeman was great. Particle's first time playing in The other highlight of the night was having pretty The next day was a long drive to South Dakota. We When we got there the wind was howling!!! As we After the Sturgis show we drove through the night to Sioux Falls was a good time. We were all a little The jam out of Get Your Ass To Mars and the entire Allright, it's 4AM and I'm done rambling. One of us -Eric- June 21, 2007 Summer Tour. What better way to kick it off than in Salida was a sweet situation. It was a white water Now, Particle has been in the studio tracking since Once we got to Denver, the game was on. There was For the encore we played Six Long Weeks for our good Saturday was a bittersweet show. We were supposed to It being from the 1800s there are also some ghosts in So, we played in Vail at the same place where we did a A day off in Colorado is gold. Not much more to be Park City, Utah was our next stop. We hadn't played Unfortunately, we got shut out of our hotel room at Overall, excellent first leg of tour. We're heading Talk to you next week. Much love to all of you! -Eric-
|
band - tour - media - news - merchandise - tickets - board
contact info: the band - booking - web - audio
site hosting provided by web design solutions
(C) Copyright 2008 Particle