San Jose Metro | Rockage Festival Proves It’s Not Just For Nerds

We’re excited to play our next show on Tuesday, March 6 at DNA Lounge in San Francisco. We’ll be part of a special showcase during the week of the Game Developers’ Conference (GDC) called POW: Indie Music & Developers Collide.

Also on the bill are friends crashfaster, A_Rival, minusbaby, Zen Albatross, and Louis Gorenfeld. For more information visit: http://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2012/03-06.html

We have a lot more cool shows coming up in the next few months, as well as many other new things in the works for our fans. Stay tuned!

We’re a mere three days away from this weekend’s #rockage event at the San Jose Woman’s Club! This epic two-day event features 20 rock bands (including yours truly) and 50 free-play arcades! There’s no better way to mix our two loves – music and video games.

This event takes place this Saturday, February 11! Check out our SHOWS page for details and ticket info.

We’re also featured on the cover of this week’s San Jose Metro! If you’re in the area, pick one up! If you aren’t, you can check out the full feature in the paper at this link below:

SAN JOSE ROCKAGE FESTIVAL BRINGS OLD-SCHOOL GAMING AND CHIP MUSIC TO SILICON VALLEY

We can’t wait to rock with you guys in the South Bay! Don’t forget, Matthew Joseph Payne will be performing his solo chip set that day, too!

Even though his EP doesn’t drop until February 17th, you can get it in advance at #rockage.

You can also catch him at the Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco opening for string metal band Judgement Day on the previously mentioned release date.

For more info on all of this, check out http://www.matthewjosephpayne.com

We miss Awkward Terrible already, but the show must go on. Our next show is Saturday, February 11 at the San Jose Woman’s Club for an incredible 2-day affair called #Rockage. This event will feature 20 indie bands (including yours truly) and 50 classic arcades. #Rockage is many things… so please refer to this handy FAQ below!

What is #rockage: San Jose?
#Rockage San Jose is a two-day indie music & retro gaming celebration on February 11+12, 2012 at the San Jose Woman’s Club.
The 2012 rockage line-up includes 20 different bands/DJs and 50 different classic arcade/pinball games on free play! Also- expect beer, food trucks, panels, guests, prizes, and classic gaming tournaments! Rockage: San Jose is an all ages event produced by Grand Fanali Presents.

Where is #rockage?
San Jose Woman’s Club 75 South 11th Street downtown San Jose, CA 95112 (408-294-6919) http://sjwomansclub.org/ (near San Jose State University)

Who is performing at #rockage?
rockage bands: Gnarboots, Tera Melos, Young Science, Stunt Monkey (reunion), Vic Ruggerio (from The Slackers), Kepi Ghoulie, Good Hustle, and more
chiptune artists: Matthew Joseph Payne, Doctor Popular, The Glowing Stars, crashfaster, A_Rival, and more
DJs: Doctor Popular, DJ Coco, Jimmy Hits, Francis Fratelli, more

Which gaming tournaments are going to be held at #rockage?
Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Super Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Bomberman, more

Which arcade games are going to be there?
California Extreme Classic Gaming Expo is donating 50 classic/rare arcade gaming cabinets (on freeplay) for the #rockage arcade. Titles announced soon.

#rockage Hours?
Noon-10:30pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Several after-party events are planned for Saturday night TBA

Will there be food/ drinks available there?
Several local food trucks will be stopping by all weekend long. Beer will be available in the venue for 21+. This event is welcome to all ages.

What about tickets?
Two-day advance tickets are $20 online at Brown Paper Tickets, this includes a FREE copy of GuitarHero: Van Halen (for the system of your choice): http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/217895
Single day walk up tickets are $20 cash at the door, this includes a high five.

What about all those prizes?
There will be tons of prizes given away. Prizes for winning/ participating in gaming tournaments. Prizes for checking out our vendors. Prizes for just showing up.

Who are the guests?
So far we have pro gaming goddess Ciji Thornton (Starslay3r), Dragon Fantasy (iOS) dev team, The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment, animator Ben Lazarus, SF Chiptune artists crashfaster a_rival doctor popular the glowing stars, SJ Rocky Horror troupe Barely Legal, Psycho Donuts nurses, and more

Does #rockage have any websites for more infomation?
http://rockageSJ.tumblr.com/
http://twitter.com/rockageSJ
http://www.facebook.com/rockageSJ

Friends of #rockage:
While Rockage: San Jose is a DIY/ privately funded event, we do have some friends who are helping us out. Thanks to Camera Cinemas Cult Series, Psycho Donuts, StarSlay3r, California Extreme, Giant Creative, KSCU Santa Clara 103.3, KSJS San Jose 90.5, Live 105, S*ALT: Save Alternative, The MADE, Streetlight Records, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, Bands On A Budget, Texas Toast DIY, Grand Fanali Presents, SF 8 Bit, MAGFest, Destructoid

Yep, that’s a lot of stuff! Hope to catch you at the show! You won’t want to miss this.

Don’t forget you can also pick up a download card at a show; Awkward Terrible plays tonight at Brainwash Café in San Francisco (with Matt sitting in for a couple of songs), and you can still get in on our secret show tomorrow night! See our previous post for details.

When our bestest chip buddies Awkward Terrible were in town last year for our fantastic show with Bit Shifter at the DNA lounge, we spent a couple days in the studio tracking four songs for what was originally planned as a split EP. What has evolved instead is a monster of a four-track collaborative EP, with all the members of each band playing on every song. The new EP is called Horchata, and will be available on January 20th to the whole world.

We can’t think of a better way to start the year than to share these new tunes with you, and we’re doing it in a big way. Awkward Terrible is coming to the SF bay yet again to share the stage. And when we say “share the stage”, we mean it. The show will feature not only sets from both bands, but a combined set with all four of us onstage, playing all the material from Horchata live together. Chaos will ensue. Hearts will be broken. Worlds will crumble.

See us play the show at The Blank Club in San Jose with our local chip favorite crashfaster on Wednesday, January 18th, where we’ll be selling advance copies of Horchata as download codes. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more information and updates about Horchata.

The Glowing Stars, Awkward Terrible, and crashfaster
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
@ The Blank Club, San Jose
FREE Show! 21+ only
RSVP on Facebook

When we said we were gonna be on a short hiatus for a few months, we must’ve ignored the snooze button since we missed our own one year anniversary as a band! To thank you all for your support, our debut EP Anything Past That is available as a free download until Tuesday, January 3, 2012. So go ahead. Grab a copy, and tell your friends, too!

Download Anything Past That for free HERE.

We had the pleasure of meeting with East Bay Express Music Editor Rachel Swan last weekend, which resulted in this very nice feature in today’s East Bay Express! Thanks so much for the really well-written article! <3 Check it out below:

East Bay Express | Love Songs for Game Boys

Above: Science and Honor! With Angel Nova of The Phenomenauts at The Crepe Place, Santa Cruz
Photo by AJAPOPFILMS

Our last few shows were a blast! East Bay Mini Maker Faire was a success and Matt spent most of the day teaching attendees how to mod their old Game Boys. We had an awesome lineup of chip artists from all over the Bay Area, including Doctor Popular, starpause, E.N. Cowell and A_Rival. We were also lucky to have Max Capacity and Adam Scradam return for visuals. Doc and Matt even found a bit of a break in the day-long event to hold an impromptu jam session with Nanoloop and banjo in the middle of the fairgrounds!

Doctor Popular and Matt Payne pumpin’ the jam.

Our East Bay Mini Maker Faire PulsewaveSF table!

Starpause with his shirt off before noon.

A_Rival x Max Capacity

PoW !

The following week, we played a really fun rock show with The Phenomenauts and The Bloodtypes at The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz. Now, we’ve played some rockin’ shows, but this one was definitely rockin’ in its own special way. I think all of the bands had amazing energy, fun outfits, and just overall knew how to put on a show. Major thanks to Grand Fanali Presents for booking this for us. Also thanks to AJAPOPFILMS for documenting the event. Matt and I dressed up as Chell and Rat Man from Portal 2. He even made a Companion Cube at the last minute out of cardboard, foam, and felt!

With The Bloodtypes!

We capped off that weekend with our last show of the year at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco with the super sexy, freakin’ funky Planet Booty, Easystreet, and Hottub DJs. It hasn’t been a month yet since our last show, and I thought we’d be able to have a nice, restful break, but things are picking up speed again.

With January coming up in less than two months, we’re finishing up our split release with Milwaukee friends Awkward Terrible. We absolutely adore those guys and can’t wait ’til they arrive in January to release this ish with us! Also on the plate is our second album, but that’s further down the line. Some of you guys were able to catch our new song at one of our last shows. We’ll be able to release some samples online soon. We’ll also have some new merch available soon, so stay tuned! Our 1-year anniversary is also coming up, and we’ll have a few special things revolving around that as well.

xoxo,

-lc

Then on Friday, October 28, we’ll be playing at The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz with The Phenomenauts and The Bloodtypes!

And finally, on Saturday, October 29, we’ll be wrapping up a wonderful year with our last show of 2011 with Planet Booty at Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco! Tickets are already on sale, so make sure to pick some up if you plan to go!

We’ll be playing a new The Glowing Stars tune at these last shows!

10/28/11 @ The Crepe Place, Santa Cruz, CA
With The Phenomenauts and The Bloodtypes | 8pm | $12 | Facebook | flyer

10/29/11 @ Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco, CA
With Planet Booty | 9pm | $12 | Facebook | flyer