The New BellerBytes #81: December House Concert Tour & New “View” Remixes At Bandcamp
Monday, August 23, 2010
Just got back from the wild and wacky tour of the Carolinas…first time to Asheville and many other NC/SC locations, plus a swing up to Virginia, and a vacation in the Smoky Mountains. All great fun. Supercool folks all along the way. Where am I again? Oh yeah – home.
Now it’s time to talk future stuff once again, and so I present to you the latest BellerBytes. Click here for the full dose. (And as always, just go here to have these fine missives sent straight to your inbox!)
There’s two big headlines in the latest blast. One – Kira Small and I are heading to Florida in December for a house concert tour. So Florida people, if you’re interested in having us come to your living room, just write me and say so, and we’ll take it from there. There’s lots more info in the full BellerBytes as well.
Second, I just posted full-blown remixes of the tunes “Seven Percent Grade” and “Get Things Done” from my first album “View.” Remixing “View” is just something I’ve wanted to do for a while, so I thought I’d test the waters with these two tracks. And I posted them on Bandcamp, which is a cool download service that allows you to pay whatever you want for the music. For those who’ve owned and appreciated this record for a while, I really think you’ll enjoy these two remixes.
Click here for the “Seven Percent Grade” remix, and click here for the “Get Things Done” remix.
Now it’s off to battle the brown recluse spiders in our basement. Nashville, I love ya, but man, you got some critters going on up in here.
BB
BellerBytes #80: Southern Summer, SoCal In September – And Seeking Seattle!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
This is a cute way of saying I just sent out a new e-mail newsletter. It’s got stuff about the August Kira Small/Bryan Beller tour of Atlanta and The Carolinas, some early September stuff in Nashville, the one-show-only Keneally/Beller “Same Band” reprise gig in Los Angeles on 9/15, and a metric ton of info about the Big Ass Cross-Country Tour that Kira and I are embarking on this October and November.
You can see it all by clicking right here.
One of the biggest takeaways in that e-mail is that, basically, the whole Kira/Bryan October/November tour is booked, with one glaring exception:
Seattle, Saturday 10/30
If you’re in Seattle and you’re even thinking about hosting a house concert, now’s the time. Just e-mail me here and I’ll answer any questions you might have. Or if you know of a venue that we really should play (hint: intimate, quiet rooms good; loud, noisy bars bad), please hip us to it. Especially if you have a connection there.
Aside from that, we’re getting ready to leave the homestead for another 15 days, starting this Friday in Chattanooga, followed by a double-header clinic/gig in Atlanta. Then it’s over to a day off in Savannah, GA, followed by a first-ever gig in Columbia, South Carolina. As usual, the calendar page has all the info. I don’t think it’s ever been this packed with gigs. Ever.
My fingers are tired again. This happens on BellerBytes day. I shall now rest them for the coming days…
BB
Gig Calendar Explosion
Friday, July 23, 2010
Holy hell, my calendar has suddenly exploded and I’m booked until early November! I’m very grateful for that, but there’s been so much activity that trying to describe it all in a blog post is kinda pointless. Best thing to do is just to visit my calendar page and read the whole damned thing.
Highlights:
Late July – Cincinnati clinic and Cleveland duo show (with Kira Small)
August – Doubleheader in Atlanta, tour of the Carolinas (duo gigs & clinics), duo gig in Nashville
September – clinic outside Nashville, Keneally/Beller “Same Band” show in L.A., Russia with Greg Howe and Marco Minnemann!
October/November – cross country duo tour with Kira Small
That minivan is going to get a workout.
BB
Keneally/Beller September Baked Potato Show Date Change
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I haven’t even officially announced this date yet, but since it got out on teh Twitters and teh interwebs in general, I might as well make it official:
The Mike Keneally Band/Bryan Beller Band “They’re Both The Same Band” tour-style show at The Baked Potato in Los Angeles that was supposed to be on Saturday, September 18…has been moved to Wednesday, Setpember 15, due to scheduling issues.
Sure, I’d love for it to be a Saturday rather than a Wednesday, but I’m happy we’re able to do it at all. It’ll be the only show of its kind on the west coast this year, and I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully you are too.
And if you didn’t know about it, well, now you do.
That is all.
BB
Now Booking October Cross-Country Kira/Bryan House Concert Tour
Friday, July 9, 2010
Yep, it’s gonna be a grand adventure. Kira Small and I are planning on driving towards Southern California in October, and doing house concerts and select venue shows on the way there, and up the whole west coast all the way to Seattle, and on the way back. Crazy, but totally true.
If you’ve been reading all about this stuff and thinking about hosting a house concert, and you’re west of the Mississippi, this is the time to do it.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say “house concert” or “duo show,” try this link to check out our Concerts In Your Home bio page (with Kira music samples – we play her original R&B material mostly), or try this link to see videos on our YouTube page, or just go here and watch the video to learn more about house concerts in general. We were actually featured in an article about house concerts on CNN.com, which you can see right here if you’re curious.
It’s all part of yet another new BellerBytes, which you can check out right here. It has the projected itinerary and a ton of helpful links. It also includes other stuff about my life as a sideman, and some recording projects I’ve done lately.
If you’re interested, or even if you just have a question about it all, just drop me a line right here. It should be a hoot to try and pull this crazy thing off.
BB
New BellerBytes: July Touring In The Upper Midwest & Deep South
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
It’s that time again…time to make the donuts. I mean, time to send out another BellerBytes e-mail. I just did, actually. This one’s full of details on Kira’s and my upcoming trips to Chicago, Milwaukee, Western Michigan, Ohio, and more. And ReverbNation’s FanReach e-mail thingy just got cooler – they actually have URL’s where you can go see these e-mails online, for the folks who are social-media first and foremost.
So now you can just go right here and check it out.
Of course, it’s way cooler to just sign up for BellerBytes and get the e-mails directly yourself. And who doesn’t want to be cooler? I mean, really?
Click here to sign up for BellerBytes. See, that felt cool, didn’t it?
On a personal note, it is very good to be home. I’ll have more to say soon about a big-time adventure coming up in October…
BB
Ramblings From Boston
Sunday, June 27, 2010
It’s been quite a while since I just wrote something for the hell of it.
When you’re making your living doing gigs and traveling, it’s easy to fall into a rhythm of just writing when you have something to promote. And while I do have a slew of gigs throughout the summer (most of them duo gigs with my lovely wife Kira Small), I though I’d just shoot out some random thoughts for the hell of it while I’m sitting here in a burrito place around the corner from my alma mater, Berklee College Of Music.
First, I love my minivan. 2000 Toyota Sienna XLE. 195,000 miles on it and just kicking ass all over America. How about an endorsement deal, guys?
I also love my wife’s truck, a 1993 Nissan Hardbody Pickup. 265,000 miles. I did a little research online on this model. Apparently it’s indestructible. She calls it her wife, so I guess that makes it my wife’s wife. Whatever it is, it’s awesome. We heart our paid-for cars.
Making our way around the Northeast again in our humble minivan reminds me how tough it is just to be up here. I’m from here and I just don’t know how people do it. It’s just rough getting around, especially Boston. We love coming up here and playing, don’t get me wrong, but man, after living in Nashville for a few years…all I can say is, much respect to the millions of folks who find a way to make it work.
Meanwhile, as Kira and I make our way up and back to the Northeast (now), and down South (August), and up to the Upper Midwest (July), over and over again, we’re just floored by the hospitality and great vibes we’ve gotten from those who host and attend our house concerts and small venue shows. It’s allowed us to stay in closer touch with friends and fans alike, and it’s brought out a whole new musicality for the two of us. I really appreciate those who’ve come out just because they knew me from other gigs, and really walked away digging what Kira is up to. That’s pretty gratifying.
Lots of folks ask me – what’s it like to go from playing with Vai and Dethklok to doing house concerts? I say it’s the best of both worlds, and balancing the intimacy of the smaller shows with the rush of the bigger shows is one of the things I’m most grateful for. Too much of the Big Shows gets weird and dehumanizing after a while, while too much DIY minivan touring is hard on the body. So I’m happy to go back and forth.
I’m also getting waaaaaay more e-mails asking instructional “bassist how-to” questions than I have in the past. I really want to do an instructional DVD in the next year. As soon as something gets more solid on that front I’ll have plenty more to say about it.
I’m still digging writing for Bass Player Magazine, though I’ve cut back a bit on the output due to all the traveling. I really enjoy getting CD’s from great bass players who deserve wider notice. Doing a positive review of someone’s CD is a great way to give back what others gave to me when I first started doing my own music.
There’s some cool projects coming out – other folks’ records on which I tracked bass. Search out Razl, Godsticks, and Anders Helmerson – all Europeans up to something interesting. Their new records will all be out in the next couple of months.
I’m still in a bit of shock that the Keneally/Beller “They’re Both The Same Band” Tour even happened. We’re going to reprise it for one show at The Baked Potato in Los Angeles in September. But see, here I am, drifting back into promotional mode. Hard habit to break, I guess.
Can’t help it. I work a lot. And I love working a lot. Because I love what I do. I’m a very fortunate person and I try always to remember that. Especially when I’m driving around Boston.
BB
New Live Video: “Life Story/Cave Dweller” Live At The Baked Potato
Saturday, June 5, 2010
I said I’d post new video every two weeks this spring…here’s the last one:
We didn’t do this one on the tour, so I saved it for last. Enjoy Griff Peters ripping the room to tiny little shreds with his awesomeness.
Off to the Smoky Mountains for vacation. After that: Nashville shows. Hope to see some of y’all there.
BB
Quick Hits Before Hitting The Road
Thursday, May 27, 2010
I admit that even though there’s lots going on around these parts, I’ve been light on posting. I’m a little burnt from post-tour re-entry. The wife and I have a vacation coming up in early June to take care of that. So in the internet tradition (yes, I am aware of all of them) of the daily wrap-up of short items with links, here’s a collection of stuff I’m up to that should tie us over until I return to 100%:
I created a page where my BellerBytes e-mails can live on, for those who aren’t on the mailing list (and why aren’t you?) and still want to check out the official update missives. It’s also for linkage from social networking sites.
There’s going to be a serious Low Notes For Nashville benefit concert on Thursday, June 17, here in Music City. Kira Small and I will be playing it, along with a ton of other great bassists.
Speaking of Kira and I, we’re in Birmingham tonight, Atlanta on Saturday night (with CNN’s camera crew in tow!), and in Nashville for three dates in June before heading up to the Northeast late in the month. Check out the calendar page for all of the details. We’ll be putting some miles on the minivan, that’s for sure.
I’ve been doing a lot of tracking in the home studio for other artists. Cool folks like Razl (groovy guitar fusion), Anders Helmerson (insanely difficult keyboard-driven instrumentals), and Godsticks (modern prog; new album Spiral Vendetta coming out soon). I’ll give y’all a heads up when these releases come out.
Got two new Bass Player Magazine columns in the can, both dealing with metal bass techniques and tone. Also reviewed new CD’s from Julie Slick, Yves Carbonne, and The Generosity Water Project. All good stuff.
That’s all I got. Looking forward to disappearing in the Smoky Mountains for a week. See lots of you soon, I hope.
BB
All My May Digital Sales Are Belong To “Low Notes For Nashville”
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
This is a cute, internet-meme-aware way of saying that I forgot to mention in my last BellerBytes that I’m donating all the profits from digital sales of my music in the month of May to www.LowNotesForNashville.org.
The BBDC marketing department is having a meeting about this omission right now. It’s not going well. I think I hear metal scraping.
BB