Berkeley Bound yo!

When you think of Berkeley you think of UC Berkeley, Blake’s, Fat Slice & Blondie’s pizza, or perhaps you recall wandering up and down Telegraph and stopping by the Skate Shop, the thrift stores or even bad ass Amoeba Records where you can find pretty much any type of music you listen to.

Berkeley is also famous for 924 Gilman Street (better known as Gilman) where some of the most influential Bay Area bands have performed, AFI, Tiger Army, Rancid, Operation Ivy and the most infamous of all, none other than Green Day. With such talented repertoire of bands it is only obvious that the city of Berkeley will continue to flourish with amazing talent.

So for this blog I want to introduce to you Berkeley Natives, The Cataracs. If you are from the Bay Area, chances are you already know who Cyrano (Niles) & Campa (David) are. If you are not familiar with them but you listen to the radio, then of course you have caught yourself singing “Poppin bottles in the ice, like a blizzard, when we drink we do it right gettin
slizzard..Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6, now I’m 
feelin so fly like a G6…” This is the latest tune hitting the radio waves and it is a collaboration between LA’s Far East Movement, Dev and our very own The Cataracs.

Cyrano & Campa who started doing tunes together back in 2004, have come a long way since their myspace music days, their shows at Blake’s and getting recognition from DJ J Espinosa (a famous SF DJ from WILD 949) who first put them in the radio map by playing their song Blueberry Afghani. Thanks to J Espinosa, The Cataracs continued with their local success when another song Baby Baby also hit the airwaves. The Cataracs have collaborated with peeps such as Oakland’s E-40, Ya Boy & Shwayze. The guys signed up with Universal Republic Records last Spring and are currently on tour.

Luckily for their Bay Area fans, the guys will make a stop in San Francisco at the World Town monthly event presented by: Trevor Simpson & Mariam. The Lazer Tag Tour will take place on Thursday August 19th at Ruby Skye, San Francisco’s premier nightclub and concert venue. The Cataracs will be performing with Far East Movement, Dev, Hyper Crush amongst others, you can still buy tickets by clicking here (if it has not sold out by the time you read this.)

Show the guys some love and go to the show, if you want more info about them, check out their myspace page.

Till next blog!

Credits: Indie-Pop

Ska, “Pocho” style!

I love discovering new music & new bands and I have to say that in the last few years I’ve met some pretty awesome peeps who work in the music industry. I previously mentioned to you all about The Coloring and it just so happens that it was through them that I met Tony from the band Jokes For Feelings.
 
I had put together a small show in San Jose last year and due to unforeseen circumstances, the band The Mitchell Experiment couldn’t play the show and Tony’s band Three Drinks Away From Love came to save the day.  

Tony later told me about another project that he was part of, a ska band called Jokes For Feelings. I have to say that ska music has never been my forte, it is definitely not my area of expertise, but when the music is so catchy like the sounds of Jokes For Feelings, how can anyone resist? Their sound is a mix of ska, punk, rock & latin jazz.
 
They currently have two self released EP’s called "One Of Us Sucks” & "The Sleeping Giant" and are super busy with several shows all over the Bay. If you like ska, then you most definitely need to check out their music, or even if you are like me and are not familiar with ska music, Jokes For Feelings will make you want to dance.

The guys will be playing a show at Gilman on Friday August 27th alongside Rudo Movimiento, Dezu, La Noche Oskura and directly from LA La Banda Skalavera. For more info about the band and their up-coming shows, check out their myspace music page.


Credits: www.myspace.com/jokesforfeelings & Tony Acosta