SARGENT HOUSE

Man, CGak we have been together so long you already know the Birthday Blog drill and you also know that I love you to death you freaky, badass Drumming monster. I hope you and the RX Bandits gang are doing up your Birthday right over in Brazil right now. Love You Mr Christopher Tsagakis, but you already knew that… HB/XO/CP

“The Kindest Hour” will appear right at the halfway mark on Big Sir’s upcoming 11-track album, Before Gardens After Gardens, which makes me think it could be an important transitional song. Singer/composer Lisa Papineau (Air, M83) and bassist/composer Juan Alderete (The Mars Volta, Racer X) create this pretty, eerie (also pretty eerie) tune with help from Heather Lockie and her moody viola playing, which is contrasted by Alderete’s smooth, clean bass. Also featuring Cedric Bixler Zavala (The Mars Volta) on drums and Matthew Embree (RX Bandits) on guest vocals.

Although subdued, Papineau’s melodic singing is of major note here, as it adds dimension to her partner’s muscle and, overall, fills out the otherwise sparse music. The voice and the instrument meet up here and there, eventually creating a watershed of sound that boils over as if you turned the stove off a second too late. The result is something like a cathartic overflow of warmth—thanks, in part, to the blanketing organ—ultimately faced with an icy wash of male-female vocals. “Hour,” which you can stream below, is a compelling audio embodiment of feelings that could be as strongly expressed visually as they are here. Big Sir’s Before Gardens After Gardens will be available Feb. 7 on Rodriguez Lopez Productions/Sargent House.

Cgak at it again, check out the Remix / video of Lisa Papineau’s Out for a Swim. - plagarized the video made by Sven van der Hart. This track is also on the Don’t Sleep Remix album HERE

Adebisi Shank gets remixed by Cgak - Check out more of his remixes of a load of Sargent House bands on the Don’t Sleep Remix album here

Click to Download or Stream at Daytrotter

When Matthew Embree sings, “She lives without emotion/It makes me better, but only for the night,” on the song, “Only For The Night,” the RX Bandits lead singer couldn’t be speaking any more directly about the way he is. He couldn’t have been speaking more poignantly about the way his band of 16 years is.

Each and every bit of music that these men play is charged with emotion, an energy that comes out of love and concern. It’s the sort of red, smoking hot passion that, if touched would scorch. You’d smell burning flesh, something like a disgusting hog cooking over a bed of charcoal. There are flares aplenty in the ways that Embree and his mates operate. There are all kinds of reasons to be agitated, to feel as if we’re being wronged and hurt. The Seal Beach, California, band began playing almost two decades ago, but turned a dramatic corner in 2001, with the release of “Progress,” an album in which they announced themselves as a significant band, with heady ideas and a sound that wasn’t merely a dabbling in ska and reggae sounds - the kind of trifle that any high school or college-aged pothead with an iconic Bob Marley poster up on their wall as an overseeing mentor - but was serious work of art. It was a record that was rock solid in its focus, its musical ambition and in its emboldened spirit. It felt a little bit like a minor revolution, and maybe it was just a personal revolution - some kind of awakening - but either way, we suddenly started hearing this band for something more than it used to be.

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Zechs Marquise are touring with Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, and Native as well as headlining some dates in November / December. Unfortunately their own Matt Wilkson will have to miss the December shows. But at least we have found a great temporary replacement in  Steve Choi of RX Bandits who has so graciously offered to fill in on guitar on the following December dates 12/1 - 12/10.

ZECHS MARQUISE LIVE
11/15  Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s - Upstairs
11/16  New Orleans, LA @ Howlin’ Wolf Den
11/18  Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
11/19  Greenville, NC @ Tipsy Teapot
11/20  Washington, DC @ DC9
11/21  Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
11/22  Allston, MA @ O’Brien’s Pub
11/23  New York, NY @ Irving Plaza $
11/25  Toronto, ON @ The Opera House $
11/26  Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar $
11/27  Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater $
11/28  Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop $
11/30  Atlanta, GA @ The Loft $
12/01  Cincinnati, OH @ 20th Century Theater $
12/02  Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge $
12/03  Pontiac, MI @ iLounge (at Clutch Cargos) $
12/04  Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall $
12/06  St Louis, MO @ The Firebird
12/07  Lawrence, KS @ Jackpot Music Hall
12/08  Dallas, TX @ Bryan Street Tavern
12/09  Austin, TX @ Antone’s Night Club
12/10  San Antonio, TX @ Studio 13

$ w/ Thursday, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, Native
Bold dates w/ Steve Choi on Guitar for Matt Wilkson

(Source: artistdata.sonicbids.com)

Those familiar with the multitalented pack of musicians that comprised Long Beach’s RX Bandits know the swarm of side projects each member has entertained over the years. Among them happens to be drummer Chris Tsagakis’ solo drum venture that melds both man and machine in a hail of creative, atmospheric beats.

For a few years, he performed under the moniker Technology. This year, he wised up and realized that the billions of Google references to that name made him a little hard to find on the Internet. In the end, “C-Gak” — his longtime nickname — seemed more appropriate, and searchable.

Since the breakup of RX Bandits last July, C-Gak has turned his aural hobby into his main creative outlet, finding a well of new energy and creative techniques to bring to the table. On Sunday, the Sargent House artist be performing with Brooklyn’s highly touted instrumental experimentalists Battles at the Glasshouse in Pomona, the stage where RX Bandits played one of their last show just months earlier.

Pop & Hiss sat down with C-Gak for a brief conversation about his inspirations as a drummer, life after RXB and the excitement of bringing his beats to a whole new fan base.

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Chez Raymond, an EP by ME&LP of six disparate but complimentary songs crafted by Matthew Embree (RX Bandits) and Lisa Papineau (Big Sir), is a sentimental homage to the joys of collaboration and musical experimentation. The styles veer from lilting Flamenco on the EP opener Quatro to rolling country-folk on EP closer – a tune Embree calls “a joke” (it’s not) – Right On Down the Line with some pseudo Afro-pop and indie balladeering in between. Understand, there are no false notes to be found anywhere on this EP. This is owed in part to Lisa Papineau’s vast body of work traversing many genres and her obvious skill at creating compelling vocal instrumentations. Add to the mix the soulful voice of Matt Embree and you have a satisfying first beginning to what I hope is a long-term project.

I sat down with Matthew Embree for a brief Q&A when RX Bandits played in Sacramento on the farewell tour. I had no idea who he was or that he is very much loved and his band is popular with the kids. But I had listened to Chez Raymond at least 100 times by then so this interview is about that project.

FLABmag: I heard you met Lisa at an art opening and immediately knew you had to collaborate with her, but what was the context? Did you hear her sing or did you shake hands and it was an immediate connection?

Matthew Embree: No, I heard her sing first in the band Big Sir with Juan (Aldrete) from The Mars Volta and I thought she was just amazing and is obviously incredibly talented. Her voice just struck me, you know?

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When Fugazi came onto the scene around the tail end of the ‘80’s, they redefined punk rock onto a pedestal many will never be able to sit above, it turned a lot of heads for kids seeking progressive music from what they thought it was or could be. It was a band that for many, and still many of my friends years later, that defined how talented and forward thinking genres can be, but how reaching outside the box and being honest as a musician will make you sit atop the rest for a long time. “Legacy” is a word that over 80% of bands today will never reach. Possibly 90%.

That’s a fact.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that Fugazi had that much influence on me as a listener when I was young. It was a band I didn’t discover until college and even begin to understand, analyze and realize the true worth until the last few years of my life. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that the band I’m about to look back on will ever reach that level of broad influence, because time is yet to show us that. But picking up Progress by the RX Bandits for me was like others discovering Repeater. With each release and live show, I watched the RX Bandits band just stride when getting better and better and give birth to some of the best music that will forever stick with me and be passed down. It goes without saying that missing the band’s Hoodwinked set of Fugazi covers at this year’s Bamboozle will be regrettable for years to come. A tiny itch in the back of my mind.

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(Source: absolutepunk.net)

“To all of our wonderful fans, family, and friends: Thank you so much for making this such a wonderful tour; We are so fortunate to have been sent off with such love and passion.” - RX Bandits

…..I know I will be hoping for and awaiting news that they will one day play together live again soon. - CP

The Glasshouse in Pomona has long felt like a home base for the progressive ska sounds of the RX Bandits. Crowded in a thicket of floppy-haired, bearded twenty-somethings, the swelling chants of “RXB! RXB! RXB!” on Saturday night were loud enough to drown out the thought that this would in fact be the second to last show of the band’s farewell tour, following 16 years, six studio albums and endless rounds of touring. This last L.A. County show came on the heels of a previous night at the Mayan Theater on Thursday.

Emerging from darkness and manning their respective battle stations with a hired horn section in toe, the sputtering drum line of “In Her Drawer” from their 2006 album “…And the Battle Begun” caused an irreversible seismic shift in the pit. Molten with excitement, testosterone and flailing dance moves, hordes of front row fans compressed into a cluster of whirling energy silhouetted by the glow of flashing stage lights. Off to the side, shards of brass from guest saxophonists added the kerosene, revitalizing the band’s sound after the departure of saxophonist Steve Borth and trombonist Chris Sheets in recent years.

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I must have seen her face before 
I fell in love when I was born
Now they hide her with a whisper 
It’s over

If I were to list out all the bands that I’ve ever seen live and list them in accordance to how many times I’ve dragged my ass down to some dive of a venue to see them, RX Bandits would proudly sit atop that list. Since my introduction to them back when they were just a politicized 3rd wave ska act through their growth into one of the most forward thinking acts in modern music I’ve had the honor to see them one shy of a dozen times – but it was the last two shows, two of their last three shows ever (and last in the vicinity of their southern California home) that proudly affirm how special they really are/were. Their sets at the Mayan Theater in the heart of downtown Los Angeles and two days later at the Glasshouse a half hour inland in Pomona made the previous 9 RX Bandits shows that I have attended seem reserved in comparison, which is no easy feat.

Part 1: August 4th, 2011 @ the Mayan Theater

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Happy Birthday today to the one and only Joe Troy of RX Bandits. Oh the things I’ve seen you do. You will have a very funny and long chapter in the book that will one day be written. My strange and beautiful son. Love you so much - CP 

Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos, Bygones joins Maps & Atlases for an impromptu guest jam at their last show in Sacramento at the Catalyst during their run on the RX Bandits Tour. Now, I’ve said it before many times, but nothing makes me happier than being part of the process that brings so many great musicians together. I just absolutely love seeing Sargent House bands play with each other. Which makes me really excited to see my beloved RX Bandits and Zechs Marquise all this week at their California shows. Hot Damn.

Over the course of 16 years and 6 studio albums, RX Bandits have crafted an instantly recognizable sound. Their blend of ska, punk, and progressive rock has won over an incredibly loyal fanbase, and their dynamic live show is one of the few places you can catch audiences moshing one second and dancing the next. The band’s last album, 2009’s ‘Mandala,’ saw them at the height of their instrumental prowess, showcasing Matt Embree and Steve Choi’s speedy, skittering guitar lines and drummer Chris Tsagakis’ fluid grooves.

Now, RX Bandits are nearing the end of their farewell tour and the beginning of an indefinite hiatus. Before one of the band’s shows in Boston, Chris was kind enough to speak with Rock Edition over the phone about the tour, the hiatus, and his future plans.

How’s it going?

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