Pravda at the Moontower.

We've booked February 9 and 10 at the Moontower in Cambridge, MA, to record drums for our upcoming album. The rest of the album will be recorded at our space in Watertown, MA, and at Winchester Mansion in Medford, MA.

We'll be releasing several non-album singles before the album is released, including our cover of "Ziggy Stardust" on December 25, 2007.

Taking a pass, cause you need to fly.

Today we recorded acoustic guitars for "Tora Bora" and "Lincoln Lovers." We did the session at our space in Watertown, and it was freezing cold. Next up, vocals, synth, and banjo.

Lincoln lovers came to town.

Today we tracked electric guitars for "Tora Bora" and "Lincoln Lovers" at our space in Watertown, MA. We also recorded demos of "Terrified" and "So in Love."

Later this week we'll record acoustic guitars and some vocals.

Darkly is the way.

With our Halloween Ziggy Stardust show out of the way, we're back to working on our recordings, writing, and remaking our live show.

This weekend we'll be tracking instruments for "Tora Bora" and "Lincoln Lovers," two non-album tracks to be released early next year.

We will be releasing the "Ziggy Stardust" single on iTunes, on Tuesday, December 25th.

Here is the cover art, courtesy of Shana Bethune:



A series of videos from the Ziggy Stardust show will be available soon.

Back to work.

Not many blog entries in a while, but we're getting back to it.

We're in the process of recording a demo mock-up of our entire upcoming album. We started last week, and will finish it next week. After it's done, we may share some of the tracks to get feedback and decide on the single.

We'll be going into the studio in late September to track drums. The rest of the tracking will be done at home. Two of us have home studios, and we prefer tracking without having to work about the clock.

We hope to have a single out on iTunes this fall, and the full record out by early 2008.

We're also looking into working with mash-up artists to create a mash-up companion to our record. Mash-up artists, please feel free to contact us, TheDailyPravda@gmail.com.

On the live front, we'll be playing at T.T. the Bear's Place in Cambridge, MA next Tuesday night, August 14th. We'll be hitting Tritone in Philadelphia on August 30th and Julep in NYC on September 1st.

Also, the Daily Pravda will be a featured artist on the new AT&T's downloadable wireless game, GuitarStar. More on that soon!

PA's thanks.

Thank you, everyone who came to see us at PA's last night. And PA's, thanks for having us.

The setlist:
September
She's so Mature
Holidays on the Run
Chemical Dancer
Kinki Malinki
Darkly

encore:
Viva Natalia (Thanks for the request, DK! We'll start bringing it back into our sets)

Burning bible diamonds.

Ballerina

Started 2001. Finished 2007.

don't talk / you move so effortlessly / ropes and drugs could
hold you here for me / if your dad'll let me / i can't walk / but
you / you can do it for me / you can be the one i was years
ago / you can tango for me / don't run / it's a tease for sore
legs / and i'm the one who brought you here from a seed /
you're my ballerina / for life / you're my ballerina / i need
cash / so go / go malaysh / go hunting / use the eyes i gave
to you / diamond blue / burning bible diamonds / he will run /
run when i tell him / and you will learn to do the same /
dance for me / be my ballerina / for life / you're my ballerina

Click here to listen to the demo.

New Review from Metronome!

We just posted a new review from Metronome Magazine, July 2007. Here it is:

Metronome Magazine, July 2007

Top 5 for July 2007
"She's so Mature"

The Daily Pravda is a gifted band that exploits the virtues of theatrical rock on their exceptional, new five song sampler. Magnificently orchestrated arrangements filled with lush musicality pour from each track. Lead singer/guitarist David Jackel (formerly of the Crush) has an operatic rock voice a la David Bowie, that carries these songs while bandmates Adam Anderson on guitar & synth, Lindsey Starr on bass & vocals and drummer Ken Marcou blaze on their respective instruments. If this five song EP is a precursor of things to come, be prepared... The Daily Pravda could easily become the next big thing from beantown.

- Douglas Sloan


Our music is available at these online stores:


iTunes
myspace
emusic
napster
rhapsody
sony connect

Everyday is like Sunday.

We're meeting up in the PM for some writing. Have some new songs in the works. Writing is fun, long overdo. Then of course, there's the show next Thursday at PA's, which will be a fucking blast.

We'll be running around town, putting up promo material today as well. And Morrissey is on Tuesday!

Late thanks is better than no thanks.

Thank you, everyone who came to see us at Hennessy's last Thursday. We hope you enjoyed the show as much as we did. Sean, thanks for booking us. Ken, thanks for the sound.


The set:

Darkly
Chemical Dancer
Kidnapped
September
Holidays on the Run
Dead House
She's so Mature
Samantha Hall
Home Invasion

Demo: "So in Love."

The quality of this demo is akin to that of the painting you would make with crayolas while drunk and blindfolded. Nevertheless, it gets the point across. Inspired by the time when I first bore witness at a Pixies reunion show, this song was initially written around the same time as "Kidnapped" and "She's so Mature" (late 2004). Several weeks ago Adam suggested we make it a Pravda song. We knocked out the structure one evening last week, and I recorded this demo (Adam would never butcher guitar parts like I do here) several hours ago. It will be interesting to see what the band does with it. I envison early Pixies meets Jefferson Airplane, plus maybe a little Patti Smith, but who really knows?

The best (and worst) part is the cowbell section in the middle - just me clucking my tongue in the mic, not really in rhythm.

Click HERE to here my demo of "So in Love" on MacIdol.

- Dave


so in love

he's fire in the sky / he loves me so he hates me / draws me to erase me /
never tells me why / the fire in the sky / loves me like a father / but treats
me like a target / makes me wanna die / but i can't live without him / cause
he's my guy / i shout my soul out / fire in the sky / said i was his favorite /
not good enough to make it / still i have to try / i can't live without him /
cause he's my guy / and so i'm telling you / to duck and run / my lovely one /
oh baby you know that he wants you / he'd kill to have you for a wife / i'll
lie and say that you're my sister / just to save my life / he's thinking of me /
so high above me / i know he loves me / goddamn he really loves me /
i know him better than you'll ever know yourself / it's really love / he's so
in love

Down by the river.

Bostonians, we'll be performing this Thursday night at Hennessy's Upstairs, in the Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall neighborhood.

We will be posting demos soon, previews of a sort for the new record.

Summertime rolls.

So we have a couple shows coming up in the Boston area:

June 14 - We play Hennessy's Upstairs Rock Club. This is a relatively new venue (we headlined their debut show earlier this year), right in the heart of downtown Boston, next to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market. The room is beautiful; parts of it look like an Irish sitting room from 100 years ago. Joining us will be Blanks, the Glass Set, and Temper.

Blanks
http://www.myspace.com/blanks

The Glass Set
http://www.myspace.com/theglassset

Temper
http://www.myspace.com/bostontemper


June 28 - We rock out at PA's Lounge in Somerville, MA, with a great band from Copenhagen, Denmark called EPO-555.
Check them out. They sound a bit like New Order and Erasure.

EPO-55
http://www.myspace.com/epo555


July 17 - The Genders, from Tel Aviv, are coming to the Abbey Lounge in Somerville, MA, and have invited us to share the stage with them. Joining us will be Ricecookers and Suzuki Smith.

http://www.myspace.com/thegenders

Back in black.

We've been out of the loop a bit recently... just so busy. Played on Wednesday at the Baseball Tavern with Barnicle, The Unfamiliars, and BJ Snowden. Fun show. Funny too. It was hard to compete with the Sox game, and ultimately the Sox won out. But we did our usual screwing around on stage, and had a blast wrecking the place. Lindsey was dressed all in white, like an angel surrounded by the dirty Pravda boys. Karen Barnicle ended up performing solo, with the help of backing tracks from her laptop. She too, was dressed all in white. The Unfamilars played solid alt-rock (though everything sounded like alt rock coming from those speakers), with an earnest, no-frills delivery.

We played again tonight at the rehearsal dinner for Adam's wedding, at a little place on Cape Cod. Good times, and Adam got the perfect gift from Jen (his bride-to-be), an Epiphone Sheraton hollow-body guitar, just like the one John Lennon used to play. Adam's away for a week, and when he returns we have our show at Hennessy's in Boston, where we'll be debuting a new song.

We're now booking up the summer, including gigs in NYC, Philadelphia, and NJ. If anyone can recommend any good venues or bills, please let us know. We'll be heading into the studio soon enough, and we'll be posting demos from time to time.

Darkly.

darkly is the way / they come again / every other day
they're dead in red / creeping down the walls / don't
want em to go / darling makes a mess in limousines /
hiding in his dress / he kicks and screams / crying in
the night / don't want him to go / i wasn't at all inside
my head / i want ya / you're just like robert palmer
said / yeah i see you shooting stars / do you want it in
the dark? / in the dark? / they get down, down / to the
velvet underground / and bounce around to the
madchester sound / down down down / i want em to
go/ you want me to hide out in your bed / i want
you / you're just like robert palmer said / yeah i see
you shooting stars / do you want it in the dark? / in
the dark? / could have made it past the bars / but you
crashed out / in your car / and you're taking me too
far / in the dark / they're waiting there for you / still
waiting on the outside but they're all waiting there for
you / all waiting there for you.

Hot day in the city.

Boston is roasting today. It's times like this when not having a real schedule pays off. Walden Pond today!

We don't have much time to get ready for our next show, since Adam's bachelor party is this weekend in Atlantic City. And when we do show up to practice, we'll all be a couple g's lighter. Except for me, since I don't have any g's.

Playing with us next week are Barnicle and the Unfamiliars. Barnicle are fun, heavy pop rock, with a great singer, Karen. They are well-liked, with good reason. The Unfamiliars are cool - how can they not be when they have a violin player? Like several other bands today, they tap into the proto-punk NYC underground scene - but their approach is less punk, more dreamy, like Television.

Once this show is over, we can focus on the new record. Going to book studio time soon for the drums, and the Moontower in Cambridge is probably the best place for the job.

So in love.

Worked on a new song today, tentatively titled "So in Love." This one has a lot of start/stop dynamics. Sounds kind of like Jefferson Airplane meets the Pixies. We tape recorded it, played it back, and are now at an impasse. It's 2:30 long, needs another 30 seconds or so. But we're not sure what to add. The ending is strong, and anything afterwards would take away from the effect. Do we add a solo, lengthen the 2nd verse? This music stuff is hard.

FNX show, May 30 in Boston.

We're excited to announce that we'll be performing with Barnicle and The Unfamiliars (two excellent bands) on Wednesday, May 30, at the Baseball Tavern in Boston, as part of FNX Radio's New England Product Night.

Baseball Tavern is located at 1270 Boylston Street, across from Fenway Park. The show begins at 10 pm. If you're Boston, we hope you can make it! And if you have any requests, please email them to us and we'll see what we can do.

New Jersey turnpike, riding on a wet night...

In NJ right now, recording demos with Garageband. There are about 8 or 9 songs ready for the studio, and another 5 or 6 half-written songs. It's strange how some songs become staples of live shows long before the recording ("Darkly," "Kidnapped"), while others are born through recording.

We still have drums tracks for some older Pravda songs, like "Tora Bora," "Lincoln Lovers," recorded almost exactly a year ago at Hilltop Studios in Bangor, PA. It might be worthwhile to finish those recordings, even though they would be released separately from the album. Plus we have drum tracks to our cover version of "Ziggy Stardust." That has to be finished, if nothing else!

Banging in the apartment.

We'll be working on preproduction for the record this week. This means holing up in the apartment and banging the tunes out on acoustic guitars and pots and pans. Turns out it's a more effective method of writing than playing full-out at the space. Plus the space smells kind of funny right now.

No shows until next week, May 30 at the Baseball Tavern in Boston, across from Fenway.

Sunday Morning.

Got back to Boston from Providence around 4 am.

Interesting show. The good news is that the power didn't shut off until the very end of "Samantha Hall." The bad news is that the power shut off. Fortunately it went back on shortly afterwards, and we played a fun set.

Friendly crowd, attractive room, great prices for liquor. The sound system was a work in progress, but our sound guy did a bang-up job making it sound as good as possible, and the mix was fine. Many thanks to The L.U.V.s (members of the Cold War) for having us. You guys played a great set! Your "Suffragette City" cover was particularly awesome. Sorry to hear that the L.U.V.s are no more. Bring the Cold War up to Boston anytime.

Our set list:

Chemical Dancer
Kidnapped
Samantha Hall
She's so Mature
Holidays on the Run
September
Darkly
The Stiffs
Home Invasion

One down, one to go.

Rain showers withstanding, the Pill was fantastic. Thank you all for coming out! Parking in Allston on a Friday night is hard enough, and we really appreciate those of you brave enough to do it in the torrential downpour. Some special thanks are in order: Ken and Michael for having us at the Pill, Ken for the shots on stage, the Great Scott staff for making us feel welcome, Jean-Christophe for helping with the drums, and our man Chris for giving us nice, clear sound.

The set list:

Chemical Dancer
Kidnapped
Samantha Hall
She's so Mature
Holidays on the Run
September
Darkly
The Stiffs
Metal Mickey (Suede cover)

We look forward to coming back to Great Scott soon. Our next Boston show is on 5/30, at BASEBALL TAVERN, with Barnacle, and the Unfamiliars. This is an FNX sponsored show, so it should be really good.

And now it's time to head to Rhode Island for our next show of the weekend. We'll be opening the L.U.V.s' Reunion Show, at Jerky's in Providence.

Tonight, tonight.

The Pill is tonight! Hopefully the rain will stop by the evening - lovely New England weather. We have an energetic set prepared, and a bottle of vodka tucked inside an amp. Happy times.

Bring on The Pill.

We practiced hard for The Pill last night, even prepared a Suede cover - just in case.

mid-week crisis

We're getting ready for two show this weekend, Friday May 18 at the Pill in Boston, MA, and Saturday May 19 in Providence, RI. The Pill is always a blast, since the room fills up with a friendly crowd, and Providence looks like it might be a sold out show, thanks to the headliners, the reunited L.U.V.s.

We're in the process of figuring out how to record our album this summer. These days, it makes more sense to do most of the tracking ourselves, especially since we've all done enough recordings to know (generally) what we're doing. Potential songs for the record: Kidnapped, September, Teenage, Dead House, Chemical Dancer, The Stiffs, Darkly, Holidays on the Run, Best of the MC5, and a sparse, piano version of Shauna Grant. Are we missing anything? I also have a song called Unkissable that might be a good edition, though so far only Adam's heard it - sounds a bit like Klezmer music.

Thank you to Diana

A big thank you to Diana for the videos she took of our March 11 show at Great Scott in Allston, MA.

The videos are now on youtube:
http://youtube.com/results?search_query=the+daily+pravda&search=Search

We really appreciate it, thanks Diana!

Last night at Great Scott in Allston, MA.

Thanks to everyone who made last night's show at Great Scott come together: Carl Levin, our sound engineer Chris, and the entire Great Scott staff. Thanks to Pop Levi and his band Woman, and to iLASH for sharing the stage with us. And thank you so much to everyone who came to see us. We know some people made quite a trip to be there, and we really appreciate it.

Our Set list:

Chemical Dancer
September
Kinki Malinki
Home Invasion
Holidays on the Run
Samantha Hall
She's so Mature
Darkly

Our next show is 03/21/07 at Harper's Ferry in Allston (Boston), MA, with the Young Knives, the Main Drag, and possibly Protokoll. The show is 18+, and we go on at 8 pm.

Ralph's 3/2/2007

Thank you, Ralph's, for having us last night. Thanks to Super 400, the Brett Rosenberg Problem, and Mark Santoro for sharing the stage with us. We all wish Steve a speedy recovery. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us. And thank you all for the drinks while we played.

Setlist:
Darkly
Kinki Malinki
Samantha Hall
She's so Mature
Holidays on the Run
Chemical Dancer
Kidnapped
September
Viva Natalia
Home Invasion

Live Review on Interference.com

Under the Influence of Giants Warm the Cold Boston Night*
By Kimberly Egolf, Contributing Editor
2007.02


On this past wintry and windy Sunday evening, Under the Influence of Giants brought their inspiring brand of dance-pop sunshine to warm up local Boston bar, Great Scott. A small crowd filled the floor as these four SoCal boys, disguised in winter coats appropriate to the 12 degree weather, hung out next to the bar’s bathroom and waited for their crew to finish setting up the stage. When ready, they shed the coats and quietly assumed the stage to check sound levels.

As the last strains of the tune-up by his bandmates faded, Singer Aaron Bruno jumped onto the stage and announced, “We’re here to have a great time and we hope you’ll join us!” The small crowd’s enthusiastic cheering and applause launched the Giants into an exciting set.

The first three songs were “for people to move around,” as Bruno implored. And the beer-holding Bostonians moved as much as they dared without spilling their precious alcohol. High-powered album tracks “Ah ha” and “Got Nothing” —with their themes of love, loss, and solace—motivated the first sing-along of the night. Danceable grooves and pitch-perfect falsetto evoked sonic visions of color-changing dance floors, disco balls, and polyester, clearly revealing the Giants’ indebtedness to the disco era.

Non-album tracks “Beautiful” and “Daysleeper” followed the opening salvo with a more laid-back groove. While the album is centered on an energetic, Bee Gees-like dance sound, these two songs gave the band a chance to demonstrate some more of those influences in their name. “Beautiful” featured a syncopated groove reminiscent of salsa music and overlaid with a synthesizer riff straight out of the eighties. “Daysleeper” —dedicated to “the lazy folks” —was the most surprising track of the evening with its Zeppelin-esque moments of psychedelia (think “No Quarter” or “When the Levee Breaks”). David Amezcua’s fuzzy bassline and Jamin Wilcox’s slow beats provided the perfect grounding for Bruno’s soaring falsetto vocals and guitarist Drew Stewart’s intense solo work.

At this point in the show, technical difficulties stalled the music but not the energy. The band compensated for any lull in the festivities by breaking out their hit song “Mama’s Room.” They grinned widely as the audience sang along and reveled in this ode to illicit lovemaking.

“Heaven is Full” featured another scalding guitar solo by Stewart, followed by the melancholy “Meaningless Love” in which the band members switched places for a few moments of jamming, showing their versatility as musicians. “Faces” brought the dance power back into the room, belying the song’s dark theme of disillusionment.

The Giants literally closed their set with a scream; Bruno howled into the microphone as Amezcua, Stewart, and Wilcox launched into the song slated to be the Giants’ next single. “In the Clouds” stole the entire show. This buoyant song about getting “high” —on life, love, and success—got the crowd moving and singing. Halfway through, the Giants broke it down to bass groove and drum skins while Bruno exhorted the audience to clap along. They happily obliged and even began to dance; the beers now finished and beginning to take effect.

The band chose not to perform an encore, leaving the audience with only one regret for the evening—we didn’t get enough! Without elaborate lights or stage gimmicks, the Giants made us dance and their uniquely influenced pop songs warmed us up on that cold Boston night.

Boston band The Daily Pravda brought their Bowie-inspired rock to the stage in support of the Giants. Though the small audience was largely unresponsive to the witty stage banter of the band, the band persevered and finally let the music speak for itself: songs like “September,” “Holidays,” and their popular single “She’s So Mature” showcased the band’s self-described “Ziggy Stardust meets American Psycho” sound and earned enthusiastic applause.

Under the Influence of Giants is on tour in the US and Europe throughout February and March. Their debut album, as well as The Daily Pravda’s “She’s So Mature” EP, can be purchased on iTunes.

Under the Influence of Giants on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thegiants
The Daily Pravda on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/thedailypravda

Great Scott, 2/11.

Thank you to everyone who made last night's show at Great Scott possible: Carl Lavin, Chris (our sound-tech), Fenway Recordings, Mark Kates, Live Nation, the GS staff, and Under the Influence of Giants all the way from LA. And a big thank you to everyone who came to see us.

We are officially sold out of "She's so Mature" CDs, but we will do a second pressing soon.

Also, thank you for the bottle of wine!

Setlist:
Darkly
Kidnapped
Kinki Malinki
Chemical Dancer
Holidays on the Run
September
She's so Mature
Home Invasion

We heart Ralph's.

Last night's show at Ralph's was a just another reminder of why we love playing there. Great people, pro sound, good vibes all around... The place runs a class act, from the doorman Josh who makes sure load-in is secure (a serious concern for anyone who owns equipment), to the audio engineer steve who always does a first-rate job - and everyone is so damn nice. A world of difference from Club Bene in NJ.

Much love to the staff at Ralph's, as well as everyone who came to see us last night - your presence always keeps us enthused.

Setlist:
Darkly
Kidnapped
She's so Mature
Samantha Hall
Kinki Malinki
Chemical Dancer
Holidays on the Run
September
Home Invasion

first post EVER.

Playing tonight at Ralph's in Worcester. A new single is on the way. "She's so Mature" EP is now available on all iTunes stores, as well as Napster, Emusic, Rhapsody, and Sony Connect.