Signed!!

As stated, Wisconsin Beef Commission is now signed to Sealed Juvenile Records. This is a very small label based here in Milwaukee, WI, and we hope to help this label along. It is our pleasure to work with Sealed Juvenile Records, and share a label with our sister band American Radio Police.

Sealed Juvenile Records is a Milwaukee Based punk rock label, with heavy influences of 80's anti-Reagan type attitude. Their just starting out, but we have high hopes for them!!

BUY "DRANKIN' SONGS"!! NOW OUT ON SEALED JUVINILE RECORDS!!

Available on iTunes, AmazonMp3, Zune, xBox, etc.

Here's a link to buy it on AmazonMp3:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_5_5?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=wisconsin+beef+commission&sprefix=Wisco%2Cdigital-music%2C269

Rolling Along

So as stated, we're continuing along as a 2-piece. Last week on Thursday, Mike and I went to see Miss Fists and The Astro Zombies, which is a Misfits tribute band fronted by our good friend Leilani Frey, former lead singer from The Maybenauts. We somehow managed to talk them into playing our November 30th show at The Monkey Bar. This is where Wisconsin Beef Commission played its first Milwaukee show about 2 years ago. Also playing this show will be Milwaukee's own The Hullmen. Mike and I were overly impressed with the performance of Miss Fists and the Astro Zombies, and expect this show to be epic. The show just happens to be on my birfday as well, and thus there may be a few surprises to come, possibly some cameos by fellow musicians during the Wisconsin Beef commission set... Nothing has been set up yet, but we're working on some top secret events to entice the senses.

Also, on November 17th, we will be playing at The Blue Pig (formerly V'Nuk's in Cudahy) with The 57's, and Lost In a Name. There may be some more bands added to the bill, but we haven't been informed to the final lineup. Details have been slow to get to us but what we know thus far is this show will have $10 bottomless cups of Pabst and a type of Sprecher they use as their house beer (it's not too bad, but the Pabst is better), as well as giveaways throughout the night including tattoo gift certificates, and Blue Pig gift certificates. For those not familiar with The Blue Pig, it's one of the biggest stages we have played, which will be interesting with us being down to a 2-piece. This is where Dana had her last show before being incarcerated.

These should be our last shows for 2012. We had been asked to play New Years Eve somewhere, but never heard back about that, and I will be heading down to Chicago that night to see Naked Raygun at The Cobra Lounge with The Dwarves. Thanks to all who have been coming out, and to all we will see in the near future.

The Hurdles

So as many of you know, since the last blog I posted Dana's been sentenced to 1 year in jail with work release in Utah, with her earliest possibility of release being in April. Mike and I have been pressing on as a 2-piece. We've added a few more covers and are working on new material to round out our set in Dana's absence, seeing as about 1/3 of our songs we can't (or won't) do without her. The timing of this couldn't be worse, as the CD is out on iTunes, Google Player, Amazon Mp3, Zune, xBox, and a few other online outlets, and we're looking to have the CD out soon.

For those who feel we are doing this in defiance of Dana... YOU'RE WRONG!!! Dana herself has been asking friends and supporters on the FREE DANA NOW page as well as her own Facebook page (which she has access to only during her work release hours) that everyone come out to the shows and support us. We have done one show as a 2-piece thus far and the turnout was quite grim. Keep in mind folks, this is still Dana's band, AND NOT SUPPORTING WISCONSIN BEEF COMMISSION IS NOT SUPPORTING DANA!! I know it's easy to click a "Like" button on a Facebook page and say you support, but there's more at stake here. Anyone who actually KNOWS Dana, knows she has never been one to sit still and be passive letting life happen around her. We need to keep this ship afloat in her absence, and it's up to ALL of us to make sure she has something to return to.

As for the CD, we've been rather quiet about the release of it lately, and I've been trying not to burn any bridges with the issues we've had in its anticipation. It's been overly frustrating having had the album mastered for months and no physical product available. Here's what's up, the artwork for the CD case and disc was started by an artist back in early August. Mid-September after sending it back for MANY corrections we received the final artwork for the CD. The end product was a) sized in a way that it couldn't be applied to the necessary templates for pressing (we had 2 web designers try), and b) the artwork was too low of a quality to use for printing, that is, the artist used pictures that were of too low of quality (and said artist had full access to the high quality pictures). The only thing we could use was the album cover art that's up on the aforementioned websites.

With the delay in receiving the artwork, and the horrible quality of the final product, that artwork was scrapped, and we have Aaron Valentine at JWD-Creative starting the project from scratch. Aaron has informed me he should be able to work on the artwork for the CD next week. The official word from Mike is that we will have the official release party after Dana gets out of jail, provided that she's out in April.

In the "not lettin' this get us down" file, we are looking at embarking on a tour in April, based on what should be Dana's release date. We're calling it "The Jailbreak Tour". and looking at hitting San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Ogden, and hopefully Chicago. I'll get more info out as I get it, but hopefully 2013 will be a stellar year for WBC. In the meantime, we're going to be returning to The Blue Pig in Cudahy, WI (formerly V'Nuk's) on November 17th with The 57's, and some other bands TBA. Hope to see y'all there!!

Utah... Screw You

As some (or many) of you may have heard by now, Dana is now sitting in jail in the exceptionally conservative state of Utah. This is not a joke as we have been accused of, she's really sitting in a cell as I type this. The reason being as follows: The story goes that she was arrested for theft when she was still in her teens and lived in Utah, and she was put on probation. She was given a list of things to do while on probation, including drug treatment, and graduating high school which she has done over the years. The only thing she did that was an issue while on probation is leave Utah. She did this to get away from the scene that got her into this situation in the first place, so she could meet with the aforementioned terms of her probation. Since then, she has been clean, and has not been arrested once.

So last week, Dana bought plane tickets, and flew down there of her own free will to get this taken care of so it wouldn't be an issue for travel, or our touring in the future. She faced the judge on Thursday, who decided she needed to sit in jail while he takes a week to read her file (they sure do read slow in Utah), and she would have her next hearing this Thursday. What we DO know, is that she is looking at a possible 6 months of further detainment.

Way to go Utah, you're really getting the message through to Dana. I'm sure she will never steal anything from your wonderful citizens again... oh wait... she hasn't done that in OVER 10 YEARS!! In actuality, Dana isn't the only one being punished (though she's obviously getting the worst of it). In truth  we're all suffering. Marty is in a state of limbo not knowing when his wife will be home, Mike is without his best friend for a time  to be determined by some dipshit Mormon who managed to get elected judge, Dana's family is without her for the time being, all her charity work is on standstill, and Wisconsin Beef Commission is possibly down to a 2-piece for Mormon knows how long right as our new album is being released. The only ones of all these people that are being punished that have ever even been to Utah are Mike and Dana. Nice job assholes!! 

ENCORE!!

So what's next on the agenda for Wisconsin Beef Commission you may ask? Well, here's what's up. We are still doing some last minute tweaks on the album, but as I may or may not have stated, the recording itself is done. All that's left is making it sound more better, mastering, then off to press. We should have something available for y'all by the end of July.

As far as shows, we went from nothing in the foreseeable future, to booking a slew in the last week. We'll be playing July 28th at The Borg Ward here in Milwaukee as part of a matinee show with bands such as Jones Island Flood, Outside Lions, Drumlins, and Revenge Society. Being that this is at The Borg Ward, I'm assuming this will be all ages. I'll get more details out as I get them.

We'll also be playing another battle of the bands at The Miramar Theater on The Eastside on August 4th. This also will be starting in the afternoon as well, and will presumably be all ages as well.

August 18th we will be heading back to Door County to play at our good friend Early Thomas' place; Sonny's Pizzeria in Fish Creek. Word has it that our bat-shit crazy style went over quite well at Steelbridge Songfest a couple weeks ago, so there MAY be a second show up in that area... rumor has it... maybe...

Also, I got a report from my buddy Joe Papke (formerly of X-Brand out of Sturgeon Bay WI) that WMSE 91.7 played some of our stuff. Now this is amazing, because there has been nothing released from the forthcoming album. The only ones who have access to the recordings are Shane (from Howl Street Recordings), Mike, Dana, and myself. We haven't released ANYTHING as of yet. This means that someone at WMSE lifted audio from our Youtube videos. That's AWESOME that they would go through the work to do that!! Theoretically, this was Milwaukee Rock Posters who were responsible, the group that did a podcast less than a year ago using the same technique.

So yeah, in a nut shell, we'll be playing some more shows for ya soon, and word's getting out about us as well. I have to thank all those who have given us a chance, and helped us form this band that a year ago was just so wild that I had no idea what it would become. We've played with a lot of great bands along the way, and have met some really great people as well. For me, this has been a great chance to get back to doing what I love to do and have been quite unsuccessful with for over a decade, and in new ways.

Recording

Well, we've finished up the drum and bass tracks for the premier album. We started on the vocals, but have quite a bit of work to do. The instrumental tracks are coming along great even before editing, and the sound is even better than I was hoping for.

The drums were recorded in one night, using your average kit micing, as well as strategically placed room mics; 2 in the room, 2 in the hallway. Mike used his usual Lidwig kit with most of the same cymbals he's been using live, but has added some replacements to the cracked ones. All cymbals being Zildjian A Customs.

The bass tracks (up to 4 in some songs) were recorded in a semi-similar fashion. The "bass" sound is my '95 American Standard Precision bass or my Fender Hoppus bass (used mainly because it had fresher sounding strings towards the end) running through my Ampeg SVTII, and SVT810E cab. I used my modded TS-9DX on a few tracks, and my vintage Rat pedal was used for "BFA". These were recorded with 2 mics on the SVT810E, 2 room mics, as well as the DI from my SVTII.

The next was the first "guitar" track, was the '95 Precission run into the Sovtek Mig 60 with my custome made 6x10 cab (with 6 Jensen C10Q's). This is the amp I used live until about 2 months ago. The last track(s) was (were) done with my '92 American Standard Fender Jazz Bass (with EMG J's) through my my Orange Tiny Terror and Orange PPC112 cab. This gave a great higher tone with a nasally chunch that holds the mix together.

One track on the album has my modded Gretsch G5120 running through the Orange in the chorus' rhythm, otherwise the album is all bass, drums, and vocals. We're running right on schedule with this project, and hope to have a CD release party before mid-June.

Steelbridge Song Fest 2012

                                                  The Michigan St Bridge, Sturgeon Bay WI

For those not familiar with Steelbridge Song Fest, this is a festival held annually in Sturgeon Bay WI, the town I grew up in. The event is a fundraiser to save and maintain the old Michigan St Bridge, which connects the East and West sides of the city in the downtown area. The bridge was built 1930, and is the last steel drawbridge of its kind left in the US. The bridge was to be replaced by a new bridge that was built about 2 blocks away (a bridge we call "the bridge to nowhere"). The Steelbridge Song Festivals started in 2005 with Jackson Browne, and pat mAcdonald as the main headliners, and over the years has continued annually with such names as Jane Wiedlin (of The Go-Go's fame), Eric McFadden, and Kim Manning. The festival is held annually in the early part of June, and Wisconsin Beef Commission has played this year, as well as last year. I personally have performed in other years, and have attended as a spectator.

The beauty part of attending this festival is the performers. As a musician, we get to perform with peers from Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago, as well as performers that come in from all over the world. The 4 day festival is set to offer access to the public for free during the day hours at specified locations, usually within a block or two of the Michigan St Bridge on its East end. At night, the local bars and coffee houses are used as venues for bands to play with passes sold to those who want to enjoy the festivities and contribute to the cause. This year's passes were $20 a piece, which gave access to over 10 venues for Friday and Saturday night (Thursday night was free, and passes were not required. Sunday has no night stages). This is a bargain when considering how much access a pass-holder has to diverse styles of music from musicians who pay well more than $20 to participate in the festival (musicians receive NOTHING for participating in the way of income, and any money they do make is done separately in way of merch sales). The other aspect is that there is no "rock star" vibe from the performers. When attending the concerts, spectators find themselves hobnobbing with musicians from all over the world, from every genre, and every level.

As stated we have attended this festival for the last 2 years, and I have attended for many more than that. The festival itself is a great addition to my old hometown. The main downside to the festival lies in the adversity. I take this time to discuss what many feel with the city of Sturgeon Bay, but never talk about.

The city of Sturgeon Bay has shown a complete and total adversity to the Steelbridge festivals. In earlier years, it was a great festival where First Ave would be shut down and vendors (both local and not) could offer art, food, crafts, instruments, and more. The festival revolved around a big stage where performers would play throughout the day hours, and you had a real festival feel. In the last 2 years, the festival has been dropped to having a much smaller stage in the parking lot of The Holiday Music Hotel due to city restrictions, and only about 1/4 the vendors were able to fit (night venues are unchanged, as they are private property). Last year, the city went as far as having a competing festival in a park about a mile down the road, and this year, there was a "walk for cancer" going on the same weekend.

As far as the local citizens of Sturgeon Bay, I AM EMBARRASSED to be associated with MOST of them in regards to the festival. The majority of the people I know from the city don't attend, or do by scheming their way around the fee for passes (sneaking in back-doors, barrowing passes from others, etc). Many complain about the festival, as it "blocks traffic" which is funny because there hasn't been any roads closed off for it in 2 years, and when the stage was set up on the bridge itself, the bridge was closed anyway. They go on about the "weirdos" that are in their town. What these people are not taking into account is that the festival is for the bridge. Musicians participating are not only not getting paid, but spend money HAND OVER FIST at the local bars, eateries, hotels, shops, etc. The festival also brings revenue from non-participants who go to enjoy the festival and spend money as well. The hotel we stayed at was at capacity that weekend, and some bar owners make more a night in those 4 days than they do in a week at any other given time of the year. It floors me how much the locals are afraid of anything that isn't mindnumbingly expected in everyday life in a city of under 10,000 people. As a former resident, I have to say, the people and government of Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin SHAME me. Why not embrace a great thing, rather than destroy it. The city can be a lot more than just a place to go fishing and listen to pop music or country at the local bars while seeing the same people you see every stinking week!!

Jim Marshall; RIP

So today we learn of the passing of Jim Marshall. Marshall's amps have been, are, and always will be synonymous with the sound of rock n' roll as we know it. Marshall amps, or rather "that Marshall sound" is the most iconic of popular music since the sixties.

After much debate, and much research, here's how the story of Jim Marshall goes. Marshall was a drummer in England who opened up a music store where he'd sell guitars, amps, and drums. He found that the 1959 Fender Bassman was his preferred amp for guitar among the amps he was selling. The downside to these amps was that they cost a small fortune to purchase, as they had to be shipped from the US. Marshall decided to get into amp building, and built PA systems, and eventually took a crack at a guitar amp. He has said himself that he "...didn't have to re-invent the wheel." and decided to use the Fender 1959 Bassman as a platform for his amp. Now at this time, Fender was striving to make amps sound cleaner for country music, where as Marshall had the idea of making them sound dirtier. After about 6 attempts to get the sound that Marshall was looking for, his developers came up with what would be called the JTM45. When looking at the faceplates of the JTM45 and the 1959 Bassman (even in the re-issues), we can see the overwhelming influence. They have the same controls and switches. Even the number of tubes is the same. The primary difference is in the components and types of tubes.

Now Marshall himself wasn't sitting at a worktable tinkering away like Leo Fender did, but rather gave input. The main difference between the Bassman and the JTM45 was the sound. Marshall also came up with the idea of separating the amp (head) from the actual speaker cabinet, and rather than use Jensen 10" speakers, go with British-made Celestian 12" speakers. This was the first "half-stack" as we know of it today (Fender was separating heads from cabs around this time too, but these were refered to as "piggyback" designs, and utilized 2 12" Jensen speakers). The term "halfstack" was actually put into place later on. Marshall's idea was also to have the tubes extend upward from the chassis, rather than hang downward like Fender amps. This (whether or not intentional) aided in keeping the tubes cooler, thus lengthening their life.

Constantly evolving, at the request of Pete Townsend (one of Marshall's earliest customers), Marshall decided to make a more powerful amp. The JTM45 was rated at about 50 watts. The 1959, or "Plexi" as we call them today, was a 100 watt amp that first had a speaker cab with eight Celestian 12" speakers. As Marshall felt this was ridiculously large, he opted to use 2 separate cabinets with four speakers each. This is where the term "stack" comes from, and thus a stack with only one cab is called a "halfstack". Another idea Marshall had was to have the top cab be "slanted". The common thought was that this was to project the sound upward for better sound flow, but Marshall says he felt it looked better to slant the cab that the head would rest on. Marshall heads that are set on top of a straight cab do not quite look right to most of us (though it's been argued the straight cab has a fuller sound).

Admittedly, these are all vintage amps now. Many builders (including Marshall) try to revamp or emulate this sound. "The Marshall Sound" falls into an umbrella, as there are several Marshall designs that have been made, and some models are preferred by certain players over other. It's a general consensus that the "true" Marshalls were the ones with 6 knobs; 2 dedicated to volume, treble, middle, bass, and presence. The amps that many of us prefer are the JTM45, 1959 (Plexi), 1987, 2203 &2204 (JCM800 models), and the 1962 (also known the "Bluesbreaker", the only combo amp Marshall built that gets any credit). There has been an increase in popularity of the 4100 (JCM900) as well in recent years. Since the turn of the century, Marshall amps have been employing the use of multi-channel technology. It should be noted that the model numbers on Marshall amps (like 1959) ARE NOT the years they were developed. Marshall also built some bass amps, but their availability in the US has been limited, and as such, I have had limited experience with them.





Now I know what you're thinking, as a bass player, what stock do I take in Marshall sound. In actuality, in the earliest days of Wisconsin Beef Commission I was borrowing a Marshall 2204 (JCM800) reissue, which lead me to the sound that I use for the mock-guitar side of the overall sound. I am currently using Orange, which is a very similar sound. Marshall, Orange, and Hiwatt all fall into the same category of "Brittish" sound. Even the Sovtek Mig 60 I use has some Marshall influence in it, like the 12AX7 and EL34 tubes.

Bottom line, Jim Marshall didn't re-invent the wheel, but he made it a lot louder, and for this, we are truly greatful.

March 31st Battle fo the Bands

Some of you may have noticed that we've been shying away from the results of last Saturday's "Break Into The Big Gig" contest at the Up & Under, sponsored by 102.1 FM. There is good reason for this... THE CONTEST WAS BULLSHIT!!

We tied for second place with a great band called Billy Dreamer who were PHENOMENAL. The winning band however, was a Kings of Leon wannabe band from New Berlin that was still in high school. Brodie (Up & Under owner) informed me that the drummer was only 14!! Some "fans" (2 parents and a bunch of teenagers with fake ID's) were seen buying multiple ballots. They beat us and Billy Dreamer by 20 votes, and there was no way IN HELL they had 20 more people than we did. Here's an email I sent to 102.1 FM concerning this issue:

"Greetings,

Last Saturday (March 31, 2012), my band was part of the battle of the bands competition that was connected to 102.1 at Up & Under on Brady Street, with a chance to win a spot on a main stage at Summerfest this year. I have been involved in this contest with 2 different bands over the last 3 years. Generally each one has gone as expected and we've enjoyed participating, with the exception of last Saturday.

2 out of the 3 bands (including the one I'm in) tied for second place, and are bands that have been a part of the music community in Milwaukee for years (13 in my case), but the winning band was a high school band from New Berlin that none of us had ever heard of. This band consisted of musicians that were not old enough to drink, and the owner of Up & Under informed us the drummer was only 14. This seems concerning, in that persons of no less than 18 years of age are allowed to work in a drinking establishment (playing in a band falls under this umbrella), and patrons of that establishment are to be no less than 21 years of age (and their "fans" were definitely not). The situation was highly uncomfortable for those of us of legal drinking age, not to mention that we were informed that the parents of these children were buying multiple ballots. Their vote total at the end of the night was 34, and in a venue the size of Up & Under, 34 people that were not the regular non-voting patrons or fans of the other 2 bands would be highly noticeable in means of the place being filled beyond capacity.

In the future, if you want to open up a contest like this to children, you may want to consider using an all-ages venue, and not a legal drinking establishment.

Thanks for your time,
David Wiese"

What I didn't rant about in the email was the overall appearance  of this band. They were a Kings of Leon wanna-be band and reeked of every stereotype of trust fund baby band. The band consisted of 2 guitarists that had 7 guitars on stage with them consisting of Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, and a few others (none of which were less than $500 in value). The bass player had a '61 reissue Fender Jazz Bass (at least a $1700 bass) as well as a Ric 4003 (also over a grand). One guitarist had a Vox AC-30, and the other had a tweed I couldn't make out. One of their moms was even carrying guitars for them as they were leaving. They couldn't stick around for the ballot count because it was apparently PAST THEIR CURFEW!!

So with all this bullshit, we have decided not to attach anything to this contest as a band.

Recording, 4-2-2012

Well, we've finished up the drum and bass tracks for the premier album. We started on the vocals, but have quite a bit of work to do. The instrumental tracks are coming along great even before editing, and the sound is even better than I was hoping for.

The drums were recorded in one night, using your average kit micing, as well as strategically placed room mics; 2 in the room, 2 in the hallway. Mike used his usual Lidwig kit with most of the same cymbals he's been using live, but has added some replacements to the cracked ones. All cymbals being Zildjian A Customs.

The bass tracks (up to 4 in some songs) were recorded in a semi-similar fashion. The "bass" sound is my '95 American Standard Precision bass or my Fender Hoppus bass (used mainly because it had fresher sounding strings towards the end) running through my Ampeg SVTII, and SVT810E cab. I used my modded TS-9DX on a few tracks, and my vintage Rat pedal was used for "BFA". These were recorded with 2 mics on the SVT810E, 2 room mics, as well as the DI from my SVTII.

The first "guitar" track, was the '95 Precission run into the Sovtek Mig 60 with my custom made 6x10 cab (with 6 Jensen C10Q's). This is the amp I used live until about 2 months ago. The last track(s) was (were) done with my '92 American Standard Fender Jazz Bass (with EMG J's) through my Orange Tiny Terror and Orange PPC112 cab. This gave a great higher tone with a nasally chunch that holds the mix together.

One track on the album has my modded Gretsch G5120 running through the Orange in the chorus' rhythm, otherwise the album is all bass, drums, and vocals. We're running right on schedule with this project, and hope to have a CD release party before mid-June.

AND FINALLY...

So back in October we were talking about the possibility of recording. We wrote all sorts of new material, and at long last, we're heading into the studio on March 1st. Originally we were supposed to start a few weeks ago, but those plans fell through. After a BIGASS pro/con list, and weighing all of our options, we have decided to record at Howl Street Recordings. We've liked the quality of everything we heard come out of that studio.

We'll be doing drum tracks on the first, then I'll be going in to do my bass tracks. We'll be recording our originals that we've been playing for over a year now, like "Shiny Things For Jesus", "OWI", and "Panhandler", plus some new songs like "Beer Ain't Just For Breakfast Anymore", and "Never Gonna Give Up", and one about hunting (Mike writes the lyrics and names them, I can't remember the name of that one).

As stated earlier, I'll be recording the 2 bass sounds separately; the "bass" side, and the "guitar" side which is my bass run through a guitar amp. One major change to the original plan, is that I will be using my new amp for the "guitar" side, which is an Orange Tiny Terror that I just picked up. This is a great sounding class A amp that brings forth every nuance of playing. The bass side will still be done with my Ampeg SVTII and SVT810E. The trick part is to not make the 2 sounds sound so different that they make the live show lacking. Bottom line, we don't want to put out an album that sounds like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.

The basses that I'll be using will definitely be my P-Basses on the bass side, and possibly my Jazz Bass on the "Guitar" side. I may even try the Jaguar for this. A lot of decisions will be made when the time comes for me to record the final tracks.

Our goal is to have the project buttoned up by the end of spring, by the time we play Steelbridge Song Fest 2012 for sure. More than likely, we'll have the recordings available online first, we're already looking into iTunes, Amazon Download, and LastFM. All-in-all, the recording will be made available on a large scale.