News Archive

1/1/05

Happy New Year! Ramona the Pest will play its first full band show in nearly a year. With Jon Luini on bass, Peter Libby on drums, dynamite Dan Olmsted onboard to weave some wicked guitar lines with Lucio and Val just singing her heart out, RTP promises to deliver a smoldering set that both you and they will enjoy. With RTP shows of late being few and far between, this is reason alone to be there! Don't miss it!

3/21/04

Happy Spring! RTP remains on semi-hiatus, but there are several chances to see us and some of our work in April!

We'll be doing a full set at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco with DC's Carmaig Deforest on April 21 with our new rhythm section of Pete Libby and Jon Luini.

Metaphysical Education, a film by Thad Povey will be showing at the San Francisco International Film Festival in a program called "Bringing to Light" Sunday, April 18 at 6:45pm at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco, and Tuesday, April 20 at 7:00pm at the Pacific Film Archive (PFA) in Berkeley. MetaPhysical Education is a 16mm found-footage collage constructed around the song "Sobering" from our second album, Little Knives. It's really great, so please go see it!

1/15/04

RTP shall be playing a special My Bloody Valentine's Day show on Friday, February 13 at the Starry Plough in Berkeley:

The My Bloody Valentine Bash -- $7 -- Featuring Ramona the Pest, She Mob, Ned, The Shut Ins, The Slow Poisoners, The Cones, and I Will Kill You F*cker. This show features everything from deranged sonic deconstructions to bent bluegrass to ethereal, moody, freaky pop and each act will debut an original song composed just for the occasion. It's gonna be a loud, dark, lovely, edgy and amusing night of music, not for Hallmark lovers.

This show is co-presented with She Mob's Sue Hutchinson, who will MC along with local performance artist Praba Pilar. Bring a friend, ex-lover or future ex-lover and enter the Worst Date Ever contest. Win prizes. Whether you're a lover, loser, liar, or a little bit of each, you won't want to miss this one-of-a-kind night of musical mayhem. The Starry Plough is located at 3101 Shattuck Ave. just south of Ashby. (510) 841-2082. 21 + over please.

We'll be playing a 20-30 minute set with new songs written for the occasion! Joining us will be Jon Luini on bass and Peter Libby on drums. This will be the first show we've played in some time and the last for a while. Don't miss it!

12/1/03

RTP is on hiatus.

Since humble beginnings as an acoustic duo, Ramona the Pest has experimented with different styles and personel. In 2001 RTP found a solid groove as a power trio with a decidely rock and pop sound. These past two years found us at our leanest and meanest and we became known as a great live band. However, the time came to move on, we said goodbye to our friend and wonderful drummer Pat Spurgeon and decided to take a little rest.

But fear not! A new band is on the way and the rock is in our blood (it seems we were on to something when we pulled off that Black Sabbath tribute set on Halloween!).

So here are some things we're working towards in the next year - a Valentine's Day full band coming out party/show, recording material for a fourth cd and playing better, more high visibility shows.

If you want to lend a hand in any way - promotion, moral support, cold hard cash or anything else you can think of, drop us a line, we'd love to hear from you!

While we're busy with these changes, you can still see and hear us in other forms, so don't be a stranger.  Val can be found singing and plucking the bass in Loretta Lynch as well as upcoming solo shows. Lucio's various projects can be found at www.kingtone.com.

Lastly, sorry for the lack of recent site updates. We are in the midst of an update now, so please come back soon and check out the new pics, mp3s and look.

8/15/03

well, it seems kzsu (stanford univ) has been playing us a bit. thanks! check out the nice things they had to say about our last record and call and request the pest! 650-723-9010

we've two shows coming up this week and then we plan to back into hiding. rumour has it we'll be working on material for a new record (some already recorded) so stay tuned. stop back soon to find some new site features very soon!

xo

7/1/03

happy to report that ms. pest is on a working vacation on the glorious isle of england with her other musical project, loretta lynch! the group is performing at the glastonbury music festival and beyond and reports are in that it has been a grand time so far!

the reverend fingers is also quite busy this month with ample opportunity for you to catch him spreading some sonic mayhem with the overdub club and the firegarden.

we're happy to announce that rtp will come out swinging with a full band on friday, august 22 at the starry plough in berkeley. gonna be a rockin' night w/ our friends whore and she mob! we're very excited about this show as it will be the debut of the wonderful david rokeach on drums. david is veteran drummer, having playing w/ the likes of ray charles and aretha franklin...yeah - so don't miss it.

6/2/03

hello, pests! it's summertime hot here in california. my mom says it's been raining forever out east, so sympathies and wishes for clear skies to ya.

the pest has been laying sorta low lately, but we'll be popping out for a show here and there, so do come see us when you can! this friday night at the hotel utah will be one of those times. val and lucio will provide venturous fans with a special treat by playing as a duo. the utah is the perfect place to see such an intimate little show. we'll be playing promptly at 9pm - supporting liz anah's cd release. hope to see you there!

5/12/03

Well, our new CD finished in the #24 spot for the month of April at KALX - ahead of Johhny Cash and Yo La Tengo. Not bad...Thanks to KALX. Keep ringing up the requests 510 642-5259 - every play makes a difference!

If you like the new cd please tell some friends. We're keepin' the price low because as independent artists we can. For $12 at shows or right here online you get the same - if not better quality. CDs shouldn't be$16+. Thanks for your support!

4/15/03

Great news! Contrary Sanctuary charted in the #2 spot on KALX 90.7fm (UC Berkeley) this week! Let's see if we can chart #1 next week and more importantly for the month of April. Call 'em up and request the Pest! 510 642-5259.

3/24/03

We had a great coupla shows last week and saw our friend and collaborator, Pat Spurgeon off in high style. We've posted a couple of live tracks from the Starry Plough show (thanks to Michael Zelner) and you can check out some pictures taken by Matt Curtis.

We'll be laying low for awhile, working on and recording some new music and Val and Lucio will be playing some duo shows in late April.

Pushby.com posted a nice blurb about our recent record release show at the Bottom of the Hill - confirming our feeling that it was an example of local music at its best.

March 14, 2003

Don't miss the two cool shows we've got on tap for next week as they will be the last official performances with our friend and collaborator for the past 2 years Pat Spurgeon.

It's been fun and Pat truly helped to define the sound of the Pest over that time period...It's all captured for eternity on the Contrary Sactuary CD, so get yourself a copy today!

Pat is really excited about his new band Rogue Wave, which he will be putting all his efforts into henceforth. Pat's musical skill and enthusiasm, the rocking moments onstage, the drumstick trick w/ his fro, the long drives while on tour and his uncanny ability to impersonate just about anyone will be remembered fondly!

As for the Pest, we are looking forward to stretching our current styalistic boundaries a bit and collaborating w/ some of the many fine musicians in the bay area. We are moving ahead full steam, and, have already begun recording for our next release, so stayed tuned for more Pest happenings!

February 25, 2003

RTP was in Guerrilla Euphonics Studio in Oakland, CA this past week with fab engineer Myles Boisen to record basic tracks for the songs "10 Ton Girl," "Ghostbets" and "Same Old Song and Dance" for future release. Stay tuned for some snippets and rough mixes as they come available!

and this just in...

Indie Music Scam Alert! - read here how College Music Journal (CMJ), the magazine taking sole national responsibility for cataloging and publishing top-charting college radio bands, has been fixing their charts to the detriment of unsigned indie acts - such as Loretta Lynch (Ms. Pest's other band). indie power!

February 17, 2003

Our CD release show at the Bottom of the Hill was a great success. We rocked - one of the best shows we've played to date. Of note:

Val looked like a true rock diva w/ her red el wire pant leg accouterment.

Ari was a divine presence - her vocal, ethereal.

Rance kicked out the sweet low end and wore a nice Brendan Benson T-shirt..

Pat rocked on drums and his hair was looking especially good.

Lucio delivered some tone sermon, indeed.

The "Buy Like Them, Be Like Them" Chorus in the front row kicked ass and made us onstage break out some huge grins...

Of course, Ultralash and 20 Minute Loop were wonderful. All in all, a great Bottom of the Hill evening. Thank you to all who attended!

And if you missed it, please come to a future show...

xo

February 8, 2003

Time has come for us to put up or shut up! Our 3rd CD Contrary Sanctuary is to be released this week and the show we've planned around that triumph is going to be a great one for three reasons:

1) Bottom of the Hill, best rock club in SF.

2) The regular RTP line-up of Val, Lucio and Pat will be augmented with the considerable talents of Rance (bass) and Ari Fellows Mannion (vocals).

3) Ultralash (whose new cd is phenom) and the fantastic 20 Minute Loop.

Why do anything else on Vday?!

See you there...

January 2003

Happy New Year!

And guess what? our new record ---->
Contrary Sanctuary is finally HERE!!!! Yeah!!! It sounds and looks great! 13 great new songs from the little band that could. Check out the Pest Mall for details!!!

We've got a super-cool record release show happening on Valentine's Day - what could be more fitting? Don't miss it. We'll have Ari & Lawrence Fellows-Mannion helping us out for that gig - so don't miss this special Pest line-up!!!

December 2002

We've got some special treats for this holiday season! First off, the "Contrary Sanctuary" cd has finally been sent off to the pressing plant and we should have it in hand for our super cool last show of 2002 as part of the BEASTFEST east bay music festival. We plan on putting on quite the ROCKSHOW w/ Rance joining us on bass. We'll be debuting a bunch of new tunes and hope you'll be there to help us rock the house.

We've also posted some fun new mp3 clips to the sounds page including a new live cut from our Slims show this past August and a couple of chestnuts from the RTP recordings vault - from which we hope to have available a special cdr full of unreleased recordings and out of print rtp recordings - so stay tuned!

We'll be looking to have an official record release gig for "Contrary Sanctuary" in early 2003, but is available here on our website - we're sure it will make a great gift for that special pest someone...

Happy holidays to everyone!

October 2002

A word from Ms. Pest: "Heck, if I wanted to be a project manager, I wouldn't have dropped out of college to become a musician, for god's sake! But alas, being the hard working little indie band that we are, and seeing as we are our own record label, and knowing that the dang show must go on, I find myself in the unwelcome position of learning once again about just how the hell it is that you put out your own releases. And remembering that things always take longer than you think. What does this mean to you, dear reader? It means that we've had delays and we anticipate more delays, and that we can't give a definite release date just yet, but that we'll let you know as soon as we know. But we sure do appreciate your patience, enthusiasm, and support in the meantime. End of rant."

September 2002

Well, we've been working hard to get the new Contrary Sanctuary CD manufactured. The good news is it looks amazing. The design is fantastic - art unto itself (thanks uncle mikey). The packing is a fabulous refinement of the style we used for "Little Knives" and was designed and is being hand screnprinted by our friend Mark Growden. Because such fine packaging would simply not be affordable otherwise, we will be assembling them ourselves - so stay tuned for the slave labor party/show that we'll be having sometime in October!

And, yeah, we said we'd have the CD out by September, but it looks like it'll be available to fans sometime in October. Apologies to our pre-order folks, but we promise you'll be getting your copy before anyone else gets one!!

Double thanks to those who did pre-order CDs and HUGE Thanks to Superpest Donors Stokely Grimes and Lea Menegon!!

Last but not least - It's time for the RTP Sticker and Button Design Contest!! Email us for details! or just start drawing today! we'll think of something really fun for you to win in the meantime!

June 2002

We think it's high time for our rumored full length CD Contrary Sanctuary to officially be released, don't you? Well, we need your help! Things you can do:


Come to our CD Benefit show June 21st.

We'll be doing an early acoustic set and "very special" late rock set with Mr. Lawrence Fellows-Mannion on bass... (Much thanks to the amazing 20 Minute Loop and Merrick for lending their time and talent...)


Pre-order a signed copy of Contrary Sanctuary.
At a discounted price of $12!


Become a Super Pest Patron.
Really want to help? $100 gets your name on the CD, $250 and we'll write a song for you with your name in it.


Our last CD, the four song Birds, Bugs, Bones EP, only hinted at why we believe Contrary Sanctuary to be our best recording to date. Those who have come to see us - and those who purchased the CDr version -can attest to our excitement about the songs. Contrary Sanctuary will be released in September 2002, but if you order now you can have your very own signed copy in early August!


Thank you and we love you!!

May 2002

How did it get to be May already? We hope you’re all enjoying Spring. We at Pest headquarters are immersed in preparations for the Fall release of Contrary Sanctuary, our third full length album. We’re playing just a few select live shows at the moment, but we plan to hit the road again in September and we can hardly wait. Oh, how we’ve missed the sleepless nights, the cold strange floors, the beer soaked carpets at the bars, the scary rest stop bathrooms... and playing music every night, the thing we live for after all. If you want to see us in your town please help us to setup a show or house concert! Or even just pass us tips about places to play and stay. Drop us a line, we love hearing from you!

Sadly for all of us, our beloved mop top drummist extraordinaire, Pat Spurgeon, will be moving to Austin, TX at the end of July - so Fri. June 21st (at the Starry Plough) will be our official send off to him and RTP’s last bay area appearance until September, so please join us!!

As for Ms. Pest, she is currently forgoing any semblance of a social life in exchange for playing in an assortment of interesting music projects! And Lucio, aka the Reverend Screaming Fingers, is also spinning musical mayhem of his own... See you soon!

xo...

 

April 2002

There are some things in life that just make you stop and realize that everything you are doing isn't necessarily as important as you might think. Case in point - One of our fans from the Seattle area (Bremerton to be exact) is named Jody Warthen. We recently received an beautiful painting that Jody did of RTP along with a truly inspirational article about Jody (and her battle with kidney failure) that appeared in her hometown paper in Bremerton. Thanks Jody!

On the homefront, we will be playing just a few select, special shows in the coming months because we've got some cool things planned for the Fall. The Big news is we'll be officially releasing Contrary Sanctuary in September! We're planning a big benefit show to help pay for the cost of continuing to do this stuff ourselves. It's going to be a great bill with 20 Minute Loop, Merrick and a rumours of a certain femaleOzzy impersonator making a reappearance...so make sure you check out the shows page for details.

We've also been working on some very cool new material as of late and will continue to do so all summer long. Before you know it we'll be recording another album which we hope to release next year sometime.

March 2002

Things are quiet right now on the homefront - so we're not going to make up some bull-oney (not that we ever do, but there is something to this hype machine).

But overseas, watch out! We are proud to have been included on a new European compilation called "Coast to Coast" featuring tracks by some great US and Canadian female artists such as Ani DiFranco, The Cowboy Junkies and... Ramona the Pest! Check out Jarmusic.com for the details and ordering info for this and all of our current CD's.

A last minute SF show has just been added for Sat. March 23 at the Hotel Utah w/ 20 Minute Loop and Merrick (from LA). This should be a good one so we hope to see you there!

February 2002

Thanks to all for the great response to the CDR release of Contrary Sanctuary. Perhaps we'll just save up our pennies and manufacture them ourselves - we'll let a record company put out our next record - nothing can stop us! Email your opinions!

We've got a special show planned for March 2 at Tuva art space here in Berkeley. We're putting on the show ourselves and expect it to sell out (it's an intimate venue - 50 people max). Check out the shows page for details. Advance tickets are available online for only $6 - it will be $8 the night of the show!

We've also received some more nice reviews for Birds, Bugs and Bones for you to peruse. Look for a review in the May/June issue of RockrGirl Magazine as well...

xoxo...

January 2002

Happy New Year. May this be a better year for us all...

Here at RTP headquarters, we are rolling up our sleeves and putting on the thinking caps. First off, we're going to be changing our approach to live performance a bit in the new year. Instead of lots of shows and tours we are planning to play fewer - but more high quality - shows and making each one as special as can be.

We've recently received some nice new reviews for the recently released Birds, Bugs, Bones ep/cd and we are still in the process of seeking out a nice indie label to release the full-length version, "Contrary Sanctuary." We continue to offer "Birds, Bugs, Bones" for sale at shows and here on the site, but we will also begin to offer a very limited edition CDR version of "Contrary" starting today! Check it out the details on our merch page.

We are still in the process of the promised site redesign (okay, so the holidays were too much... ahh...fun, so the work did not get...ahh...done). Stay tuned over the next few weeks though...Brick by Digital Brick.

Well, that's all for now - We've got some cool shows planned for January and February so do check out the shows page for all the latest gig info...

xoxo

November/December 2001

Cold wind in the air as everyone prepares for winter...Days grow short and the glow of the computer screen takes over for the rays of the sun - a poor substitute, but somehow comforting...

Well, we've got one more big show before we hibernate for a few months, so mark your calendar for the long awaited EP release show for Birds, Bugs, Bones! Saturday Dec. 1, at the Starry Plough in Berkeley, CA. It's all part of the Beast Fest - a music festival in its second year celebrating the very best of East Bay music talent at various venues during the last week of November...This show will be a great one. RTP will be co-headlining with the fabulous Mark Growden's Electric Pinata. There will be amazing films by our good friend Thad Povey AND the show will be broadcast live on KALX 90.7fm starting at 10:30pm - approximately our start time. So don't miss out - we won't be playing for awhile after this and we really want to see you there!!!

We have also released a new track, "Somedays are Wrong" on the new BeastFest CD compilation, which features 20 of the bands playing at the Fest. We are honored to have ours be the lead track on the CD. We feel it is one of our best tracks to date and it's only available on that CD - so this show will be a double record release for us! The BeastFest CD will be available at festival shows and at Amoeba Records - so get yours and suppport Eastbania!!

Next, check out the nice reviews Birds Bugs, Bones has received online from the Global Muse and Aiding and Abetting. Get your copy today - they're good AND the price is right!! We are now able to take credit card orders online, so please visit our merch page for some affordable music gift ideas. If you like what you see and hear, please tell a friend - word of mouth is our best friend...

There's also nice interview with Valerie in the Zephyr - a Reno, NV (a place we love to play!) based magazine.

Lastly, the RTP site is going to get a major redo over the next month or so. Perhaps you can find time to visit us over the LONG holiday season and check on our progress - send us taunting emails if the work is behind schedule or not up to snuff!!

Thanks to all who have come out to see us, support us and had kind words for us. This has been a year of great triumph and tragedy. Things feel different to us all these days, but we plan on continuing on as best we can and not giving up.

Have a nice holiday season, give thanks and be nice to the ones you love.

 

October 2001

Hey, here's some cool news: "Beeline" off of our last record Little Knives was just nominated for a best song award by Just Plain Folks - a cool indie songwriter site. Only 530 songs in 30 categories were nominated from a pool of 35,000. Way to go Val!

For those who have purchased a copy of our new EP, Birds, Bugs Bones but didn't get an insert sleeve - we have them in, so send us an email and we'll get one to you pronto!

September 2001

Well. we're off. The new Birds, Bugs, Bones four song EP is here and available. We'll be selling it at shows and will soon have it available on our site as well as others on the web. It really sounds great and very representative of what we're doing right now. We are very proud of it.

Unfortunately, we have had difficulty securing the amount and level of shows we need to make a full tour successful. We have fallen far short of the 60 shows we would like to have done, but the shows we do have are good ones and are listed on the shows page. We do hope to add more last minute bookings if possible.

HEY! If you are somewhere in the West and would like to set up a show in your town, CONTACT US! We're serious. House parties, barns, theaters, VFA's - any venue - as long as you can get some people there - we'll put on a good show and (hopefully) those folks will in turn support our efforts by purchasing our recordings and spreading the word!

We have often had better experiences performing at alternative venues, art spaces and cafe's. While the glamour of performing at a good club is undeniable, a small independent act like ours often finds it a difficult stage to consistently attain. You see, the entire system of approaching bars and clubs is quite unfriendly, very frustrating and usually economically unsatisfying. This is our art and livelihood and we're working REALLY hard, at great expense to keep it that way, so if you can, please help!

Thanks for weathering the rant. Thanks to all of you who have helped us (there are many of you). See you soon.

 

July 16, 2001

We've finished up mixing Birds, Bugs, Bones. Without a doubt this is our biggest, best work yet... We will be mastering it at the end of the month and hope to have CD's by mid to late September. Now we're excited to get out in front of some people and play it! We will be touring extensively from Sept -Nov to support it, but if you just can't wait, check out the rough mixes we did back in May . See you soon.

 

June 19, 2001

Well it's been a while...We've finished recording our third record!! It is to be titled Birds, Bugs, Bones and it is chock full of new numbers which are quite a departure from our last couple of records. There is still some dark and pretty, but there is also quite an increase in rockin' pop. We will be mixing it in July, but have posted some rough mixes so you can check it out for yourself...

We've got big plans for this record which we will release in September. We are in the process of booking the Birds, Bugs, Bones Fall Tour which will take us twice around the entire West Coast - 60 dates from September through November - so stay tuned and tell your friends to look for us!!

And, for those of you in the record industry, we are interested in putting Birds, Bugs & Bones out to a larger audience. We are planning to sell through this limited run of 1000 copies and would like a partner for further release and distribution. We are planning on an extended Spring '02 Tour - we're committed to this thing, so contact us if yer interested...

 

April 2001

We are immersed in recording. Really exciting stuff is going down, new songs are taking shape right in the studio. Val, Lucio and Pat are definitely on the same page and firing on all cylinders...This record will be quite a departure from the last. There is a lot of pop in the melodic mix and some tough guitar and drum sounds. We hope to have it finished up some time in May and will be placing some songs up on the site for your listening pleasure. The plan is to release a three or four song CD in the Fall with the intent of releasing the full record a bit later. It is tentatively titled Birds Bugs Bones and we will be looking for an indie label to help us with the full release.

It is also a bittersweet time for RTP as we will be playing our last show as a Bay area band Sat. the 21st at the Starry Plough in Berkeley. Check out our shows page for details - it will be a great time and we will be playing most of the new songs we've been recording. After that, it's off to Tucson, AZ and a hiatus for the summer (for those interested, Lucio and Pat are planning to tour the US in July/August as The Reverend Screaming Fingers and Phantom Drummer - check out kingtone.com for details). Ramona the Pest plans to start touring again in the Fall so - WE'LL BE BACK. Thank you Bay area - we love you!

March 2001

We had a successful Northwest Tour in March. So successful that when we were in Seattle, we caused an earthquake. See, we told you the new trio format rocks...Upon our return we played a great show with Bonfire Madigan and Penelope Houston at Gallery 21 Grand in Oakland - it really is so nice to play on such a great bill to such an attentive and appreciative crowd...

Coming up we've got some shows we're really excited about. This Friday March 23 at the Starry Plough in Berkeley, CA 9 local bands will be impersonating their favorite SF bay area bands for a good cause. We'll be impersonating the late great SF pop band THE GAZILLIONS!! Don't miss it. Really. April will find us wrapping up our residency here in the Bay area - in case you haven't heard - it's off to Tucson for the Pest sometime in May. We've got two Farewell shows planned, one on Sun. April 8th (Val's Bday) at the Cafe Du Nord in SF and the other Sat. April 21 at our longtime home venue the Starry Plough in Berkeley. Lots of special guests and surprises, so come down and see us off. We'll be back, but as a touring band next time...

Lastly, we're working on recording the new material we've been playing on our recent tours and shows. We hope to have a new release out in the fall, so stay tuned. It's good stuff, so if you haven't seen us in a while, come on out!

February 1, 2001

DEFAMATION OR ADMIRATION? RAMONA THE PEST - THE BAND - TAKES POLL REGARDING RAMONA THE PEST - THE CHILDREN'S STORY CHARACTER

Berkeley, CA -- RTP headquarters recently received the following message via email: Subject line: "for shame, for shame..." "I am probably the biggest fan of Beverly Cleary's "Ramona the Pest". This is a classic piece of children's literature and should not be defamed by it's (sic) use for a musical rock group. Of course, this is just my opinion. . . Sincerely, Elaine "

Ramona the Pest - the band (with 6 indie releases to its name since 1995) is fronted by Valerie Esway, who cites Ramona the Pest - the character as one of her long time influences & heroines. Independent, creative and spirited, Ramona the Pest the character was always one to think for herself. But that never stopped her from being curious about what everyone else was thinking.

So, in the true spirit of Ramona the Pest the children's book character, Ramona the Pest the band is curious what people think about this matter:

Is it defamation or admiration for a musical rock group to use a classic children's literature character for its name?

The public is encouraged to submit responses via email or submit by mail to P.O. box 9578 Berkeley, CA 94709

 

January 30, 2001

Our tour with new drummer Pat Spurgeon was quite successful and very fun. Nothing tightens up a band like playing ten nights in a row, so the day we got back (Monday) we marched directly into our recording studio and cut 5 tunes for our next record. The mojo is good.

The Pest is mutating quickly these days and this is a great chance to catch us in a percolating state. The trio format is really working well, giving us lots of space for new songs (featuring Val's new electric guitar) and fresh interpretations of older material.

 

January 25, 2001

WE'RE ON TOUR NOW! Check out the tour dates pages for shows and tour diary entries...

 

January 11, 2001

The New Year is already off to an exciting start. We're soon to be heading out for a string of shows that will take us through CA and AZ and we have no intention of slowing down after that!

We've got a slew of new material to be unveiled in upcoming shows and a brand new incarnation of RTP as well, featuring the rhythmic stylings of Patrick Spurgeon (aka Phantom Drummer). Val will be playing her new silver sparkly electric guitar (as well as her trusty acoustic) and Lucio will be playing some bass as well as guitar. Fans in Arizona should look for an interview with RTP in the Jan. 19 issue of the AZ Daily Star for more details.

Also check out our new DIY page to find out how you can participate in the creation of the RTP DIY Tour Guide - and get a free 4-song RTP sampler CD.

Web sites are like Lego castles - they are always under construction, so check in often! We've got lots of exciting things planned - photos, video clips, mp3 demos for our next album, geeky technical notes of the recording of our previous albums...And most important - our community offerings: DIY tips for the independent musician including a touring/club rating survey!

 

Jan. 2, 2001

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us in 2000!

Special thanks to some of our Superfans for going the extra mile to make it to some of our recent shows: James O. and Harold B. - you rock our world!

In addition to the feature interview/story with RTP in the December issue of West Coast Performer, (free at most record stores and clubs in the SF area), our latest CD, Little Knives also received a nice review in the Fall 2000 issue of Devil in the Woods Magazine.