Bernie's Show - January 20, 2009

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, we played a show at Bernie's with Harp and Lyre, Red Sun, and Braille from Youngstown. It was a really fun show, and with the generous assistance of our drummer E-rock's friend, "Carlos" we were able to get the whole show on video.

~Keep in mind that although Carlos is actually a professional cameraman, he may have had a few drinks, or maybe he was just really into the music, but... Well, just imagine that you are watching through the eyes of an inquisitive old cat, creeping around the bar. A cat with rather poor perception of low frequencies and low lighting.

A short clip of the opening band, Harp and Lyre:


The Intro Jam (pt. 1)


The Clown (pt. 2)


Interlude (pt. 3)


Interlude #2 (pt. 4)


The Night at the Apothecary (pt. 5)


The Instrumental (pt. 6)

The Neighbors' Chrysalis

We would like to wish a very happy New Year to all of you Neighbors fans!

As of 2009, the Neighbors have undergone another Chrysalis. Things have come full circle now with the amazing Eric Summers taking over as our full-time drummer. We have also been working with multi-instrumentalist Parker Bantum in the studio. Long time jam companion Parker Bantum will be contributing his guitar tracks, vocals, and song-writing abilities to our ever-changing protean sound. We've been getting a lot of enthusiastic feedback on our new lineup, and it's going to be a great year.

Here's a little taste of our new sound with E-Rock laying down some jazzy beats over Comforter and Code for Love from our set at the Buckeye TV studio for their Music on Campus show. It was 50's Night, so we dressed up like greasers and jocks and such. It was a lot of fun.

Special Thanks to Danielle Coppe, the director of the Music on Campus show, for inviting us.

Code for Love


The Comforter

Scarlet Gray and Green Fair

On October 3, we played the opening performance at the Scarlet Gray and Green Fair, an annual festival on the south oval held by Students for a Sustainable Campus. The Fair helps promote environmental lifestyles, clean energy, and recycling. There was free food, prize giveaways, booths, a movie, and lots of live music! The Blastronauts were there, and so was Our Cat Philip, two excellent groups with whom we have played several shows in the past. We were really happy to be a part of this.

Maggie the Mortician

A very special thanks to James Allison of the Blastronauts for the camerawork.

Shows Galore

The Neighbors have been hard at work lately producing our new Demo (which we finally completed) and playing lots of shows around Columbus. We would like to thank all of you adoring fans who came out to see us at the Scarlet, Gray, and Green Festival, Gallery Hop, and especially the Battle of the Bands at Bernie's. We won by just 1 crowd member over one of the other bands, so now we are on to the finals on October 26th for a chance to win $250, so come check it out!

Come see us this Friday October 10th at Midnight Victorian's Cafe at 9:00pm.



For a full list of our upcoming shows, check out our myspace page.

We have also been talking with Submersive Media Group about doing a split EP with Gigantopithecus, so get excited for that.

We're Back Baby!

We're back from our trip to New York where we spent 2 weeks writing new songs, practicing, and jamming in Jim's family's cabin. We had 450 acres of forests and lakes to hike and swim in and could play music as loud as we wanted any time. I'm working on a little video montage of the trip too.



In other news, thanks again to everybody who came out in the rain to our show at Midnight Victorian's. We got to play all night and it was an awesome time.




We also hope everybody enjoyed our performance at Gallery Hop on Saturday. Playing on the street in front of Gypsy Cafe was one of our most fun shows ever. There were lots of people dancing around, little kids, and even a group of mimes who came by and started acting out our songs.

Stay tuned to find out about our upcoming performances at the Columbus Marathon, Victorian's, and Gallery Hop.

Hempfest - Instrumental

This was the big day for us. After many months of eager anticipation and diligent practicing, we finally got to play Hempfest. Hempfest is probably the second biggest and most well known music and arts festival in Columbus (besides Comfest). It is definitely the biggest festival on campus, and it's free!

Special thanks to the eminent Zach Germaniuk for inviting us to play.

Also many thanks go to Kelsey Stehli for her stellar videography.

This song is called "The Instrumental" because there are no lyrics, there is however a bit of spirited wailing at its climax. This was one of our best performances to date and the sound engineers had us mixed quite nicely.

Enjoy!

Rayfest

The day after Hempfest, on Sunday we played at Browning Amphitheater again for Rayfest! This was the first Rayfest ever, a showcase of bands organized by Ray Mattila. It's pretty awesome, huh? This guy is like hey I want to have a music festival and name it after myself... and he did it!

The man behind the music, Ray Mattila:


Our final performance of the set, an experimental electronic jam:

Thanks to Kelsey Stehli for the camerawork!

Xenon Jam



This is a drawing that Sam Warman created while watching the show.
That's Jim playing a piano, Count Funkula DJing, and my guitar, the Peacelock.



Texas and friends enjoying themselves in the crowd:



Browning Amphitheater is such a beautiful and relaxing place to play and watch performances. People can just chill in the grass in the sun with the Mirror lake fountain towering in the background, cooling you with a gentle mist. You can climb the trees and share some shisha while we lay down some grooves.

The Lost Indians

The Lost Indians is an experimental project created by Zach Germaniuk of Red Sun. The line-up of The Lost Indians is always subject to change, but the idea is to have a psychedelic experimental group that is always changing. Their jams are improvisational and impromptu.

Jim Stehli, frontman of The Neighbors has played mandolin with the Lost Indians at both the Hempfest Benefit show at the High Five, and at one of the Outer Sounds showcases at Scarlet and Grey Cafe.

This is a clip of The Lost Indians from that show:

Amps Against Apathy - Amused

Remember that show that we played at Browning Amphitheater on April 24? You know, it was called Amps Against Apathy, the event held by Democracy Matters to promote fair voter-owned elections and fight corruption in the elective system?

Well, if you missed it, it was one of the greatest events I've ever been able to be a part of. The bands were awesome and it was a beautiful day. Democracy Matters had an important message to spread and they collected signed postcards from registered voters to help their cause.

Mike Cargioli didn't miss it! Thanks for the awesome camera work buddy!



This song is called "Amused". It's one of the classics.

Amused Lyrics:

So today I was reading in the New York Times newspaper
There was a man who remade the first submarine
And he rode in it through the water wearing only his boxers
And people waved and cheered, and photographed the scene.

Within 200 feet of a ship, he was apprehended
They thought they were stopping a terrorist attack.
The man said, "Well, I'm not much of a technician
So perhaps someday you can give me my submarine back"

And I was so amused, so amused
So amused by the world and the crazy people here
Ah, ah, ahh

So the other day I learned about an interesting parrot.
Read all about him on the BBC
He's got a 950 word vocabulary.
He makes funny jokes about other parrots and chimpanzees.

He loves to chat, and watches television.
You'll never see him stumble, stutter, or fall.
Poor folks have a lexicon of about 1000
And many of them can't tell jokes that are funny at all

I was so amused, so amused
So amused by the world and the crazy creatures

And I was so amused, I was fascinated
And overcome by the sensation
That the world, yeah the world
was ballin crazy.

Maybe I, Maybe I might fit in.

So the actress just checked out of the rehab clinic.
On her way out she said, "You'll be seeing more of me soon!"
Now she's back there again, and in the papers
The girl sure knows how to make the media boon.

She took off all of her clothes to taunt the other junkies
She did because she was stuck in a boring place.
Maybe I should go back to rehab and get my life straight.
Then, maybe I could get to see a naked actress' face.

And I'd be so amused, so amused
So amused by the world
Right on!

And I was so amused, I was fascinated
And overcome by the sensation
That the world, yeah the world
is ballin crazy.

Maybe I, Maybe I might fit in.

Hempfest Benefit - Code for Love

We opened up the Hempfest Benefit show with one of our most popular songs. This one is called "Code for Love".

A very special thanks goes out to Eric Summers for shooting this video.



Code for Love lyrics:

In the made-up realm of cyberland
My computer came down with viruses.
As we stumble down the super highway.
We'll scratch our names in the electron carpet, yeah.

Now the nerdies surf imprisoned in their rooms
Shoot lightning bolts from their mouses.
If a certain amount of ones and zeros could be turned to material things,
Will you believe how rich they are?

Now the wireless modems send porno waves to your hard drives and to our brains
Will you know if you are insane?
Living in a binary land of lightning now to find
To find the right, the right code for love!

And the climate feels all right today.
I'm getting such wonderful waves.

I want to show you my appreciation for you babe.
show you my appreciation for you babe.

You brought me into this place.
Ubiquity to my space.

I want to show you my appreciation for you babe.
I want to show you my appreciation for you babe.

Ah, Ah, Ah

Parking Lot Jam

On April 23, 2008, The Neighbors played a show at the High Five as I mentioned in the Hempfest Benefit show post. What you don't know is that some of the timing got messed up as usual, so while we were waiting in the parking lot for them to open the doors and let us set up, we decided to get our jam on right then and there. Zach was playing the guitar, so I filmed.



Zach Germaniuk of Red Sun and SSDP is playing guitar with Jim in preparation for their psychedelic electric side project called the Lost Indians which features numerous musicians in a free-form, experimental jam style.

More Lost Indians and Neighbors footage on the way...

Hempfest Benefit Concert

This Wednesday, April 23, between 7:00pm - 10:00pm there will be a concert taking place at High Five Bar & Grill to raise money for Hempfest. The show is being hosted by SSDP (Students for Sensible Drug Policy). The Neighbors will be playing a set, as will SSDP's The Waves and numerous other bands.


Mouth of the Architect


The High Five is located at 1227 North High Street in the short north. Well, it's actually at the intersection of High and 5th, go figure.

Amps Against Apathy

On Thursday, April 24, Democracy Matters will be hosting a free outdoor concert at Browning Amphitheater (South Oval OSU) to promote Voter-Owned Elections, get people more active in voting, and fight corporate corruption in the
elective system.




This concert will take place from 4:30pm to 9:00pm

Band Lineup:
Paper Tiger
Saintseneca
The Neighbors
James and James
The Lost Indians
The Blastronauts
Our Cat Philip


Browning Amphitheater



By sadprofessor, used under the CC BY-SA license.

It's Official

The wait is over and your curiosity can now be sated with the answer to that burning question, "Where is that show going to be at, again?"

I just talked to the booking agent for the Battle of the Bands, and it's been confirmed that it is taking place on May 10th at CBR's.

I've actually been to CBR's one time over a year ago. It's this really happenin club downtown with 3 bars in it and a sunken dance floor / stage where the bands play, so people can stand or sit all around and above the bands when they perform. They have a really good soundsystem and the bands that play there are really sweet.

I'm really psyched about this show now, and we are sure to win the Battle of the Bands, so everybody come out and show your support. It's going to be a great show!

http://www.cbrbar.com

C.B.R's
503 S. Front St.
Columbus, OH 43213
614-224-8155

New Gigs Booked!

Exciting news on top of even more exciting news.

As if it wasn't already great enough that Zach Germaniuk informed us a couple weeks ago that our spot at Hempfest is confirmed, we just got booked for another gig in downtown Columbus~!

About 2 months ago, we received an encouraging, yet mysterious message on our myspace from a character named 'Beth's Gigs' who offered us an all-ages show in downtown columbus sometime in the beginning of May, and asked us for our contact information. I replied with the contact information and inquired about the show, but received no response for the next month or two.

Then, recently, I got a call out of the blue from another booking company that had apparently gotten our contact information from 'Beth's Gigs'. (http://www.myspace.com/bethsgigs)

They told us that the concert is going to be on May 10th in one of the downtown venues, yet to be announced. Also, this is going to be a sort of Battle of the Bands in which the band who wins gets 16 free hours of studio time~!

This upcoming show has yet to be posted on the myspace or the facebook group because I don't know the exact location yet, but I will keep you posted.