The Last Powertrane live performance.

This may well end up being the last Powertrane performance ever. Scott has decided to move on from the group after nine years, and focus all his energy on his new record and new band.
This performance comes from the 2009 Concert of Colors.

MCR Blue Snaggletooth video interview.

The Fine folks over at Motorcityrocks.com are currently attempting to video interview all of the bands that are playing the Merto Times Blowout.
Blue Snaggletooth headed over to Royal Oak on Sunday evening to conduct our interview. Here is how it turned out.


See you Friday night.

Blue Snaggletooth performing at the Metro Times Blowout!

Hey Folks,

My new group Blue Snaggletooth will be performing our first Detroit show for the 2010 Metro Times Blowout on Friday March 5th at Small's.


The band came together in July of 2009. I've had the idea for the band for a long time, but I never could find the time to start it, or a good group of people to put it together with. My goal was to start a stoner rock band in the vein of acid rockers like Hawkwind mixed with the pummeling doom riffs of Black Sabbath and other early hard rock/metal groups like Blue Cheer and Pentagram.
In 2008 my friend Jess moved into the spare room in our house. We got along pretty well before that, but we quickly discovered we had a lot of the same tastes in hard rock and psychedelic music. We ended up playing a lot of guitar together and jamming on some sweet riffs. I told him my idea for the band and he was into it. My wife had the idea to start a stoner rock band called Blue Unicorn. I love that name but didn't want to steal it from her. One night while Jess and I were partying in the basement discussing the project, the right name hit us. Blue Snaggletooth. It comes from the name of the most rare Star Wars action figure.


We thought it was a great name. Unfortunately nothing much happened for another year or so. Jess moved out, but we kept talking about starting the band. Around the time Jess moved, I was playing a lot of shows with my other band Mazinga. We were doing a bunch of shows in Detroit and one of them was opening for the Meatmen and Chapstik at Small's. I ended up talking with Ian, the drummer from Meatmen, about us jamming together. He had always been a Mazinga fan and was into my guitar playing. I told him my ideas for the stoner band project and he wanted to give it a shot. Again things didn't get going right away. It wasn't until 3 or 4 months later in the spring that we finally got together at the Bang workshop/rehearsal space. At first it was just Ian and I. I went over a few of the riffs I had with him and he got it right away. Over the next few weeks Ian and I jammed a couple more times and things were sounding cool. I told Jess about Ian and I got the three of us together. We talked about who we were going to bring in on bass. I told the dudes I had someone in mind. Enter Damon. He has been a pal of mine since high school. Our bands had played some shows on the same bills, but we never played in a band together. He always joked that he was the only person in town that I hadn't been in a band with. I told him about the group I was putting together and he wanted a chance to try out. He came and jammed with Ian and I first and it went really well. Then the following weekend all four of us got together. It all seemed to flow and we worked really well together. Within a few more practices, I had convinced everyone to agree on the band name. Since then we've worked up a handful of originals and some cool covers. We brought in our pal Richard to run our psychedelic light show. Damon had VG kids print up some t-shirts and stickers. We had our first show on Sept. 25 at the Elbow Room with Black Irish and the Crooks.

Jeremy Wheeler did a spectacular poster for us. For our third show Jeremy really out did himself when he crafted an actual black light poster for us.

We decided since we were projecting a light show on the band why not wear all white and have ourselves blend in with the show. Eventually we ordered matching white jumpsuits for each member.

It creates a very cool effect by allowing the psychedelic projections to actually show up on us, plus we get to wear cool band uniforms.

So far playing with the group has been a blast. A little buzz has been building about our live set. We've recorded some demos in Damon's basement that you can hear on our facebook page.
What is the next step?

I look forward to rocking Detroit during the Blowout.
We'll see where it goes after that.

Blue Snaggletooth, Feb 12th @ The Elbow Room.

This show should be fun. Only two bands. I'm not sure who goes on first. Mahoney is a two piece rock outfit hailing from the Ypsi/Arbor area among other places. Looks like they get around the country a lot. I mean tour. They play "modern rock" type music with guitars and drums and nice powerful riffs and people seem to like them.
Blue Snaggletooth plays tripped out heavy metal music with songs about time traveling drug lords, ancient warriors in battle against the forces of darkness, and Fireball Island.

Up All Night rehearsal video.

Mark Sisto of the Visitors in rehearsal with legendary lead guitarist Gary Quackenbush of SRC with Chris "Jukebox" Taylor on Bass and Al King on drums. Filmed by Retro Kimmer Jan 31, 2009 Ann Arbor, MI

Gorevette Ann Arbor CD release party + jamming with Ivan Kral.

I had a fun weekend.
It started off on Friday night when Theresa and I went out to dinner with her folks. We are watching their little dog Izzy for a month while they are out in Palau.



After dinner we relaxed at home with Izzy for the rest of the night and watched TV.

Saturday morning I watched the animated movie Planet Hulk. It was a good flick. You get to see the Hulk fight as a gladiator on some far away planet where he does pretty much nothing except beat the shit out of anyone who fucks with him and then he becomes the king of the place. Someday I'll get around to reading the comics that the movie is based on. After that Theresa and I watched a documentary about Zombies in popular culture.

Later that night Theresa and I went out to the Gorevette EP release party at Goodnite Gracie's. I've lived most of my adult life here in Ann Arbor and that bar is one of the places I've managed to avoid. It always seemed to posh for my taste. I tend to prefer the dive bar. Then again I never really gave it a chance did I? It was a nice little spot. Not as lame as I imagined. Except they don't serve any cheap beer, so don't ask for a PBR or Rolling Rock unless you want a scornful look from the bartender. To me it seemed like an unusual place for a local rock show. I don't remember them ever having local bands perform there before. Someone told me they sometimes have jazz bands play there or DJs. The Gorevette show was moved there last minute due to the Heidelberg being turned into seven night a week poker night venue (?) virtually overnight. The bummer part being that the Heidelberg owners didn't inform anyone including the booking agent till the last minute and all the shows that had been booked had to be moved to a new venue. Enter Goodnite Gracie's. Good for them. I hope they continue to have bands play there.

Anyway, our friends Ryan and Casey, who used to be in the Riots were opening the show as part of a new band with singer Freddy Fortune called The United Space League.



I loved them right off the bat. The group plays a mix of 60's psych sounding jams with two guitars, one playing a cleaner tone while the other is fuzzed out, while also throwing some nice vibrato sounds into the mix. Freddy is a great front man with a loud commanding voice. It reminded me of the rocking side of the 13th floor Elevators musically with a Sonics like vocal delivery. Ryan said they should have a 7" coming out soon. Watch for it. These guys and girl know how to rock.

Up next was Silverghost. I've seen them play a few times now. They are a two piece featuring Marcie Bolen on guitar and vocals, and Deleano Acevedo on keyboards, vocals and drum machine. Normally not my type of thing, but I actually enjoy their music. The vibe is playful, quirky and new wave sounding. I like the way their two voices go together. They did a Devo cover of Mongoloid that was great.



After Silverghost it was time for Gorevette.



The ladies and dude got up there and wasted little time blasting out their girl-pop-rock 'n' roll. The songs flowed out one after the other with sparse stage banter, mostly just drummer Al King snapping out the count on his sticks and launching the band into another rocking tune.



The crowd loved it. I thought the band played very well. I heard they sold a lot of copies their new EP although I forgot to pick one up (Doh!). Two of the tracks on the EP feature Deniz Tek on guitar.
After the show we had a few friends over for drinks and stayed up way to late.

Earlier on Saturday afternoon Retro Kimmer rang up and asked if Al King and I would like to participate in a little jam session on Sunday with the legendary songwriter/guitar player Ivan Kral, along with Mark Sisto, singer from the Visitors, and guitarist Gary Quackenbush from the 60's Ann Arbor rock group SRC. It sounded like something cool to do on a Sunday afternoon. The only catch being we would have to do it at the Bang studio, which wasn't a big deal. It actually made it easier for me. I knew who all those dudes are, so I agreed right away.


(left-right, Gary, Chris, Mark, Al)

Before Ivan showed up, the group got to know each other and then warmed up by learning an old SRC song. After jamming a bit, Ivan and his wife Cindy showed up with some pizza and soda for us and then we learned a few of his songs.




I'm not sure what this collaboration might lead too, but I really enjoyed playing music with all these guys.

After the session I went home and crashed out in preparation for the coming work week.

The Bang workshop + band rehearsal space.

Hi Folks,

As some of you might already know, I work for Team Bang. That is the group that does the set up for the Bang!, the monthly mix tape dance party that has been going on for the last 8 years in Ann Arbor. It started out at the Halfway Inn then moved over to the Blind Pig where it's been packing the bar ever since. It's run by two creative masterminds, Jeremy Wheeler and Jason Gibner. I started working for them around Oct 2003 I think. Originally my brother Mike and I were brought on board to help amp up the over all Bang experience by building a light table and running overhead projectors and other light effects during the party. We also became the Bang carpenters and set designers. We started building sets to accompany the various Bang themes. For instance when we threw the Space Bang, we built a rocket ship cockpit that people could take photos in. We also began painting large backdrops and other assorted decorations to go along with whatever type of Bang was being put on. After a few years we had to rent out a storage unit to store all the Bang props and sets. Eventually after outgrowing two storage units and being in desperate need of a larger work space, we lucked into a nice warehouse space neatly tucked away in an industrial area of Ann Arbor.


My wife actually suggested the place to us. She works in real estate and had heard about a local business that was looking for tenets to rent a small warehouse space on their back lot. After taking a tour or the building, we had the space within a few weeks and we moved in by the end of that month. Part of the deal in order to make it affordable for the Bang, was that I bring in my bands to rehearse in the smaller of the two rooms that make up the space. That plan fit perfect for me since the bands were rehearsing in my basement and my wife and neighbors were getting sick of it.
When you first enter the space you encounter the office/lounge area.


On the desk to the right is the audio visual editing station where Jeremy creates parts of the videos that are played during the Bang. On the left is a nice table and chair set where we hold meetings and eat pizza.


This is a photo of the office ceiling, which is covered with Bang posters.


Here is the chalkboard that divides the room in half. As you can see we're going to be busy for the next few months.


On the other side of the chalkboard is the other half of the room which is set aside for band rehearsal space.


I hung up a couple of black lights and then brought in my vintage Third Eye Marvel black light posters and few other nice ones to decorate the band side of the room.


So far we've got City Center, Mazinga, Scott Morgan and Blue Snaggletooth all rehearsing in the space.

In the adjacent larger room is the workshop space.


This is the area where we build and store all the stuff we use to make the Bang happen. There is a bathroom and a mini fridge, fully stocked of course.


We also have a nice large garage door for easy loading & unloading. Here is what it looks like from the outside.

Yes, that is Clint Eastwood keeping an eye on things.

So last Wednesday night we started building mock ups of the decoration ideas for the upcoming Ann Arbor Film festival. The Bang crew has been hired for a second year to decorate the theater for the Festival.

First, we do some prep work before the actual work begins.


Warning! Don't climb the ladder to the loft after drinking!


There is a great loft space above the office. It's were we store big set pieces like the giant cassette tape.


My brother Mike enjoys some bread sticks. ?


Jeremy hard at work on a mock up of a hanging piece for the film fest.

Here is how it turned out.

It's going to end up being back lit somehow. We are still figuring it all out.
I'm glad we have such a nice place to work in.

So there you go. I hope you enjoyed this quick inside look at the Bang workshop.