06.01.08
Extra Life Secular Works has been out for about a month. Thanks to everyone who has been responding positively. I'm psyched about it, but moving onto the next thing... In July EL has a split 12 inch EP with Nat Baldwin coming out, on the Shatter Your Leaves label. Two exclusive tracks plus a new version of "I'll Burn", all totally acoustic, either solo or duo with Caley. Also in July, Caley and I will be doing a duo Extra Life tour of the west coast with Nat. Check the Shows section for dates. All EL shows in July and August will be duo. The full band will play some shows in June and then return in the fall.
The Mouth and the Hands is taking back-burner position while I work on this other stuff. It will still happen at some point.
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01.14.08
Many things have happened in the entire year since I updated this site. First, I recently left Zs after six years of deep commitment, playing, writing, hanging out, learning and waxing deep. The men of Zs are still my friends until death. They will continue as a trio. I simply have to move on to focus fully on Extra Life.
As for Extra Life, it is now a full performing band. In addition to myself, the lineup is Travis Laplante (keyboards, tenor sax and EWI), Caley Monahon-Ward (violin), Tony Gedrich (bass), Nick Podgurski (drums). The first Extra Life album Secular Works will come out in March on Planaria Recordings, the LP version on I and Ear Records. We will be doing a big U.S. tour at that time and dates will be posted soon. Also, two songs from the out of print three-song CDR (FNA Show Releases) will be re-released on the Sockets label. Extra Life is also already working on rehearsing material for the next record.
I am still playing in Period, the improvised duo with Mike Pride. The membership of this group is now frequently augmented by Chuck Bettis (electronics), Sam Hillmer (tenor sax) and Darius Jones (alto sax). We have recorded two albums worth of material with various combinations of these musicians.
In addition to all of this, I am beginning work on an extended piece of poetry/philosophy/psychology/musicology/cultural theory. I'm dead serious. It will be called The Mouth and the Hands. It will be finished in the spring and the entire text will be set to music.
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01.11.07
Haven't updated in a while. Let's face it, myspace is way more the vibe than a regular site. Anyway, Zs is doing a big U.S. tour starting at the end of the month. Come see us! The new full-length "Arms" comes out when we return. We'll have advance limited edition copies on the road. Bunch of other cool smaller Zs releases are also out now...
Around April, Extra Life will be hitting as a full band. Some kind of release will be out on Planaria in the next year, and some kind of tour will happen in August.
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07.24.06
Back from the road. Nothing has ever been more awesome. Huge thanks to everyone who set up the shows, let us crash, etc.
BIG change with the next tour... instead of Seductive Sprigs, I'm going out solo under the name Extra Life! This project was going to start up in the fall, but I'm doing it early to fill in for Sprigs. Anyway, I'm amped about the solo stuff. It will just be me and my guitar on this tour, and then in the fall Extra Life will expand to include Karen Waltuch on viola, Ben Greenberg on guitar and Ian Antonio on percussion.
Check the shows for the Extra Life/Nat Baldwin dates!
Also come to the Stone on Thursday July 27 for some chamber music, plus an Extra Life sneak peak.
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06.12.06
Lots of touring. Zs sendoff show is this Saturday 6/17! We'll have copies of "Buck", our new live tape on Folding Cassettes. Tour dates are 99% finalized. This is going to rule.
Seductive Sprigs August tour dates with Nat Baldwin will be posted soon...
I also joined Dirty Projectors. We're doing a big tour starting in October, opening for Xiu Xiu.
Also, my show on July 27 at the Stone is going to be the premier of my new solo project. This show is billed as "The Ornate Surface of Charlie Looker" but the solo project band will have a different name once it really gets going in the fall.
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04.24.06
Period is playing at the next B to Z. We'll have copies of our new CDR, split release on FuckingA Show Releases and Funhole Records. Here are the show details:
Sunday May 28 @ Cake Shop
OWL SOUNDS
EYESTEK (ex-Wikkid, -Telepathe)
THE FUGUE
IMAGINARY PEOPLE
PERIOD
as always, records spun by B-Keepers
8:00, $6
Also, the summer Zs tour is almost totally booked. Check the Shows page for dates. It's going to KILL. Seductive Sprigs tour with Nat Baldwin will be happening in August.
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03.07.06
Seductive Sprigs two-song CDR out now on FuckingA Show Releases, available at shows. Sprigs also has a Myspace page now. Come befriend us.
Turns out both Seductive Sprigs and Zs will be touring this summer, sooner than we thought. Zs will be the new quartet incarnation.
Check out the next B to Z:
March 12 @ Cake Shop
Talibam
Zeke Healy
Rara Avis
Minnows (w/ Jessica Pavone)
Nineteen Hundred
records spun by B-Keepers and James Steiner
plus burlesque by Peekaboo Pointe
$6, 8:00
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01.21.06
Here's the new personal Charlie Looker site! Glad you are checking it out. I've got a bunch of new things I'm psyched about.
Zs has had some significant line-up changes and won't be performing until the fall... In the meantime we're recording the recent sextet stuff for a CD on Epicene Soundsystems, releasing a cassette of live material on Folding Cassettes, and then writing a whole new set of material in a new quartet incarnation. When we come back we'll be touring and playing out more than ever.
Seductive Sprigs and Period are out and about playing shows, and I'm having some chamber music played soon too. All three of these projects will be documented on FuckingA Show Releases, a new low-key CD-R imprint run by the B-Keepers.
The B-Keepers are curating From B to Z, a series of shows/parties at the Cake Shop happening on the second Sunday of every month. Thanks to everyone who came out to the first couple, they were a blast.
Mike Pride's "Scrambler" CD, recorded back in 02, is out now on the Polish label Not Two Records. I'm on it, with William Parker and Tony Malaby.
I think that's it for now. I'll try to keep the news updated, without getting too indulgent. Bye bye.
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