Small Spider Collective Blog

Never Grow Older Indie Music Fest

2007-12-02T12:08:00.001-08:00

It was a lot of fun, and I feel like I can't express that in words.

Honeybear played his first U.S. show with us (he's from Canada) and was wonderful! He played the ukulele and sang. I'm a little upset that he'll be going back to Canada soon.

Blue Fox played her first show and it was really great! I was honored to play with her for this show (take note that she's looking for someone to start backing her up, as I'm just in this temporarily).

Jehovahs Fitness played next. He was added on the lineup just minutes before the show began! Everyone enjoyed his set, and I wish I could have heard more of it (I had to go put quarters in the meter so I wouldn't get towed...)

John Cooper, who was also added on just days before the show (thanks Morgan for helping this happen!) brought his guitar and harmonica to play. He's a great storyteller- I really liked all of his songs. He's local, so try to catch him live sometime!

Foreign Loren played, but I can't say much about this, as it was my band. It was fun, and as I'm selling my own guitar, I used Aaron's rad purple one. That was fun, even if a few technical things set us back.

Running to the Embassy played, slightly karaoke style. Kendall couldn't bring her keyboard back with her from San Jose, so all of the keyboard tracks were on CD. So, it was different, but quite fun.

Watercolor Paintings closed the afternoon show. Rebecca and Josh came from Santa Barbara for this show, which was so cool of them! They busted out the ukuleles, harp, and such, providing even some sing alongs for everyone. It was a lovely set!

The entire show closed with some sing alongs of "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" and "You Are My Sunshine". That was nice, although EVERYONE should have been singing and not just some people. But next time, I'm sure everyone will.

Loverlee couldn't come, but if you were there, you were hopefully lucky enough to pick up one of their CDs that they sent for you! We also played it as background music throughout Java Jones before the show started.

Again, a huge thanks to all of these beautiful musicians who came out to play this show. I am so glad it all worked out! Also, a big thanks to Jered, who will soon be taking over as head honcho of SSR, and everyone who helped clean up afterward!

Love, Allison & the Small Spider Collective

(In above photo, from left to right: Aaron (Honeybear), Rebecca (WCP), Josh (WCP), Aaron (FL), Kendall (RTTE), Cassandra (RTTE/BF). On couch, Small Spider's Jered and Allison (both also in FL).

Photos by Courtney Heald and Morgan Miller.
And here's a video shot by Courtney Heald of John Cooper:

Super Update!

2007-09-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

Foreign Loren:
Upcoming shows:
September 21, 2007, Borders Bookstore Carmel Mountain, 8pm, Free
October 12, 2007, Java Jones (Downtown SD), 7pm, Free
-Both shows are with the band Candle!

Other stuff: "Seasons" will be available for free for about another month, until our possible October tour is done, or until we take it off on October 13. I want to release it on a foreign label as a "Seasons EP" or something, but we'll see. Around December or January, we're going to release a split with all new music - A "split" as in one other band will share the release with us. We're a bit unsure of who this will be at this point, as I really haven't worked on it much, but we'll let you know later. So, basically, big plans with nothing to back them up.

Running to the Embassy:
Kendall has assembled a new band up in San Jose. I'm really stoked to see what she does with all of this. She has a drummer, bassist, guitarist, flute player (flutist?), another keyboard player- or something like that. So a HUGE band. I haven't talked to Kendall in a few days, but I'm sure you can expect shows in the next few months.

Happy Compilation Done!

2007-08-04T14:50:00.001-07:00

IT'S AMAZING! I honestly am in love with how this turned out. The wonderful people at Antelope Printing did an amazing job. Thank you!

The CD is $5, including shipping, with $1 of that going to the St. Vincent de Paul Village to benefit the homeless. The HappySongs for HappyPeople Compilation will make everyone happy! I picked the artists and songs myself, and it is positively glorious. I can't tell you how wonderful it is.

You can check out some info about it and order it on the SSR myspace.

Also, be sure to come to the RTTE show at the San Diego Epicentre on Friday, August 10. Presale tickets are only $7, so talk to us. It will be such a great show, and I think the last RTTE show for a while.

AND Also, there are 2 live covers available to download for free on the SSR myspace, so download the wonderfulness!

Cassie's House Show!

2007-07-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

WOW! The house show last night was such a success! The backyard was packed, and Foreign Loren + Running to the Embassy played great shows. In between the sets we played two Arcade Fire covers: "Intervention" and "Rebellion(Lies)" (Rebellion can be found on the new Foreign Loren limited edition hard copy of the Cd "Seasons"- available at upcoming shows for $1 or can be ordered for $2.50).

Aaron Cox played with Foreign Loren and during "Intervention". Thanks Aaron!

Running to the Embassy was wonderful- it's one of our last shows this summer/year! Can you believe it? The Summer EP was available for the first time tonight, as well as presale tickets for the August 10 Epicentre show*. We were so full of energy, more than ever. We really love everyone who came. Kendall has written some amazing music, and I'm so glad that she's finally accepted that she can write music alone without a band to back her! She's grown so much as a musician and Cassie and I are just happy that we get to back her up with all of this! Please buy the EP as it is fantastic! Kendall put so much into it. Example: A couple months ago, she was at my house recording the vocals for a song, and it literally took her 4 hours to get it to her liking.

A huge thanks to Cassie and her mom for putting this all together. It just was an amazing show and I think everyone can agree on that. I'll never forget it!

Thanks to all who came! If you have pictures, we'd love to have them. Thank you!

*

She's Done!

2007-07-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

That's right! The RTTE EP is done, and we're more stoked than ever! You can get it at the house show on Thursday (see post below).

House Show + FL Release + Interview

2007-07-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Check out the interview Jered Lawson had with Kendall of RTTE. It turned out amazing and SSR is deeply blessed to have Jered with us. If you've ever wondered how RTTE began, what influences Kendall, and what she orders at a Sidewalk Soda Shop, check it out!

Cool!

No More FL Myspace

2007-07-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

The Foreign Loren Myspace has been deleted. Some would rather be more anonymous in life.

FL news will be available here and on the Small Spider Records myspace.

You can hear some of the upcoming CD, "Seasons", here.

Soon enough, you'll be able to download the whole upcoming CD for free. At the few live shows at the end of summer/beginning of autumn, you can buy a hard copy of the CD for $1. It will feature a bonus track or two (covers of songs) and two inserts (one regular one and one with lyrics). At those shows, merch will be heavily discounted to get rid of it! So yes, keep up with FL because "Seasons" will be out soon and be very great, but, you know, I don't want to be in the spotlight, or even close to it.

Compilation CD is DONE!

2007-07-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the lineup:

1. Saul - Song One
2. Kapiano - Out Loud
3. Foreign Loren ft. David Rose - Fresh Prince
4. Watercolor Paintings - Hey, I Like You
5. Coconut - Hold Your Bunny
6. Runnining to the Embassy - Firefly Summer (Foreign Loren Remix)
7. Kapiano - Sunday Morning
8. Watercolor Paintings - happyships
9. Foreign Loren - Days Spent With You Were Beyond Lovely
10. Elephant Parade - Boat Song
11. Running to the Embassy - My One True Love

You can hear each band by typing in "www.myspace.com/[band name goes here]", except for Coconut it's /coconuthello

So check them all out. I can't even tell you how great this compilation turned out. All of the artists are absolutely delightful and talented!

The CDs will be printed in the next couple of weeks. They will be available for $5 with $1 of every order going to the St. Vincent de Paul Village to benefit the homeless.

PREORDER! It'll help greatly and you'll get the compilation sooner!

Myspace + CD Info

2007-07-03T18:19:00.001-07:00

If you haven't already, add the SSR Myspace as a Myspace friend because we're starting to use it more. Also, at some point in the coming months, it will be the main way to get information about Foreign Loren, as that page may be disappearing soon.

The happy compilation CD is almost done! Here are the artists featured on it:

Running to the Embassy
Foreign Loren
Kapiano
Coconut
Elephant Parade
Saul
Watercolor Paintings

Each band has one or two tracks on the CD, and both RTTE and FL have one track each exclusive to the compilation. It'll cost $5, with $1 of that going to the St. Vincent de Paul Village (benefiting the San Diego homeless). Really, though, we have some amazing artists and amazing songs featured on here. I love it all, and I'm sure you will, too! Look for it in the coming weeks.

The Foreign Loren CD is 95% complete. I'm not exactly sure how it will be sold yet, but the price will be very low.

So again, www.myspace.com/smallspiderrecords
and have a great day!

Happy Birthday to my brother, Gary

2007-06-28T22:02:00.000-07:00

Well, this proposed Foreign Loren break is more or less on. When I just let it all go, that's when the recording really happened. I now have, at this second, to just finish up 2 more songs and then the record is done. However, I'm going to give it time to settle. Between now and the release, I'll be rehearsing with a full band to play the music live this fall.

The Compilation release is delayed a bit. I'll let you know more in a bit!

Jered interviewed Kendall (aka Running to the Embassy) so that interview will be available prior to when her EP comes out this summer. I can't wait to see it, and a huge thanks to Jered for conducting the interview.

The SSR Myspace now has music, too:
1. Running to the Embassy - Gypsy Bride
2. Foreign Loren - Ghostship
3. RTTE/FL - Fox in the Snow (cover) A capella
4. RTTE/FL - In the Aeroplane Over The Sea (cover) Live

-Allison

FL on break

2007-06-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

All Foreign Loren shows for the summer have been cancelled.

BUT a new line up will appear in the fall for live shows to support the release of "Seasons".

Intro to the Group

2007-06-14T22:32:00.001-07:00

After the Jered introduction in the previous post, I decided to introduce everyone involved in SSR.

Allison Barnes [me]: I'm the founder and head of SSR. I'm also Foreign Loren.

Jered Lawson: [see below post]. He'll be doing a lot once this gets going a bit more. But he's my second opinion basically.

Julia Green: She's a great artist. She made the SSR spider logo (snazzy!) and is one of the artists doing the print-of-the-month (coming soon).

Aaron Cox: He's another great artist! His painting is the album art for the Happy Songs for Happy People Compilation (coming in July!). He's also an artist for the print-of-the-month (coming soon).

Valiant Death Records/Antelope Printing: Bucky and his crew are wonderful! They'll be doing the printing for us.

Kendall Sallay: She's "Running to the Embassy" and will be releasing the first RTTE EP on SSR this summer! Buying this CD will be one of the best investments you'll ever make. Indeed!

Ok, well that's the basic group there, so far. We're looking for people who write zines to distribute with us, as well as another artist or 2 for the print-of-the-month amazingness. Do you fit into either of those groups?!! E-mail me (allison@sdam.com).

Compilation, I can't stop updating.

2007-06-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

FL [heh, me] finished the tracks that FL is doing for the compilation CD. We've got more bands on board, and we here at SSR are STOKED.

Another person has been added to the company hereeeee- Jered Lawson! Right now, he's the guy I go to when I'm confused/not doing well at decision making. Let's go back to an earlier time...
like Elementary school. I think I was in kindergarten with him, or at least 1st grade. He broke his leg. We weren't really friends, though, because boys were gross. Just not really. But you know. Flash forward to middle & high school: we still didn't really talk. Flash forward to the Che Cafe show in May of 2007, we saw each other and talked! Woah! And now he's here. That was pretty useless information there, but yes. Jered = Allison's mind when she doesn't have one.

OHHHH And did I mention that there's a 3 CD Foreign Loren $12 deal? Check the catalog for info. All releases from FL in one package of love, for only $12 (including shipping). It won't get better than that!

Compilation + RTTE

2007-06-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

First of all, e-mail Allison@SDAM.com to be added to our mailing list. At the most, we'll send out an update monthly. We'll also use this to giveaway stuff occasionally and offer you good deals on new releases.

The compilation is coming along well- we're adding new bands to the roster at the last minute (oops) and hopefully everyone will get it all in on time. I'll post the final line-up soon.

Running to the Embassy is almost almost done with the new EP. How exciting! It'll have about 6 songs on it. RTTE and Foreign Loren will also have 2 songs each on the compilation.

WOW, exciting things are happening. Be sure to mark July 14 on your calendar. It's a Saturday morning and FL is playing at the Turquoise Coffee Shop (841 Turquoise St., Pacific Beach, California 92109) at 10am. It's a great coffee shop and you'll have a wonderful time (and it's also the pre-tour show)!

Happy Compilation

2007-06-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

The Happy Compilation CD will probably be released in July at some point. Small Spider Records will sell it for $5 (shipping included). $1 will go to the St. Vincent de Paul Village, while any other profit will go toward future SSR releases.

Both Small Spider bands (FL & RTTE) will be featured on the compilation.

Pre-order information will be available soon!

New Blog

2007-06-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

I'm kind of re-organizing everything and so now, maybe Small Spider Records will have a blog instead of a real page. Well, this is a real page, and there are real pages, but, yes.

We'll post updates on here, but you can also join the SSR mailing list by e-mailing me at allison@sdam.com. With the mailing list, you'll probably receive monthly updates, and sometimes we'll give away CDs, pins, stickers and such.

Right now, Foreign Loren and Running to the Embassy will have releases out on SSR. Julia Green created the spider logo by the way!