Telling on Trixie's Trix

About.com features Telling on Trixie in Top 40 /Pop blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:36:00 +0000

http://top40.about.com/b/2009/06/18/artist-in-the-wings-telling-on-trixie.htm

Thursday June 18, 2009

If the band Telling On Trixie make it to the top, their sheer determination will be a major factor in the success. The band has independently released their second albumUgly, Broke & Sober with the assistance of $20,000 raised with the support of the group's fans to help record the album. The New York City based group plays anthemic pop-rock and are beginning to make serious headway on a national scale.The single "Crash Me Up" is starting to climb national adult contemporary charts. The album's title song "Ugly, Broke & Sober" is likewise gaining exposure on college radio stations. Telling on Trixie are gearing up for a number of high profile live appearances this summer and will continue a push toward pop-rock stardom. Check out their music below.

Watch "Crash Me Up"

_{Photo courtesy Another Reybee Production}

Summer Shows

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:13:00 +0000

Here are the summer shows for ToT (and some fall ones too). Also, "CRASH ME UP" will be airing on New Now Next on LOGO this Sunday night. This weekend we're playing in Bryant Park for the Rally and in Time Out New York's "Make Music New York" on Sunday afternoon. Also, just added, a few shows at Six Flags and an in store set at Best Buy on 23rd street! And we're proud to be a part of the line of at NOKIA Theater in Times Square in two weeks!

We're planning the video for "Shooting in 60" now, as well as a Fall trip to the Midwest. So, please recommend our album to your friends, if you haven't done so already!

That's it, keeping it short. If you'd like to indulge further, please follow us on TWITTER, facebook, MYSPACE, or read the TELLING ON TRIXIE BLOG or DEREK'S BRAND NEW PERSONAL BLOG, DEREKNICOLETTO.COM, which is a little bit comedy, a lot of rock & roll.

Ciao!

ToT

Early Morning Austin

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:49:00 +0000

Early March morning in Austin 2009. Derek and the bunch getting ready for a day of interviews and shows during Red Gorilla/ South by Southwest week. But first, I need a toothbrush.

To see my interviews with Margaret Cho, Yelle, Late of the Pier, These Arms Are Snakes, Semi Precious Weapons, Jason Reeves go to Logo Online.

Telling on... Victor Medina-San Andres

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Fri, 29 May 2009 00:49:00 +0000

Victor Medina-San Andres is a director, producer, production designer, social networking God, party promoter and all around exciting guy. He hosts several parties around NYC at clubs like Le Royale and Citrine. And he knows everyone. If you're his Facebook friend, you get to find out immediately what Victor thinks "sucks" (mac computer problems, suicide, JFK airport) and you always know what he loves (his son, film, cool people, liberals, and much more.)

After meeting Victor at Clay, a health club in NYC, we were talking music and Victor suggested, "Why don't I direct your first video? I have an idea for "Halfway Back to Sane." On a hot August day, we filmed the entire thing, with help of our wunderkind Producer/Editor Jarret Egan of Appia Film, DP Jorge Valdes-Iga, and Corey Eisenstein.

Here's Telling on Trixie's debut music video, featuring America's Next Top Model vixen Jade Cole and model Monique as the nurses, directed by Victor Medina-San Andres

Find out more about Victor at:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1756459/

modernloftnyc.com

Sinister Girlz Interview & Review

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Memorial Day Musical Necessity!

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Fri, 22 May 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Last year, my friend Jamie and I walked all around Fire Island passing out copies of the dance remixes of the Telling on Trixie single "Halfway Back to Sane," the same weekend it was sent to DJ's all across the country. Memorial Day weekend will always remind me of us acting a-fool all weekend, to eventually hear the mix played in the Cherry Grove Ice Palace and the Pavilion in the Pines that weekend. Since then, the remixes, by DJ Rob Keith, the Passengerz and dancefloor master DJ Gomi have been played in clubs worldwide. The video has even been remixed by the Netherland's remix mastermind Ewien, below, set to the DJ Gomi radio edit dance mix.

Here's the iTunes link to the maxi-single. Have a GREAT holiday.

Steps to the Throne

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:07:00 +0000

Stereofame

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Tue, 19 May 2009 00:52:00 +0000

Seems like every time I turn around there's a new one of these new social networks popping up. Stereofame comes highly recommended, and has some funny competitive elements to it, so lemme play with it for awhile, and I'll resport back to you.

Crash Me Up - the video made around the world

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:59:00 +0000

New York, San Diego, Italy, Berlin Germany, Orlando, Connecticut, Minnesota, Brooklyn, Central Park, New Jersey...Valparaiso, Indianapolis...and more! Crash Me Up is the result of the collective effort from our friends around the world, just as is "Ugly, Broke & Sober" our new album. Our fans raised $20k for us to make "Ugly Broke & Sober" and now, they've sent video of themselves for our video for the first single on the album.

Get "Crash Me Up" and "Ugly, Broke & Sober" on

Telling on Trixie's Derek Nicoletto stars in ABC's LOST

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Telling on Philadelphia

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Tue, 05 May 2009 04:01:00 +0000

On the way to the Philadelphia gig on May 2, 2009, we discover George Lucas's inspiration for the Imperial Walkers from the Star Wars series. Natalie Portman. Telling on Trixie will perform at Six Flags Great Adventure on September 4, 2009. Music: "A.N.F.O" by Telling on Trixie from "Ugly, Broke & Sober."

Telling on Trixie performs at Fergie's Pub 5/2/09. Play close attention to our 100% accurate Philadelphia history narration. Cameos by Michael Jackson, Madonna music in the Equality Forum dance party. Elvis, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Tina Turner at the Rock n Roll Exxon. Guacamole by El Vez. Red heads galore.

Evacuation Aruba! Swine Flu Panic!

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:50:00 +0000

Aruba evacuation as Swine Flu Panic ensues!!!

Swine Flu hits Aruba

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:10:00 +0000

Derek Nicoletto reports.

Home, Horse, Sun

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 19:37:00 +0000

Modern Drummer features Telling on Trixie's Andrew Frawley

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Telling on Trixie drummer Andrew Frawley spoke about his work on our album, Ugly, Broke & Sober" in this feature by Modern Drummer Magazine.

NYU Relay for Life & Telling on Trixie

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:10:00 +0000

A video tribute to our loved ones, made from memories from last Saturday's NYU Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. April's almost over, but our download drive is still in force.

We're donating $1.00 for every download of "The Deepest Dive" from any of our online distributors offering the song (iTunes, Amazon, and many others).

and Amazon.com.

For those who want to donate more, they may do so at: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/tellingontrixie.

MUEN Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:19:00 +0000

By: Shauna O’Donnell of MUEN Magazine

MUEN: HI DEREK AND THANKS FOR TALKING WITH ME TODAY.
Yeah, thanks for calling.

MUEN: HOW ARE YOU?
I’m doing just fine. Our album just released so I’m just kind of waiting to see how it’s going to do.

MUEN: HOW’S IT DOING SO FAR? I KNOW IT’S ONLY BEEN A DAY.
There is a lot of excitement, interviews and hoopla. It’s fun, were just riding it out.

MUEN: THE NEW ALBUM IS CALLED UGLY, BROKE & SOBER. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE HEARD OF A “FAN FUNDED” ALBUM.  HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT OR HOW DOES THAT WORK?
Some artists do donation styled, fan sourcing, I guess that
is what they call it. What we wanted to do, that we had not seen anyone else
do, is make it an interactive experience for our fans. We have a very loyal fan
base and they had questions for us. We wanted to use those questions and get
them involved. They had questions about song writing or “Why did you put this
on the cover?” Our fans are very opinionated and I felt we needed to use that.
We created this interactive model where our fans would donate so we could pay
to make this album because we were out of money. We had just promoted Telling on Trixie, which was our debut album for a year and a half. We had
this whole body of work, but we didn’t have any money to promote it. We had
just done two videos and we were touring around when gas prices were
ridiculous. We needed to raise some money and get them involved. We came up with bandwithaplan.com. The fans would help us decide by voting in polls. A
lot of questions I get are about our song writing process. Usually, how
it works is that Tommy or Brad give me a musical idea and then they send it over to me. I write the melody, the lyrics and then I tell them how I want the chorus to go. There is a lot of back and forth. I let them follow along with that and I said
“Listen, this is the music.” People pay $25 to be a part of the website and for
$50 you get a t-shirt thrown in too. The fans got to experience the song
writing process with me. That is a couple of examples on how our interactive
model works for us. Since we got them involved in the very beginning,
in the process of how an indie band works, I think they wanted to see
it succeed. When the cut off date of September 30^th came around, we decided to do what we could with the money that we raised. We were going for $20,000, but we will make do with what we raised. Two weeks before we had only raised $15 or $16,000 and it had plateaued for a while.  A lot of those people
upgraded and gave more money because they were personally invested in seeing
the project work. They contributed to it in some way, it wasn’t like they just
gave money and “I’ll see you later.” Some people want to do that, I had some
people tell me “Derek, I’m giving you this money and I don’t want to hear about
the album until it comes out.” (Laughing) People from all over the world
gave me words to help me write “Crash Me Up.” It also helped me to
decide what kind of t-shirt to design. I gave them a couple designs and
they gave their opinions. The t-shirts came and they were totally ugly
so I sent them back. When the t-shirts come and they are ugly I cannot
say “Well, I‘ll just give them to people anyway,” because now I have
people involved who invested in this. It has to be right, so when the
manufacturer doesn’t make it the way we designed it, it is more than me
and the guys in the band who are at stake here. It’s the ninety people
who gave money in five continents across the globe. That’s how it was with the album; we had to get it right. In October and November I found that the song writing and recording process was much more stressful, because I really wanted to do a good job. I had so many people give me money that they probably couldn’t afford. On “Ugly, Broke &The release said I could do whatever I wanted  Sober” I think I recorded those vocals three times and I had never done that before. That song is so personal, I kind of got emotional, but by the
third time I was pretty happy with it. When you involve all these
people it had affects on me that I didn’t necessarily expect. I didn’t
think we would reach our goal, first of all, and we did. There were no
throw away songs on the album, we had seventeen songs and we chose ten.
They were carefully chosen and some were hotly debated. One of the
decisions the band members put on me was, will there be a cover song on
the album? Two of my guys were rolling their eyes, but those two same
guys said “Fine, but this is what we are going to do.” We came up with
a crazy version of “Mad about You” by Belinda Carlisle. We were like
“If we are going to do this, then it is going to be a pop song.” On our
first album people said we sounded like Matchbox 20, I don’t think we
sound like them now. We got that comparison a lot. We didn’t want to
cover someone who was like us; to do Belinda Carlisle is a beautiful
irony. At first when I did it, I sang it like a response to her. Did
you notice I give the world’s longest answers?

MUEN: (LAUGHING) I KNOW I WAS THINKING WE ARE STILL ON THE FIRST QUESTION, BUT YOU ARE DOING
GREAT.
What happens with me is, you’ll ask one question and I will cover all ten.

MUEN: IT’S TRUE. YOU’RE GOING RIGHT DOWN THE LINE.
I don’t know why that is, I’m just excited about it.

MUEN: WERE THE PEOPLE WHO DONATED MENTIONED IN THE THANK YOU SECTION ON YOUR ALBUM SLEEVE?
It has everybody’s name that contributed on it. That was
part of the process; I had outlined all of the perks that they were going to
get. I need constant stimulation or I’m bored out of my gourd. I was like
“Surprise, everybody is going to be in the latter notes.” That kind of like
regenerated it, everybody is going to be named and you will be immortalized
forever. Everyone thought it was awesome. We reached our goal two hours before the cut-off. At 10:38 we got a $250 donation that sent us $50 over. We
had strangers give $500, we had peripheral friends give $1000. There
was a girl from Germany who gave $500, I met her once after one of
my shows. Some of my friends didn’t give any money at all. They said
they would buy the album when it comes out. I have this actor friend,
who I have seen so many of his plays, I could cry. He said he would buy
the album when it came out. You never know, I was surprised at so many
aspects of this and how it turned out.

MUEN: IT’S GREAT THAT THESE PEOPLE DONATED THAT KIND OF MONEY TO HELP YOU MAKE MUSIC.
Yeah, I can’t believe that we pulled it off, with everything
that is going on right now. This one girl, she is very loyal to our band, I
know for a fact she lost her job and then gave us a hundred dollars. There was
another girl who said if we let her be the first to hear “Mad about You” after
it was mixed she would upgrade from $250 to $500. I was like fine! I couldn’t
send it to her though, I told her she could come to the studio, but she said it
was too far. I didn’t want it to be passed around, so I told her she could come
to the studio and we would give her a private session. She and her husband came
down and listened to it on my producers amazing speakers. Her husband also gave $100.

MUEN: THE PERSON YOU HAVE ON THE COVER IS ZONDRA FOXX. FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW HER SHE IS AN
INFAMOUS DRAG QUEEN FROM THE 80’S. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO HAVE HER PICTURE ON THE COVER?
My friend Mike took that picture in Cherry Grove. Every 4^th
of July these drag queens get on a ferry boat, I don’t know why, and it
is hilarious. People get crazy and it is a bit much. When I saw the
picture I was like “That is my album cover.” We did not know what the
album name was going to be and we did not name it because of the
picture. I think it is a fantastic photograph. If you look at the image
online, it is such a pristine photo. Mike said, “That is Zondra Foxx,
I’m scared to call her.” I said, “Listen, you have got to call her and
beg her to do a model release. I don’t have any money to pay her, so
see if she will do it for free.” Weeks went by and I didn’t know what
to do. One day I get this phone call. “Hello, is this Telling on
Trixie? This is Zondra Foxx and I understand you would like to use a
photo of me. Is there any money in this? There is never any money in
these things.” I said, “Mike is a professional photographer, he is
willing to let me use the photograph and I would be eternally grateful
if you would do the same thing.” She was like “Okay fine, I will send
the release.” I have been super scared because “Ugly, Broke & Sober “was written and the fans knew it was a track on the album and they had heard it. They said it was the perfect name for the album because we were so broke and we had to do this plan. So, I was like “Well, that means that I have to name this
album Ugly, Broke & Sober and I have to have this vicious drag
queen on the front of it. I’m going to get stalked and killed.”

MUEN: DID YOU TELL HER THAT WAS GOING TO BE THE NAME OF THE ALBUM?
I never spoke to her again. I read that release a billion
times after I got it in the mail. It said I could do whatever I wanted to it
and alter the photo any way I wanted. I gave it to our lawyer. He said not to
worry, that the album was going to be all over the world and she will have her
face plastered all over the place. I basically want her to understand that I do
not think she is ugly. It is an amazing and hilarious photo. I’m waiting for that
call “Hello, is this Telling on Trixie?” I was talking to a friend of mine who
runs in the same circle as her. I asked him to ask her to attend the CD release
party. We throw this huge extravaganza. I knew she would feel wonderful and stylish if she came to it. She didn’t come.

MUEN: SHE WILL PROBABLY CALL YOU ONE DAY AND ASK FOR A COPY OF THE CD JUST BECAUSE SHE IS
CURIOUS.
I would love to give her a copy of the CD. You know what I can. I can send her a copy. I thought if I sent her the CD it would break the ice. That would be when she finds out.

MUEN: SEND IT TO HER AND INCLUDE A NOTE THAT EXPLAINS WHY YOU NAMED IT THAT. SHE MAY FIND IT TO BE
HILARIOUS.
She is an art collector by trade. She dresses in drag all day long, which I guess, is not typical for drag queens.

MUEN: I FIND THE COVER TO BE HILARIOUS.
What’s hilarious is when people ask if it is me on the cover. I say, “Let’s
just start with the fact that there is a forty-five year age difference.” I dressed in drag once for Halloween and I looked like Gilda Radner. I will not do it again.

MUEN: I NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS YOU, NOT EVEN ONCE.
It was funny. I like your magazine by the way. I like how it is interview
heavy and how you get to read a lot of what the artist has to say.

MUEN: YEAH, I TYPE MY INTERVIEWS WORD FOR WORD, BECAUSE I FEEL THAT EVERYTHING THE ARTIST HAS TO SAY
IS IMPORTANT. I REALLY TRY TO PROMOTE THE BAND THE BEST WAY I CAN.
We are an indie outfit in the true sense of the word. Every success we have is our own. We have Reybee and he is great. Every time we get new coverage it is a little victory for us. A lot of bands have contacted me regarding A Band with a Plan. They want to know how we did it. I tell them to go to the website and rip everything off. Make it your own. I will give them the password so they can see how it works. A couple of bands are doing it now. I thought it was so cool to be doing this interview because there is so much online stuff nowadays that it is really cool to be put in print. It’s a little bit of an exclusive thing.

MUEN: I LOVE THE VIDEO ON HOW TO TEACH A BASS PLAYER TO SING ON YOUR PAGE. IT WAS VERY FUNNY. I LOVE A GUY WITH A SENSE OF HUMOR.
Did you watch Allentown: Land of copies and roses?

MUEN: NO, I DIDN’T WATCH THAT ONE.
Tommy and I went down to Allentown to do an acoustic show and we acted
like it was a Blair Witch Project. Gary was like “I can’t believe you went
into that 7 Eleven. My friend is a cop and he just arrested a fugitive
for murder in there.” We decided we were going to leave the venue to
get something to eat and get some earplugs. We hit every bad
neighborhood.

MUEN: THE OTHER THING THAT I THOUGHT WAS FUNNY WAS THAT YOU ARE LISTED AS PLAYING KEYBOARD, KNUCKLES
ON YOUR HEAD, AND CARROT.
That’s the truth, if you listen to the song “A.N.F.O” at the
beginning, that sound is me knocking on my skull. In “Eden” I bit into a carrot,
the only thing is, you can’t hear it as well. People never knew what I
was doing, until now; we just started shows for this album. That is my
special instrument. I would get jealous, because a percussionist can
pick up any instrument and play it. The most I can muster up on stage is knocking on my skull with my knuckles.

MUEN: IT WAS AWESOME TALKING WITH YOU. I APPRECIATE THE INTERVIEW.

trombone

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:13:00 +0000

After Telling on Trixie, I think my next project will just be a two piece: me on vocals and a trombone player named Jimmy Lee. We'll be Sayville, NY- based, and practice near the Starbucks on Main Street where they make those perfectly stirred iced Grande two-pump white chocolate mochas (with whip).

The Celebrity Cafe digs "Ugly, Broke & Sober"

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:19:00 +0000

by Susie Kopecky

Telling on Trixie - Ugly, Broke, & Sober
- For some reason, I thought this was going to be a country album, which I would have been happy with also, but it definitely is not.

Telling on Trixie is a high-energy, yet incredible easy-to-listen-to band. Their second, and newest, album is "Ugly, Broke, & Sober," and is anything but ugly.

There is a wide variety of melodies on this album, with the overarching theme more of a rock/pop and rock/adult contemporary theme. The songs "Shooting in Go," "Crash Me Up" and "A.N.F.O." are the catchiest ditties on the album, with the last track having a real old school rock feel. Most surprisingly, there is also a cover of "Mad About You." It's fun to listen to!

"The Deepest Dive" is probably the slowest and most introspective song, which will be good for those looking for a lovely new ballad. "Late so Tired" is of a similar stripe as well.

Telling on Trixie is a band with some great songs, and deserves to be checked out.

Reviewer: Susie Kopecky

new
Reviewer's Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0

Online link: http://thecelebritycafe.com/cd/full_review/14058.html

Philadelphia Gay News feature

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Our Phildelphia show is May 2, 2009 at 9.p.m. at Fergie's.

Telling on... Late of the Pier

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Artist on Artist with Late of the Pier during SXSW. The redhead was cool...reminded me of Ron from Harry Potter. Their publicist was an ass and they should get a new one. Made me realize how lucky we are to have professional, cool, smart publicists working with Telling on Trixie.

He is Risen (at SXSW)

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:14:00 +0000

He is Risen. At SXSW.

Margaret Cho tells Derek about Group Sex

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:50:00 +0000

More Video Here

The Real Wolverine

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:24:00 +0000

We submit that the real Wolverine is none other than Telling on Trixie bassist Tom Welsch.

Discuss.

Telling on Rachael Sage

noreply@blogger.com (Mo Derek) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:40:00 +0000

Rachael Sage knows how to sing, play and make a beautiful video. And I love other artists who incorporate charitable causes into their overall projects, as Rachael does annually with her "New Arrivals" series. Here's a video of Derek Nicoletto (me) and Rachael Sage hanging out in Austin:

"Vertigo" by Rachael Sage:"