Bright Men of Learning

Two Chances to see us This Weekend

2009-11-03T03:13:21Z

Yep. We’re playing twice this coming weekend.

Saturday, November 7th, we’re opening a set at Rudz for two bands that generally rock a lot harder than we do—Ghost Town Electric and 500 Megatons of Boogie. To match their intensity, we’re planning to play a set with a bit more giddy up than you’re probably used to seeing from us, so definitely come out for less kind and gentle BMOL.

Cover is $5 and the show starts at 10:30. We’re the first band, so don’t dawdle.

Ah, but what if that’s too late? Then check us out at Big Star Bar the next day. One of Jman’s friends is having a party there and inviting all her friends to hang out. She also invited us to be the entertainment. This being a public place, you’re invited, too. At this second show, we’re planning to give listeners a preview of our upcoming record. We’ll probably play all but one or two of the 14 songs we’ve recorded. Because we’re the only band we might actually play a couple of sets. And our pal ADR is going to be spinning records, too.

Thankfully, the Sunday show should start in the early evening. Doors open at 4 pm, and admission is free.

FInally, I should note that if you miss us this weekend, you can catch us at the Westheimer Block Party on Sunday, November 15. We’re scheduled to play the 5:50 pm slot at Helios upstairs.

BMOL SEES Woozyhelmet + Young Mammals

2009-10-19T22:59:51Z

The other night, Ben and I separately ventured out to see Woozyhelmet and Young Mammals rock out at Mango’s. The show was to have been headlined by Thee Oh Sees, but they cancelled due to illness. Given the last minute loss, the show price was quickly reduced to zero. Given that price, I resolved that I would still attend.

Unfortunately, two other bands were also added to the bill, which wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t 35 years old and could stay awake past midnight. Woozyhelmet didn’t go on until 11:45, so I wasn’t able to stick around and watch Young Mammals.

Lucky for me, I was still able to read about the show and see some choice photos thanks to our pal Ramon Medina and his review at 29-95.com.

Here’s me in the Polo cap and GNR shirt (Ramon called a “fucking hipster”! in the caption).

And here’s Jay Crossley from Woozyhelmet (left) with another pal of ours, Mr. Dunnock. Notice anything interesting about Jay’s shirt?

Mango’s was awesome, by the way. I hadn’t been there in six or seven years, but I was very pleased to see the considerable improvements. I can’t wait to play there.

Since I’m in a rock band, my dreams might very well come true quite soon.

Check out our new digs

2009-10-13T02:17:03Z

If you’re reading this in your feed reader or on Myspace/Facebook, you can’t really see it. But we’ve redesigned this place to merge our old site with our Blogger blog into this brand-new, Wordpress-powered wonderland. If you were a subscriber to our old blog, you won’t have to change a thing. The feed remains the same. We’ve also imported all the posts from the old blog.

Everything else is new, including our swell new banner and logo (good job, Chris!). This comes only a few days after our guitar genius, Ben Murphy, gave our Myspace page a good scrubbing and added some new jams. Because we’ve recorded a ton of new music and started playing more shows, we figured it was high-time we treated ourselves a facelift.

Finally, we’ve confirmed two new shows on back-to-back weekends in early November. You can get those details on the new Shows page.

As always, we hope to see you there.

Poster for Friday’s show

2009-09-16T03:07:00Z

Thanks to c:\ for the design expertise.

EP release show this Friday at Rudz

2009-09-12T17:57:00Z

It’s been a long time since we’ve played a show. It’s been an even longer time since we released any music. This Friday, we plan to end both droughts with a show at Rudyard’s celebrating the release of our new Champion Sound EP. This is what it will look like.

As for what it will sound like, well, it was recorded live to 8-track with my former roommate and recording savant, John Sears. So it’s going to sound like three lo-fi, classic-rock jams. Two of which we’ve never, ever played during a show.

And speaking of the show, we’re pleased to be playing with some good friends: The Jonx and Al Hendrix’s new band Side Arms. Plus, our pal ADR will be supplying jams before the show and between sets. You must attend this show, right?

What’s all this gonna cost? Well the EP is $2. The show is $3. For $5 you get the full BMOL experience. Can you do any less?

I look forward to seeing you there.

Note: The above mentioned EP does not include any of the 14 tracks we recently wrapped up recording in Austin. That will come early next year. We hope.

Recording with Mr. Sears

2009-06-28T17:48:00Z

Yesterday we spent much of the day recording three new songs with our good pal, John Sears. Since he was my roommate when I was in law school, I’m pretty familiar with his methods / madness. Basically, in exchange for a six pack (and nothing else), Mr. Sears will come to a place of your choosing and record your band on his digital 8-track machine.

He usually records between three and six songs. Later, he’ll spend half an hour mixing it down before burning it to CD, which he will hand off to you at a local bar. Where everyone will enjoy a few more beers.

Having just recorded our songs yesterday, we haven’t yet heard the final product. But we’re totally excited to share the songs with you.

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In other news, we’re trying to get our act together with respect to our various social network profiles. We’re on quite a few different sites, and we’d like to once again use these powers for good.

If you are on the Twitter | Facebook | Blogger etc., you should shake our virtual hand. I promise I’ll be updating these places a lot more often with news of our goings on. If nothing’s going on (highly likely) maybe I’ll just share a few stray observations. Rest assured, you’ll want to know about it.

See you around.

He plays guitar like a robot

2009-01-28T03:40:00Z

That’s not necessarily true, but it’s a great title for Ben Murphy’s new cassette-only label. The Houston Press, who (lucky for us) seem to adore all things BDM-related have the scoop on our guitarist’s new side project.

Finally recording again. Yay!

2009-01-10T01:19:00Z

We had an abortive start several months ago, but this weekend we’re finally starting our third record (counting our earlier CD, when we were called Chasmatic). We’re recording with my wife’s brother Jonas Wilson, who is an enormously gifted musician, producer, and engineer. We’re very, very excited.

The photo above includes a lot of the songs we’re recording. I took a picture at the space last night so I could make a list at home. With that all done, I’m about to leave for Austin.

Friday night at Rudz, we bring the Dad Rock.

2008-09-24T02:41:00Z

We’ve got a small feature in this week’s Houston Press promoting our show at Rudyard’s this Friday night. It should hit the stands Wednesday, but you can read it right now online.

We’re pretty excited to be playing with our pals in Fired for Walking. It’s their CD release party, and they’re excited as hell.

Here are the details:

FRIDAY, September 26
Rudyard’s (1020 Waugh)
$5.00
Mr. Castillo (d.j.) – 9 p.m. and all night
Novox – 10 pm
Bright Men of Learning – 11 pm
Fired for Walking – 12 pm

Playing this Sunday at a “decent hour”

2008-08-14T23:48:00Z

About a month ago we played at the Mink for the first time, and now we’re starting to make it a habit. First, I played a short set of Rod Stewart covers. Now, this Sunday, we’ll be throwing down with O Pioneers! and a couple of great bands who are visiting from Ohio.

The best part? This show actually starts kinda early. How does 8:30 p.m. sound? Perfect, right?

So you should totally come. Here are the details:

SUN / AUG 17
@ THE MINK
3718 Main Street
HOUSTON, TX
GHOST TOWN TRIO
TIN ARMOR
O PIONEERS!!!
BRIGHT MEN OF LEARNING
8PM $6