life of a guitarist/sysadmin

Avenpitch CD release write up on Star Tribune today!

2009-01-16T19:08:54Z

startribune.com

Avenpitch thrice over

I had one immediate reaction listening to "Cast Off," the latest CD by local dance-rock mainstays Avenpitch: Somebody has been listening to a lot of LCD Soundsystem. To be fair, though, comparing Avenpitch leader and local electropunk ringleader Todd Millenacker to James Murphy & Co. also would have been apt with their two previous albums. Millenacker's upbeat, punchy songs avoid the dour, goth-ish rut that too many other digi-rock bands fall into, and he incorporates punk and metal influences bravely, albeit sometimes clumsily. Avenpitch's CD party is Saturday at Club Underground (9 p.m., $5).

Avenpitch interview with HowWasTheShow.com

2009-01-15T00:26:50Z

HowWasTheShow.com

Todd Millenacker is the singer and principal songwriter for the electronic rock band Avenpitch. In this interview, Millenacker talks about his early influences, getting video game placement, and the band’s CD release party at Club Underground on Saturday, January 17th.

HowWasTheShow: When did you first start playing music? Who were your early influences?

Todd Millenacker: I remember when I was 8 or 9, sitting in my parents’ living room and making a robotic hand out of Legos that strummed my mom’s classical guitar. I’d pound on Lego boxes while singing into a tape recorder. I don’t remember too many of the tracks, but I clearly remember that my masterpiece was called “Greta in the Garbage Can”. If you can imagine what a robotic Lego hand strumming an open guitar, random pounding on Lego boxes and a third grader chanting, “Her name was Greta, Greta, Greta -- Greta in the garbage can…” over and over, you have a pretty good idea of one of my first musical creations!

I started playing guitar back in fifth grade because of Motley Crue and Guns N Roses. I remember watching MTV and seeing the video for “Sweet Child O’ Mine” where Slash plugged his guitar in at the beginning and thinking it was the coolest thing ever! As for early influences, I think it’s pretty safe to say that if they’re a part of a VH1 Reality Show now, I probably liked them then -- Motley Crue, Poison, Guns N Roses, Skid Row, etc. Like practically everyone, I got into the whole 90’s alternative thing, like Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, and my interests just sort of went on from there to The Cure, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, New Order, etc.

I basically go through phases where I become super-obsessed with one particular band or artist and listen to everything they’ve every done, read every book written about them, and absorb everything I possibly can. My recent obsessions have been Leonard Cohen and U2, but before that it was the Kinks, Neil Young, the Flaming Lips, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, The The, etc. -- the list just goes on and on. For better or worse, I basically only read rock biographies, which makes me a pretty good source for Rock’n’Roll trivia, but fairly worthless in any sort of real life application!

HWTS: What kinds of bands did you play in when you first started performing?

TM: My very first band experience was as the guitarist in the 7th grade jazz band. We played classics such as “Endless Love”, “Bill Bailey” and “Fame”. I remember having an 8 bar solo in “Fame” that, as I’m sure you could imagine, was basically the culmination of any young guitarist’s career. It wasn’t quite as cool as the start of the “Sweet Child O’ Mine” video, but it was still pretty big stuff at the time.

As for high school bands, I had quite a few that ran the gamut from “typical,” meaning we could play “Plush” and a few Pearl Jam songs to “industrial,” with drum machines, MIDI sequencing and dressing up like Marilyn Manson. Really, the most notable aspect about any of my early band experiences is that we usually played original songs and I almost always wrote them. I’m not saying they were good or even the most original, but I’m still pretty proud of the fact that I made the effort.

HWTS: How did the members of Avenpitch come together?

TM: I met Darren in 2001 when he started playing guitar for my band The Fleshpeddlers. We were looking for an additional guitarist and we put neon pink fliers up all over the U of M saying “Electronic Rock Band Seeks Guitarist”. Darren answered the ad and was super-hyped to join the band, way more hyped than anyone should be given our status. The Fleshpeddlers eventually dissolved, but when I started Avenpitch, Darren was naturally the guy to call.

I met Paul through a post I made on the local site Musicscene.org. I posted the song “Hacienda” and mentioned that I was looking for a drummer. He called me, saying he liked the song and the idea of playing along with loops/sequencers. We met up and hit it off right away.

Finally, I knew our original keyboard player David from his band Fadladder. He was with us for couple years, but left to do some different things with his life. When we were brainstorming for a replacement, I remembered a girl dancing away throughout our set at a warehouse party. This turned out to be Darren’s friend, Sarah. We got her on board, sent her to Keyboard 101 - she was a quick study - and within a couple weeks, we were out playing shows again.

Thinking about it now, it’s an odd set of circumstances that brought us all together, but it just seems to work.

HWTS: What do you like about making music living in Minneapolis?

TM: Honestly, I never really think of “Minneapolis Music Scene” or realize how lucky we are to be surrounded by all these great clubs or bands until I’m trying to book shows or a tour out of state. So much of it, we just sort of take for granted and don‘t give much thought to. Thankfully, there’s a lot of talent here and we’ve been lucky enough to be associated with some of it through the Twin Cities Electropunk compilation series that we organize (www.tcelectropunk.com).

HWTS: How receptive has the local music scene been to your self-described brand of "electropunk"?

TM: It feels like when people see us live, they are rather impressed and are fairly receptive to our sound and hyperactive stage presence. I think that we’re a lot quirkier than most bands, so sometimes, it may take some convincing to win an audience over, but we usually pull it off. I like to remind the guys that if people aren’t blown away by what we do, we need to find a better way to connect and get our message across, as opposed to sitting on our high horse thinking that our “art” is too advanced for the audiences’ taste.

Obviously, the local scene isn’t exactly fawning over us, but for the most part, I think it’s actually benefited us much more than it has hurt us. For starters, we’ve made the effort to tour a bit where we’ve been met with both crazy praise and complete disinterest. There’s something really exciting about showing up at a random club and needing to win people over in order to sell enough CDs to make gas money to get to our next show. Some of our best shows have come from that experience -- some of our worst too!

It’s also forced me to actively seek out alternate promotions, such as getting our music placed in video games. So far the most noteworthy placement we’ve received is in a video game called “Rock Tour Tycoon”. It’s basically like the Oregon Trail, if you remember that game, but instead of heading out West, you’re a rock band touring America. When you’ve acquired 20,000 fans, your band is Avenpitch and little cartoon versions of us come out and perform for you. We’ve got 5 MP3s on there and it’s sold at Best Buy, Software Etc - you know all those places we’d normally never get into. I get MySpaced from kids all over saying they found out about us through “Rock Tour Tycoon,” which is pretty awesome!

HWTS: How did you get into the whole video game placement thing?

TM: I just started emailing video game companies. It’s kind of funny to think that behind every email address is just a regular person going about their day doing their thing. Obviously, I’ve been met with a lot of indifference, but every once in awhile, you make a contact and it turns into something cool. That happened with “Rock Tour Tycoon” and it’s happened with a couple other video game companies as well.

Oddly enough, one contact at a video game company just happened to have a husband who was in the process of developing an MP3 phone over in England. He was looking to have these devices preloaded with music and now thanks to that random contact, Avenpitch’s last record “Butterfly Radio” came pre-loaded on 12,000 MP3 phones.

I view promotion as a big game and it’s really fun to see where no promotional money, an email address and a little bit of creative thinking will get you.

HWTS: Tell me about your songwriting and recording process -- how does a song go from idea to finished form?

TM: The songs that seem to work are ones that I’ve actually sat down and written before I bring them to the band. We’ve tried the jamming thing, but then we usually end up getting locked into a cool groove that never leads us anywhere. Normally, the process is that I come up with a few ideas and bring them to the band; we’ll jam on the basic arrangement to get a couple more ideas flowing and then I’ll go back to work on the song by myself. Then it goes back to the band and this process goes back and forth for quite awhile. Finally, I decide on lyrics and we have something close to the finished song. Then I usually spend another five or six months trying to find the “perfect” overdub that inevitably gets mixed way in the background where only the most astute listener will ever notice it.

Our songs are heavily layered and based around sounds just as much as parts, but I still think it’s really important to actually have a “song” in there behind all those bells and whistles. Like Tom Petty said, “If you don’t have a verse as good as your chorus, you don’t have a verse”.

To vary up the songwriting approach this time out, I did try a couple different things. For instance, on “Maybe I Was Wrong,” I recorded a five or six minute synthesizer loop and ran in through every type of filter effect imaginable. Then I actually set out to write a song on top of this crazy sounding loop. Surprisingly, it came together really well and it is probably one of my favorite tracks on the disc. Another fun one was “Shadows of Giants,” where I wrote the entire piece on the piano as a “Bruce Springsteen-ish” rock ballad. Then after the fact, I managed to ruin any sense of normalcy by mixing in a bunch of circuit bent keyboards, walls of shoegazy guitar and samples from Charlie Brown’s “Christmas Time is Here”.

HWTS: Cast Off will be the third full-length release by Avenpitch. How has your sound changed over the years?

TM: I think we’ve gotten much better at incorporating the “live” aspects of our sound along with the “electronic” ones. For me, the flow feels a little more natural and the juxtaposition isn’t quite as awkward.

As for the songwriting, I’ve been making a conscious effort to incorporate a bit more expressiveness into our music. I think we do the hyper/energetic thing really well, but I don’t want to paint ourselves into a corner, so we’re consciously trying to open things up and take a few more chances.

HWTS: Which song on Cast Off do you think is the best example of what Avenpitch is all about?

TM: Hopefully, each song on “Cast Off” represents a different facet of the band, but if I just needed a good “catch all” from this album I’d say “Pregnant Pause,” just because it’s a good rocker; it’s catchy and I really like the lyrics. Plus, I love that crazy filtered synth bass sound and the fact that we managed to incorporate samples of a real marching band into the song without it sounding too out of place.

HWTS: The CD release party for Cast Off will be at Club Underground on Saturday, January 17th. What all are we going to see there?

TM: We’ll be sporting our new look and hopefully some cool little stage gimmicks and lights -- we‘ll see how close our plans come to actually happening. Eventually, I’d love to design a stage show that’s something like the Faint meets the Flaming Lips; however, we tend to work at our own mysterious pace, so that might be more of a long-term goal. We’ll also be playing with our buddies Thosquanta, Skittish and Military Special. All really good bands -- should be a great evening!

HWTS: Any other final comments before we go?

TM: Thanks to everyone who’s ever taken the time to come to a show, download a track or buy a CD. We really do appreciate you listening and supporting us. Oh, and keep listening - hopefully, we’ll only get better!

Sweet Summer time on Cities 97!

2009-01-12T23:39:18Z

Playlist from January 11th, 2009
Monday 01-12-2009 3:17pm CT

Artist | Album | Song

Avenpitch | Sweet Summertime | Cast Off

Cast Off review on darktwincities.com

2009-01-12T23:33:53Z

link

There's a moment in most every song on Avenpitch's third full-length, Cast Off, that will make you smile. While his voice and delivery may leave much to be desired there comes a time in each track where Todd Millenacker convinces you that it actually does fit in well with the music. It's certainly distinctive if not particularly tuneful. You may consider switching CDs in the first thirty seconds of every piece but I would entreat you to hang on for just a little longer because when the explosion comes it's like one of those strawberry candies with the gooey, sugary center that bursts in your mouth once the shell has dissolved - it's an over-the-top surprise that adds to the experience of an enjoyable confection.

Millenacker has built a name for himself as the Ringleader for the annual Twin Cities Electropunk compilations he puts together and distributes. In Avenpitch he tackles frontman duties with a band that hasn't undergone lineup changes during its recorded run. This is one of their great strengths as the players sound extremely comfortable with one another. The performances are impressively tight and the songwriting on Cast Off is more expansive and adventurous with emphasis placed on layering as well as a mix that showcases each musician quite distinctively.

There's no reinvention here, no real surprises. These ten tracks sound much like everything else in the Avenpitch discography only it's become clear that, as a group, the band is much more comfortable in their own skin and enjoying their time immensely. "Disappear" is the centerpiece of this set with the longest runtime at nearly four and a half minutes. It's got great instrumental interplay, enormous melody and an airy atmosphere of longing coupled with searching lyrics that aren't particularly "deep" but manage to strike a chord of poignancy just the same.

From the pogoing rhythm of opener "Pregnant Pause," which features wildly varied trade-off instrumentation, to the impossibly infectious chorus of "Desperado" and well into the delightful and almost childlike corrosion of "Blink" Millenacker has crafted some memorable gems that should win over plenty of new fans. Yet the album does drag its feet in a couple spots. Perhaps due solely to the fact that the vocals aren't as multi-dimensional as they could be the more downtempo tracks, such as "Don't Come Cryin' To Me" and the first half of the closer "Shadows Of Giants," weigh the set down and on a CD that lasts a brief thirty-three minutes they stand out a little too prominently. In any event it isn't as though these examples are totally unlistenable as the music is still quite tuneful. But Millenacker is much, much stronger when the energy is high.

Ultimately, I'm reminded of The Book Of Secrets, a guide to Tantric consciousness in which Osho recounts a familiar tale;

"Someone came to Zen master, Bokuju. Bokuju's master was very famous, well known, a very great man. So someone asked, "Are you really following your master?" Bojuku said "Yes, I am following him." But the man who asked the question was disturbed because it was well known all over the country that Bokuju was not following his master at all. So the man said, "Are you trying to deceive me? Everyone knows and you are aware that you are not following your master at all, and still you say that you are following. What do you mean?" Bokuju said, "I am following my master - because my master never followed his master. This is what I have learned from him. He was himself!"

Millenacker is as much a student of philosophy as he is music. He isn't looking to recreate the magic of some classic act nor is he jumping on the latest bandwagon to ride its coattails toward success. All he's doing is being himself and writing the music that's in his heart. The sincerity comes through while listening to Cast Off. This is fun, silly music that will lift your spirit when that's what you need. As much as you could reference the New Wave stylings of the Cars, the endearing Punk of the Descendents, or any number of bands from years gone by what comes across is that there really isn't anyone out there that sounds quite like Avenpitch. And when you can take all your influences and channel them through your own personality to create something unique and invigorating it can't be considered anything short of a success.

"Pregnant Pause" featured on pluginmusic.com

2009-01-09T16:11:52Z

Avenpitch's third LP "Cast Off" (Dance School Records) takes everything that was catchy and danceable about New Order, Happy Mondays, and Pop Will Eat Itself; then chops it up, speeds it up and cranks it up into howling, yet tuneful, 3-minute blasts of digital distortion.

Those who haven't heard Avenpitch before will likely be jolted by the raw energy of their sound, while returning fans will appreciate refined songwriting skills and the musical cyborg interplay evident throughout the album.

Take a list to the opening track off "Cast Off," "Pregnant Pause," which sets the parameters with ringleader Todd Millenacker's shouted melodies set against relentless beats and layered guitar noise.

Avenpitch "Cast Off"

2009-01-09T15:57:00Z

01. Pregnant Pause
02. Maybe I Was Wrong
03. Desperado
04. Sweet Summertime
05. Reactor
06. Disappear
07. Don’t Come Crying to Me
08. Blink
09. Two Minutes Hate
10. Shadows of Giants

available on iTunes now!

AVENPITCH CD release show!

2009-01-08T22:13:45Z

How I Could Just Kill A Man

2008-12-17T16:25:57Z

So I got home from band practice last night, unloaded my gear and came back out to clean the slush off my tires. For some reason I'm the only one parked on my block last night. Then suddenly I see a car pull over right next to me. You'd think maybe they want directions or something, but they got a lil too close and that triggered my senses. So a guy jumps out of the passenger door and pretended like he was getting a gun from out of his pocket. I backed up quick but tripped on the snow bank, the motherfucker punches me in the face while I was on the ground. Then he says "Gimme your money!". I just kept shouting "I don't have any money, leave me alone!". This was like -5 outside, my gloves were on the ground. I kept pacing back and forth trying to get away from him, and he finally took off. So what's the lesson here my friends? Anyone pulls over right next to you when it's that cold out, they are not asking for directions, they are going to jack you, so you best jack them first!!! No I was not going to give him my hard earned American dollars, he's going to have to get a job and work for it like the rest of us. It may seem foolish but it's not the money it's the principle. I was gonna wait till the morning to go to the police station, but I said fuck it, I'm not gonna live in fear and went and filed a report for the patrols. All you punk ass muggers out there, trust me, there won't be a second time, it will be your last mistake!

best arena show ever!

2008-11-26T20:17:38Z

anyone going to the Breeders show this Fri?

2008-05-28T17:30:56Z

The Cure - Chicago, May 17th, 2008

Plainsong - it was awesome to finally see the guitar version of this, epic opening
Prayers For Rain - anthing off of Distegration kicks ass, but i would have foregone this one and went with Fascination Street
alt.end - a gem off the self titled
A Night Like This - another classic from Head On The Door
The Walk - reworked synth line with guitars
The End of the World
Lovesong - need i say more?
Pictures of You - classic
Lullaby - Robert had a cold and completely skipped the first chorus, dont think anyone cared
The Perfect Boy - a new one
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea - Wish! all the lights went green
Hot Hot Hot
Sleep When I'm Dead
Push
Friday I'm in Love - really awesome images on the big screens off of Wish
Inbetween Days - can you believe Korn covered this
Just Like Heaven - gotta love the girls dancing to this, the whole arena sang along
Primary - finally a song that got me to start listening to Seventeen Seconds
Never Enough
The Only One
Wrong Number
One Hundred Years - the only song off of Pornography
Disintegration - classic bass line from Simon,it could have went on past 30 minutes

1st encore:
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep - never dug before, but it's like a fav track now of mine off of Kiss Me X 3
The Kiss

2nd encore:
Lovecats
Freakshow
Close To Me
Why Can't I Be You? - i seriously couldnt recognize this song without the horns

3rd encore:
Boys Don't Cry - another one that got the whole place riled up
Jumping Someone Else's Train
Grinding Halt
10:15 Saturday Night
Killing An Arab - is this really the last song?? yeap

- they played 3 hours! who even does that anymore
- first time taking the Megabus, definitely worth the 50 bucks round trip but don't think i can endure another 8 hour bus ride for any other band, unless it's Depeche Mode
- they played half of Disintegration
- they played nothing off of Bloodflowers :(
- while waiting for the bus in Mpls, there were two girls with Flaming Lips tshirts. just as i guessed they were going to the show too. started chatting up with one of the girls and she gave me an extra floor ticket for free!
- i've walked the entire downtown Chicago for 4 hours killing time before the show, it was great but i love Minneapolis better!

TCEP4 plug on Star Tribune today

2008-01-11T15:24:44Z

'Electropunk' rocks on

Even as the dance-punk heat wave that emerged nationally a few years ago with acts like the Faint and Rapture appears to have cooled, there's no shortage of these bands locally. For the fourth straight year, 10 to 15 of them have banded together to put out a "TC Electropunk" CD. As always, this year's compilation features a bunch of bands not on the previous discs, including Zibra Zibra, Audio Victim, Milkbar and Gigi Ranchero. Returnees include Avenpitch -- which more or less spearheads the CDs -- plus Mach FoX, Unicorn Basement and Thosquanta. About half of the aforementioned are performing at a release party Saturday (9 p.m., Club Underground, $5). If none of these bands rings a bell, there's a good mini-documentary posted at TCelectropunk.com.

Star Tribune

Twin Cities Electropunk - Volume 4 show this Saturday

2008-01-08T16:27:27Z

more press...
Rift Magazine
DarkTwinCities.com
PerfectPorridge.com

new Avenpitch video

2007-12-17T15:42:58Z

Here it is, our new song on the Twin Cities Electropunk Volume 4 comp, Desperado. I had a blast filming this, my donkey's name was Disoto, needless to say we formed a bond by the end of the shoot. It was filmed out in Lofty Spur Ranch by Prior Lake and Lee's Liquor Lounge. It's sorta an homage to Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus with some Foo Fighters campiness (maybe?) Thanks to Riley Gerszewski for doing the video. Enjoy the video and Merry Christmas!

Twin Cities Electropunk Volume 4

2007-11-19T15:27:40Z

So my buddy Riley uncovered all the footage we got from last year's TC Electropunk show and put together a trailer for the upcoming Twin Cities Electropunk Volume 4 show at Club Underground on 1/12/08. If you are in any of the bands playing this show, please help get this trailer out and spread the word! Much love.

Download Fest 07

2007-10-06T16:43:44Z

I'm 8 hours away from seeing The Cure! My life will be complete, oh wait, not till I see Depeche Mode live. It's gonna be a long awesome day here in Mountain View. Just checked out the schedule for the day. Tons of bands I wanna see here.

3:45pm-4:30pm She Wants Revenge
4:30pm-5:15pm The Black Angels
5:15pm-6:15pm Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
5:45pm-6:45pm Metric
6:45pm-7:45pm AFI
7:15pm-8:15pm Kings of Leon
8:15pm-10.45pm The Cure

Hello Milwaukee

2007-08-31T14:07:19Z

Come out and have a drink with me tomorrow.

AVENPITCH on TwinCitiesRadio.net tonite!!!

2007-07-26T14:13:00Z

Hey All,
Just a quick note to remind ya we'll be performing live on Twin Cites Radio's "The Live Sessions" tonight @ 9PM. It'll be about an hour long performance/interview. Should be fun! Tune in @ http://www.twincitiesradio.net

Also, we just added some YouTube videos of us performing "Nothing" and "Jack the Idiot Dance" @ Club Underground to our website. If you've got 7 minutes to kill, go check'em out @ http://www.avenpitch.com

Droogies!!

2007-07-10T14:49:03Z

Is anybody interested in checking out ANY of these shows with me?

MEGADETH: Complete U.S. Itinerary
Sep. 04 - Anchorage, AK @ The Egan Conv Center
Sep. 05 - Fairbanks, AK @ The Carlson Center
Sep. 07 - Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre
Sep. 08 - Spokane, WA @ Big Easy
Sep. 09 - Portland, OR @ Roseland
Sep. 11 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield
Sep. 12 - Anaheim, CA @ Grove
Sep. 14 - Las Vegas, NV @ House Of Blues
Sep. 16 - Denver, CO @ Ogden
Sep. 18 - Sauget, IL @ Pops
Sep. 19 - Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Club
Sep. 21 - Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room
Sep. 22 - Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
Sep. 23 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Orbit Room
Sep. 25 - Buffalo, NY @ Town Ballroom
Sep. 26 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Sep. 28 - Providence, RI @ Lupo's
Sep. 29 - Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino
Sep. 30 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club
Oct. 01 - Richmond, VA @ Toad's Place
Oct. 03 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
Oct. 04 - Orlando, FL @ House Of Blues
Oct. 05 - Myrtle Beach, SC @ House Of Blues
Oct. 06 - Norfolk, VA @ Norva

more TCEP3 Showcase press

2006-12-29T17:11:44Z

Taken from Star Tribune

Still a fledgling genre, the local electropunk clique -- think: rock bands with
electric gadgets but not a lot of sissy house beats -- is at least a tight-knit
and supportive scene. A dozen of its acts are performing on one night to
promote "Twin Cities Electropunk, Vol. 3." The vibrant new 14-track compilation CD
includes Avenpitch, Tim Rally Gold, Mach FoX, Uber Cool Kung Fu, Hondo and Eddie
Entropy. (9 p.m. Sat., Club Underground. $5, includes free CD.) (C.R.)

Taken from PULSE of the Twin Cities

The Twin Cities are home to a growing number of bands that identify themselves
with what is known as the "electropunk movement." Bands with Casio keyboards,
drum machines and fancy-pants laptop editing equipment have come together to
create the third in a series of yearly compilations dedicated to their underground
musical cause. "It's simply what happens when you take a generation of bored
teens and twentysomethings--raised on hardcore punk, British techno, Nintendo and
Doritos--and place cheap digital recording technology within their grasp,"
their website reads, and the music is similar to what you might imagine from
experimental musicians. Not every track on TC Electropunk Volume 3 is golden, but
there are plenty of bands worth checking out. Tim Rally Gold's "Break-up at the
Waffle House" is poppy and well-produced, like a less depressing Postal Service,
while bands like Mach FoX and Thosquanta use their electronics to create a
darker, more industrial feel. Many of the bands on the compilation will come
together for Saturday's CD release show at the all-too appropriately named Club
Underground, known for its New York punk club ambiance and penchant for providing a
stage to great non-conventional bands who fly under the radar of the rest of
the local scene. With Thosquanta, MSRP, Avenpitch, OBCT, Evarial, Mach FoX,
OneNeoEon, Unicorn Basement, Tim Rally Gold, Hondo, Eddie Entropy. 9 p.m. $5. 21+.
355 Monroe St. NE, Mpls. 612-627-9123. ANDREA MYERS

Taken from The Onion - A.V. Club (Twin Cities):

For three years, the best way to keep up with the burgeoning local techno scene
has been the Twin Cities Electropunk series, shepherded by Todd Millenacker of
the group Avenpitch. The new third installment of the disc showcases 14 local
synth-pop and hard-edged electronica groups, who collectively come across as a
hyperactive cross between Devo and Spinal Tap. Slashing goth-metal riffs are
embraced as much as the burbling buzz and bleep of electronica; the bombast is
sometimes ironic and sometimes not. It's what might have played during the Matrix
movies if the Wachowski brothers didn't take themselves too seriously. As an
example, Unicorn Basement's "Necrophile" has its tongue firmly lodged in
zombified check, with groan-inducing lines like, "You look so good in the corner, I'm
glad I'm the coroner." See, even Goths know how to crack a joke. All three of
the Twin Cities Electropunk compilations are downloadable at tcelectropunk.com;
they've also pressed 1,000 physical copies of the disc, to be handed out for
free at this show. The electronica genre doesn't always place much emphasis on
playing live, but the majority of the groups on Volume 3 will play Spring Street,
including Thosquanta, MSRP, Avenpitch, OBCT, Mach FoX, Evarial, Unicorn
Basement, Tim Rally Gold, Hondo and Eddie Entropy.

Twin Cities Electropunk Showcase Vol. 3

2006-12-27T04:10:03Z

Taken from City Pages

The third free compilation of local rock electro in as many years, Twin Cities Electropunk Showcase Vol. 3 introduces six new names (MSRP, Hondo, Evarial, Eddie Entropy, Unicom Basement, OneNeoEon) to an otherwise familiar assortment (Avenpitch, Uber Cool Kung Fu, Mach FoX, OBCT, Thosquanta, Time Rally Gold), with all of the above performing tonight on two stages in Club Underground. While Evarial and Eddie Entropy offer the pure synth-pop you'd expect, MSRP nudge things into double-kick-drum metal, while Hondo's punk throb is electronic in beat only, and OBCT are industrial rap-rock. You're bound to love or hate something here. CD is free at the door, and can be downloaded for free at www.tcelectropunk.com. 21+. $5. 9:00 p.m. —Peter S. Scholtes

new Avenpitch song and video

2006-11-28T21:54:25Z

Sweet Summertime

Alice in Chains

2006-11-14T06:50:29Z

Tonight I witnessed the best show of 2006 for me. And you know how like the last show you went to always seems like the best, well that's how I feel, I could die right now and I'd be a happy man. It was a bummer that it wasn't Layne singing tonight but Duvall held up as best as he could as a 'backup singer', but it didn't even matter, the legion of AIC fans tonight at First Ave sang all the parts. The first band I ever put together played all cover songs and the first song I ever played as a band was Would. All those high school emotions came right back tonight and I shed a tear during Nutshell, the Cantrell solo was nothing short of amazing, no shredding just pure raw emotion. The peak of the night was Junkhead, everyone was chanting along to 'what's my drug of choice.....'.My buddy was convinced that Cantrell was high tonight , either that or he was sick cause he wasn't rocking out to We Die Young. After the show we continued our discussion of the show like true AIC nerds at O' Donovans with a couple of Guinness. And after that on the ride home we blasted Fear The Voices in the car, how much more AIC can one take! Whatever this was a perfect night, tomorrow I head back to the motherland Malaysia for a 10 day expedition. This was the setlist in the order as closely as I could remember tonight, they started off with Whale & Wasp on the background and kicked right into Again. They played about every song you would want in an AIC set except for Got Me Wrong and Brother which I really wished they did.

Whale & Wasp
Again
Bleed The Freak
Grind
It Ain't Like That
Junkhead
Rain When I Die
Down In A Hole
Nutshell
Them Bones
Dam That River
Rooster
We Die Young
Sludge Factory
Dirt
Heaven Beside You
Angry Chair
No Excuses
What The Hell Have I
Man In The Box
Would?

echofire @ 2006-10-31T11:41:00

2006-10-31T17:43:37Z

www.darrensiaw.com/halloween.html

Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T01:53:05Z

more LJ updates later

2006-10-24T21:10:21Z

Irene on TV featuring: Avenpitch
Tonight's Irene on TV music guest is Avenpitch. They play an awesome brand of twin cities electropunk. Should be an interesting night!

Guests TBA.
Coffman Memorial Union, The Whole.
Oct 24: 8pm - 10pm.
free for all ages.