Updates

So, The Whore's have been very busy in June we have shows, and sometimes two in one day, throughout the month. We recently played two all ages shows at Gigantic Vintage, and at The Boiler Room. All ages shows ROCK! It is refreshing to play to kids who come to shows because the LOVE music, as opposed to playing 21+ shows where the music is just a part of the background. We played at The Mint with Black Fag (lead singer Jeff in also the new frontman for The Dead Kennedy's) and with the awesome Pu$$y Cow. While we were playing someone came through the gate and told us that a bunch of kids were on top of the dumpster yelling for us to play "Zamboni Zombie" We looked over the fence and Sarah. AKA The Trashcan Princess, and her friends on the dumpster listening because they were under age and couldn't get in the bar! That made an insane night of music, old friends, and new fans even better. Watch The Whore's my space for the video of our song "horse face" and you will get an idea of just what kind of night it was.
Last weekend we played at the one year anniversary show for Trends Tattoo in Fresno's Tower District. We actually got to play in the middle of a traffic island, and a member of The Whores won second place and a $50 piercing in the best boobies contest, even after she refused to refuse to "bounce". We also did an episode of Damaged TV for KRAB radio and Bright House cable that will air in July, where you will get to see the inside of Whore House, and a live performance.
We end the month at The Empty Space on the 17th at 5pm and on the 24th at 6pm playing in the multi media art event, Bakersfield: Life As It Should Be. Come check out local artists, musicians, comedians, and poets spin on our wonderful cities new slogan. The 24th we also play at The Bakersfield AIDS walk at 2pm, please support this event. If you can, stop by and donate a few bucks to a cause that is very close to our hearts. All of the monies raised stay in Kern County and go directly to local HIV/AIDS agencies. All of you fellow bloggers and podcasters should show up and help support the local grass roots agencies that deal with the crisis on a daily basis. The event is at Beach Park and runs from 9am to 6pm and we hope to see you there.
finally, we would like to thank all of our friends, families, and fans that supported us during HAM's surgery, and stayed around while we got back in the groove wit our new singer Darcie. Performing has never been more fun, and we are humbled by the support all of you have given us. We will try and be more timely about updating our blog, but you can always check our my space, which we can't seem to stay away from.

Updates

Three more days and the world gets to meet, the new and improved, Three Chord Whore! We have a new sound,logo, and Heather gets her new back. We found out a week ago that has surgery on March 14...Three days after our biggest show ever. While the HAM rehabs, Darcie and I will be putting together a video of the Rabobank show for my space and the website, going to shows, getting ready to record a new CD, and hopefully putting out a single on beautiful hot pink vinyl. We just wanted to remind you that we will be playing March 11th outside of the Rabobank arena around 6:15 P.M. We will be sharing the outdoor stage with the boys of Dirty Spanglish, and then they will join us inside along with some loyal Whore fans, to do the backing vocals for "Zamboni Zombie." We have a few $10 tickets available you can get them by emailing us at threechordwhore@hotmail.com. See you all Saturday!

38 days and counting...

No, we are not dead, and no we have not broken up...We have been busy writing new music, making new logos, and trying to get our merch ready for the big Rabobank Arena show. The Whores have never done things in a conventional way, so playing in front of 6000 people as our first show with the lovely Darcie Blake just seems to be the right thing to do. Hell, if you are going to screw up do it big time! As you may or may not know, Heather has been playing with a broken spine and is still waiting for her surgery, and that is why we have not been playing out as much. We have had people ask us why we haven't found a temporary guitar player so that we can continue playing, but that is something we would never do. Yes we had been playing out of town gigs weekly, and had a couple of small labels showing interest in us, and we hope they will still welcome us when the band as a whole is ready to return to the scene see, this project has been a labor of love since Heather and I started writing music together in 1999. We have had members come and go and have continued on each and every time. Now, we have found what has been missing in Darcie Blake and we expect this unholy union to outlast all of the others. You see, we don't play because we want to be rock stars, we play because it makes us feel ALIVE, and the shows, the label interest, and the fucking awesome people that have supported us along the way, is the extra added bonus of being in a band. Come check out our new sound March 11th at The Condors game at Rabobank Arena. We play outside around 5:30 and then will be performing "Zamboni Zombie" inside between the first and second periods of the game. Check www.nlbelardes.com for the link to purchase discount tickets, and we will see you there!

Celebrating Thanksgiving old school style

It 6pm and I am still trying to get rid of my holiday hangover from last night... fucking Thanksgiving. I am not a big fan of the holidays, but it is this time of year that brings my friends home. My friends are truely a bunch of freaks, all of us that survived have managed to live our lives doing what we want, and have kept that punk rock ethic that we are so proud of. You see, we were a group of pissed off , fucked up middle class kids that found acceptance and a voice in Southern California hardcore in the early 80's. We spent our weekends in dirt fields with names like the shack, the dredge, the couch...We all wonder who named this shit. Our favorite, the shack is now a bunch of houses in Silver Creek. This is where we heard our life in the songs of Black Flag, X, The Descendants, Flipper, and The screamers. We are still amazed that we could go out with $5, chip in for beer and generic whiskey, and still have enough left over to get nachos at 7-11 on the way home. During the weekdays we made our own clothes, we were not allowed in the mall and there was no fucking Hot Topic, experimented with hairdye colored with koolaid, and rit dye, and wrote songs, and made art that expressed distaste of the conservative politics going on during the Reagan era. We grew up angry, and most importantly politically aware knowing that our voice, and our music could bring about change. My friends and I are old and I always laugh when I read about people who are considered experts of the "scene" most of them were a couple of years old when all of this was going on... I guess a sense of local musical time has to start somewhere. Bakersfield had local punk bands that had to play parties, because there were no venues, until much later when the Masque opened up downtown on 19th Street. Today's DIY movement was born out of small scenes just like ours.
These rantings are a tribute to my friends of almost 20 years...Kyle Goen, who is now a New York based artist with work in galleries around the world. He is best known for his work "Elect a Madman You Get Madness" and is also a DJ, a clothing designer and has designed Cd packages for some of music's biggest artists. Marcus Hicks, an actor in the Harlem Renaissance Theatre in New York, who is currently doing a one man show based on the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal.And last but not least, Sherry AKA Miss KoKo, guitarist of LA based Sluts For Hire. She has played with some of the greatest bands ever in my humble opinion. What impresses me the most is that none of them have changed, they still are the same kids from Bakersfield with the same ethic. One thing we ALWAYS do is raise our glasses in remembrance of the majority of friends that didn't make it because of addiction, violence, suicide and AIDS...So Kathy, Rex, Kevin, Ripper....Happy holidays you are still with us.

What is up with the fucking morons in this town?

I am reading,in absolute horror, about the assault on Bryan of The KooKooNauts. What kind of fucking asshole attacks a KID from behind like that, and what about the bigger assholes that came to the show with this guy that have kept their mouths shut while someone is hospitalized because of their pussy friends actions? I hold no loyalty to ANYONE that attacks an innocent person, so step up to the plate and put this dick behind bars. As you can tell...I am pissed the fuck off. This is another account of a bunch of macho assholes bringing down the scene. It has been a violent year, but this type of incident has ALWAYS been a part of underground music in Bakersfield. Hell, even Henry Rollins wrote about Black Flag never playing in this town again because of a bunch of idiots that thought they were punk, STARTED FIGHTS WITH THE FUCKING BAND! How bad must this shithole town be, if a band that couldn't get a venue in LA because of their fans, refused to make a second trip over the grapevine to do another show? Anyway...Violence at shows is not acceptable. The pit used to be an almost civilized form of physical expression where if you fell down a fellow music lover helped you back up. Now, you go down and you are fair game.
The Whores would like to personally offer our support and prayers to Bryan, his family,and his band. I had the chance to meet Bryan and his father when he came to try out for a play that I am in. The kid was an amazing guitar player, he could listen to something and play it right back, solo and all. His father is so supportive of his son and his music, just thinking about what he must be going through breaks my fucking heart. Please,if you were at the show and saw ANYTHING call the police and help put this person behind bars. The issue of the BPD not showing up until the next day is best saved for another rant on another day, because the focus needs to be on Bryan , his quick and complete recovery, and his return to playing music.

Damn...Where did that month go?

I am a blog slacker. I know thatI should be diligent like NL and Matildakay, but who could compete with those two? I am just a humble drummer that has no time management skills, because I thought I just posted something a couple of weeks ago. I usually just observe the goings on in our local scene, and occasionally comment on some of the observations by other local writers, critics, musicians, etc...I recently checked out Rob Shock's blog and his review of Go Betty Go and female musicians and I couldn't believe the sexist crap that I was reading. Let me tell you what shit we female musicians go through in the male dominated music world. We are not instantly liked because we are in an all female band, we constantly put up with that sexist tits with instruments crap,and I hope you are above that Rob.Do you have a sister or a wife? We also frequently put up with "you are pretty good for a bunch of girls" or "Are all of your songs covers?" like we are too fucking stupid to write our own stuff. We are not oddities, and no, we do not sound like the fucking Go Go's! I am proud to say that my band rocks just as hard, and is just as competent, sometimes even more, than the "boy" bands we play with. Also some of you guys are lucky that we don't compare your skills to your crotches, like you do our tits, if female fans did, many bands would be deemed a little short on talent.

Sometimes you just want to give up

I understand all of that "a relationship only works if you put the effort into it shit" but sometimes I get sick of being married to my band. I don't think the average music connoisseur realizes the anguish and emotional commitment that it takes to produce what is heard. When you are in a committed relationship it is usually with one other human, try adding one, two , or even three others to the mix, and you will begin to understand what I am talking about. I wish being in a band was as simple as a group of people getting together and playing their instruments, because my life would be far less complicated if it were. Everything we listen to is born out of each individual band members, beliefs, life experience, goals etc, etc....Now add in the daily living shit we all go through, the human ego, varying communication skills, and now you begin to get it. EVERY band from the ones you see in local venues all the way up the food chain have somehow managed to balance the madness of the band member marriage to produce the magic of music. Playing in a band is a wonderful and romantic image, and is something that I dreamed about as long and as far back as I can remember, and that dream has given way to the reality of the situation. There have been so many fucking times when I wanted to burn my drum set, and run far, far away, but the love of what I do keeps me playing. Being a musician is enormous emotional, financial, and time commitment that we who play are willing are willing to give in order to get our messages out there. I can honestly say that I never fantasized about murder, until I joined a band.....
So, Erin is out of the band and that is OK was better that it happened early on, instead of a year later like the rest of our singers. When something is lost, something else moves into it place to keep it whole. I was at Nick Belardes house with a group a people that are helping him promote his new book Lords Part One, and there was this girl who was insane, didn't give a fuck what others thought about her, and who's presence filled the room...All I could think was " I wish that chick could sing" turns out she can sing and we are in the process of seeing if she wants to try out for the band. So...another relationship begins, as does another chapter of the Three Chord Whore story.