"No Wonder I"

Our new song "No Wonder I" is featured in tonight's episode of Adventure Time! The title of the episode is "Shh!" so don't tell anybody. The song is from our upcoming album Circular Doorway. You may have picked up a special bootleg cassette version we were selling on our last tour?  You can buy or just listen to the track on bandcamp today http://laketheband.bandcamp.com/album/no-wonder-i.
It should be available on ITunes, etc tomorrow.  We hope you are having a good spring!

LAKE interviewed by Secretly Important

Here's the interview.

K records staff end of the year potluck

Here are a couple of sweet pictures from December. K records had a little end-of-the-year potluck. I'm trying to remember what we brought... beverages? Calvin made cornbread. Mariella made latkes. Ange made sushi...

Recent Goings-On

Well,  actually

Overdubbing at Dub Narcotic
Studio in November

January: Recording new album at Dub Narcotic Studio with
Karl and Patrick on a really old 3-track.

Eli recording Ok Vancouver Ok
in December at Bayview Hall,
on Whidbey Island

Dango in the Night

Day 4 - Day off. Lunch with Kyle at vegan restaurant. Shopping for stationary at Tokyu Hands.
Rain storm, Japanese grocery store, making dinner at home.

Cool white fox shrine

Day 5 - Drive to Matsumoto. Show at a hair salon by day, venue by night. Sushi at Chifumi's house and a good night's sleep.

Book collection at restaurant

Day 6 - Eli and I walk around Matsumoto Castle with Chifumi and then wander around some stores. Drive all day through the mountains to Asuna's parents' house in Kanazawa.
Beautiful mountains, Hida, road side art, walking around the old part of town, old family house on their rice farm.
Asuna explains that Kanazawa is, more often than not, gray or rainy, like the Pacific Northwest. This is why the interiors traditionally use a lot of red and gold.

Sour plum tea with gold

Day 7 - Played in the sand at the beach! Kanazawa castle and gardens, we encounter a potentially lethal hornet, show in the city at Collabon. Really delicious dinner at the venue after the show.

Expensive koi at Kanazawa garden

Day 8 - Breakfast at Asuna's parents' house one last time. A warm goodbye. Drive through many long mountain tunnels to get to Nagoya for a show at K.D. Jap on. This venue is sweet. The theater looks like a modern version of the theater in Sound of Music (the movie) when the VanTrap kids and Maria do a play. The location is pretty unique too, being that it is under some kind of train or subway. The opening band, Joseph Alf Polka, is made up of art school graduates--all painters. Their band is pretty fun and irreverent in the best way. Eli and I enjoy "Taiwan Style" ramen a couple doors down. "Taiwan Style" is just an indication that it is spicy, and fans and tissues are provided at the tables to help cope. The food in Japan is not usually spicy. Drive to Kyoto after show.

Frog on a rice pole

Nikki McClure?

Day 9 - In Kyoto, Eli and I get a little taste of old and new. In the morning, we spend two minutes or less inside of a "pachinko" gambling center, and escape quickly from the horrible sound. Then, a little site-seeing at the temple, which has the tallest pagoda in Japan. It is really quite impressive to see such a tall wooden structure. In the temples, there are some interesting rules: not just "no cameras", but also, "no drawing". One temple, which has a god to pray to for "relief", has a special shrine in front of it to pray specifically for relief from the tsunami. The venue where we play our show is a nice sit-down place with long communal tables and benches and good food. Eli and I enjoy some really fantastic ginger wine. Eli and I step out to walk around the busy streets to do our vocal warm-ups and spot some actual Geishas.

"Precious Coffee Moments"

Day 10 - The typhoon weakens as it heads inland, so we are not so badly effected during our drive back to Tokyo. Our last show is feels really good. It is our favorite performance. Two more members from 4 Bonjours Parties, Eta and Yogo, join us for an awesome last song together.

Day 11 - Koji helps us make all the right connections to get to our farm-stay in Azumino alright. The bus we want to book is full, so we get the next bus, which allows us time to go up in an elevator to see the city from a skyrise. The view is quite overwhelming. We get to Azumino kind of late, too late for any dinner or any time to meet the family. We pretty much go straight to bed.

Sharpening knives
for cutting Egoma

Day 12 - Our first day of work is spent mostly harvesting egoma. Cutting egoma, laying it out to dry, and then processing other already-dry plants for the collecting of seeds (for egoma oil). The work is challenging, at first. Mostly because we're not quite sure how long or hard our work-days are going to be, so we are somewhat worried that we won't be cut-out for the job. At the end of the day, it turns out that the actual workday is only about 5 hours. Wake up/eat breakfast 6:30. Start work at 8. 2-3 15 minute breaks. 3 hour lunch break. Work 2 more hours. The physical labor definitely leaves us pretty tired and sore at the end of the day.

Day 13 - Breakfast, lunch, and dinner is spent with the family each day. It  seems that 95% of the food is homegrown, homemade, or local. Some examples of food that they make themselves: different kinds of rice (for sake, mochi, and eating), wheat (which they take to a factory to be made into udon), soy sauce, miso, tofu (once a year), many kinds of fruits and vegetables which are eaten fresh or pickled or canned, egoma oil, rapeseed oil, tomato juice, and livestock: chickens, ducks, and guinea pigs. Our favorite part of the day is after meals watching our hosts' 1 year and 7 month year-old help pick up the dishes and clean the table. Eli discovers a store and a restaurant nearby and we do a little shopping and also go out for a beer after work. Also, we see a big white monkey in someone's front yard.

Soba festival

Day 14 - After work, we go to the onsen (hotspring/bathhouse) on the hill overlooking the town. It is nice.

Day 15 - Our last day in Azumino. A special day, also, in that we go to the elementary school and help the kids harvest rice that our host farmer helped them grow at the school. Also, we harvest rice with a couple other families who give us a really deluxe "snack" after the work is done. After work, we go to the onsen one last time. We say our goodbyes to our host family and then take the train back to Matsumoto, where we are met by our friend, Chifumi. We go out for drinks and then stay at her parents' sushi shop/house one last time.

Chinese birthyear representatives
of Eli, Koji, Yukiko, and Ashley 

Day 16 - Last "day" in Japan. Chifumi helps us achieve many things in Matsumoto in a short amount of time. Visit Yayoi Kusama exhibit. Souvenier shopping. Soba Festival. Train back to Tokyo. Last dinner in Japan.

Day 17 - Return to the states.

Japan!

Eli and I are playing shows in Japan as LAKE for 2 weeks. Our bandmates, Andrew and Markly, were not able to come, so we have been set up with an exquisite band here in Japan to play as our back-up band. They are called 4 Bonjour's Parties. The tour is part of the 7e.p. 10-year anniversary series. We are so grateful for this opportunity to meet people and get to experience the wonders of Japan!

Day 1 - We arrived in the early evening. Koji (7 e.p.) met us at the airport and we drove straight to practice. Because it was Friday, there was a lot of traffic. In need of a quick bite to eat before practice, we purchased some traditional fried octopus balls (Takoyaki) at a stand next to the practice space.
We practiced at a chain rehearsal space called "Rinky Dink Rehearsal Studios" where the rooms are already equipped with a full backline. We were so impressed with the homework that 4 Bonjour's Parties had done to learn the songs and what great musicians they are. We couldn't be more pleased!

Absinthe at the Shelf

 Day 2 - For breakfast, bread, boiled egg, avocado, tomato, sautéed greens, coffee, and a sweet rice jam to put on the bread. I was really hungry this particular morning from the jetlag, so even though we had breakfast, I also ate the last three granola bars I had in my backpack.

Using a unique absinthe spoon
and glass for pouring ritual.

Our agenda for the second day was to do a live video at a really great tiny bar called the Shelf, and then do a final practice at a different Rinky-Dink rehearsal space. Here's a video of our performance at the Shelf. I would highly recommend going to the Shelf for a drink or two, or three. They have the coolest selection of spirits I've ever seen! We tried some delicious absinthe and a black liquorice liqueur from Finland.

For lunch, we ate Udon. I bought a medium-sized portion with seaweed. There's a particular way that people slurp the noodles here which I have not been able to get the hang of. I am hoping to figure this out by the end of the trip. I felt a bit self-conscious of how wet the area around my tray had become from my own slurping style.


After lunch, we went to a B & B. This B & B was not actually a bed and breakfast, but a "Book & Beer" shop. There was a book there on display that totally drew me in that was illustrated by Tadanori Yokoo. If you've never seen his work, here's a glimpse. We were excited to see Kyle Field there as he was going to be talking about a book as part of a book fair. We were not able to go to the event because we needed to go to practice, but we would see him again the next day because we were going to play the same show.

Practice was great. 4 Bonjour's Parties are just so wonderful. At practice, our Japanese bandmates translated "Oh, the Places We'll Go" so that we could sing it in Japanese.

Day 3 - Yukiko (Koji's girlfriend) needed to leave early to fly north to Hokkaido to visit her family, but before she left, she cooked us an amazing breakfast. Unfortunately, she had to leave earlier than we all woke up, so we didn't get to eat with her. We will see her again soon, though.
Breakfast included: mackerel that her dad had recently bought in Hokkaido, fried in a pan with a little bit of batter and olive oil, rice with natto, water cress salad with avocado (with a couple different kinds of dressing), boiled egg, and a special miso soup. I need to ask what was in it. The miso was the light white kind, but then I don't think there was any tofu in the soup, and no seaweed. I think there was cabbage and onion, but I'd have to double-check.

All throughout the three days, we've listened to a lot of music, casually, with Koji. He has a lot of music that he can share with us. I am going to load up a hard drive or cd before we go.

Our load-in at the venue was pretty early: 2pm. After we loaded, Koji recommended that we check out the scene upstairs where there was a girl group selling merch. They had just played an early show at the same venue. The girls were all wearing school uniform outfits and seemed pretty young, maybe 13 or so? There were boys and men with signs and some fuzzy ornaments getting autographs and so forth.


For dinner, we ate at Freshness Burger, an american 50's nostalgia-style burger joint.

4 Bonjour Parties, Chocolat & Akito, and Kyle were all really good. Kyle has an interesting stage costume/persona right now that involves painting his teeth and upper lip with bright pink and green nailpolish and wearing a straw hat. 

Spring Tour Complete, Summer Plans

Our spring tour was fantastic. We especially appreciated getting to play places that we've never played before, like Chico, CA.

Our plans this summer are as follows:

We have two albums in the works. One is just about finished and we are about to move into post-production. The other album is going to undergo many more stages of fermentation, like a fortified wine.

Shows will be sparse this summer. We are playing two local festivals, which we have been playing the past few years in a row. 

The first festival is called the the Anacortes Unknown Music Series, previously known as the What The Heck Fest. It will take place a week earlier than last year because the festival dates are set to correspond with a giant flea market called Shipwreck Days, which was moved a week earlier this year.

The second festival is called the Helsing Junction Sleepover. This festival is at an organic CSA farm 20 miles south of Olympia in the town of Rochester, WA.

Congratulations to Markly, who is getting married to Sara Wildhoney in the end of July. We'll be making a trip down to Lancaster, CA for a hot desert wedding. Actually, the ceremony will be at sunset, so the temperature will be just right.

-Ashley