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Win A Fender Guitar!!

The Bangkok Five — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:58:16 -0000

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to remind you all that we still have the Fender Guitar Giveaway
going to win Sweeny's Fender Telecaster!! You can read more about it on our
official blog or simply send your name, email address, and name of your
favorite TB5 song to tb5contest@gmail.com

http://thebangkokfive.blogspot.com

New Edition of The Basstard Diaries Posted!! Check it out!

The Bangkok Five — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:31:06 -0000

We’ve posted a new edition of The Basstard Diaries on our Blogspot page. Click the link below to check out the latest, and don’t forget to enter the Fender Guitar giveaway! – TB5

http://www.thebangkokfive.blogspot.com/

Be in the next TB5 Video!

The Bangkok Five — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:09:26 -0000

Be In The Next tB5 Video

Record yourself with your webcam singing We Love What Kills Us and partying, flossing for the camera, etc. Have fun with it, take yer clothes off, mug for the camera. The more KOKettes in the frame, doing the coolest shit, the better.

Post to Livevideo.com so we can down load it to edit you in. After, post your performance to Youtube.com and send a link to tb5contest@gmail.com

We will select the hottest performances and edit them together as a finished video. Selected individuals will receive a special edition, signed tB5 CD and be featured on the band's websites

Win a guitar from Fender and The Bangkok Five!!

The Bangkok Five — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:38:34 -0000

7/21 - Win a guitar from the Bangkok Five and Fender Guitars!! Click the link below to find out more!

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=13921933&blogID=416815126

About the Big Bang and tour dates

The Bangkok Five — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:54:18 -0000

"The Big Bang" is a two camera, hour long, weekly show in which the band will summarize, quip, wax prophetic and basically discuss the weeks events out and about, in the studio, strip bars, gun clubs, etc. Following will be an acoustic performance of whatever song the band feels like playing that night. Maybe ya’ll suggest something. The most suggested gets played :)

07.21 - The E-Lab Sessions - Los Angeles, CA
07.22 - Recording tracks for Warner Bros TV Show - Malibu, CA
07.23 - Recording tracks for Warner Bros TV Show - Malibu, CA
07.25 - The Big Bang! - Los Angeles, CA
07.28 - The E-Lab Sessions - Los Angeles, CA
07.30 - Streaming rehearsal on Livevideo.com - Los Angeles, CA
08.01 - The Big Bang! - Los Angeles, CA
08.04 - The E-Lab Sessions - Los Angeles, CA
08.06 - Streaming rehearsal on Livevideo.com - Los Angeles, CA
08.08 - The Big Bang! - Los Angeles, CA
08.11 - The E-Lab Sessions - Los Angeles, CA
08.13 - Streaming rehearsal on Livevideo.com - Los Angeles, CA
08.15 - The Big Bang! - Los Angeles, CA
08.18 - The E-Lab Sessions - Los Angeles, CA
08.20 - Streaming rehearsal on Livevideo.com - Los Angeles, CA
08.22 - The Big Bang! - Los Angeles, CA
08.25 - The E-Lab Sessions - Los Angeles, CA
08.27 - Streaming Rehearsal on Livevideo.com - Los Angeles, CA

The E-Lab Sessions (Covers from TB5)

The Bangkok Five — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:39:11 -0000

"We have a series taking place on every Monday, every week. For "The E-Lab Sessions", we will be filming the live recording/production of songs we dig, streaming live at Livevideo.com/thebangkokfive.

First one is tomorrow at 2PM :)

Sessions will be produced by acclaimed producer and founder of The Supreme Beings of Leisure, Rick Torres. We will be recording "New Slang" by The Shins from "Oh, Inverted World", "Mad World" by Tears For Fears and "Time To Pretend" by MGMT off of "Oracular Spectacular" for starters. If you have a song you'd love to hear us play, let us know and maybe we'll do it (Nothing lame please)"

About our show on July 16th (The Key Club / David Lynch Foundation)

The Bangkok Five — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 05:34:20 -0000

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA, JULY 10, 2008 – The David Lynch Foundation (DLF) is celebrating its third anniversary this year, and in the foundation’s honor a red carpet benefit concert will be held at the Key Club, 9039 Sunset Blvd. - doors open at 6:30pm. DLF Founder and Chairman David Lynch is an award-winning director, writer, and producer whose work includes Eraserhead, Elephant Man, Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Lost Highway, Straight Story, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire. Lynch will host the reception and silent auction which will be held from 7pm-8:30pm. The silent auction will feature a lithograph by David Lynch himself, a print of Bob Marley in one of his last photo sessions by photographer Glen La Ferman, artwork by local artists, clothing and music. David Lynch’s “Signature Cup” coffee brand will be served along with food and beverages, and DJ Ana Dim Mak will be spinning. Lynch, who will be announcing the bands, will be joined by Joe Escalante, radio personality on Indie 103.1. The Indie 103.l Morning Show with Joe Escalante (Mon.-Fri., 6am-10am) features David Lynch on-air as he gives the weather report.

Contributing sponsors of the event include Indie 103.1, LA Weekly, MySpace.com, and the Key Club. Proceeds from ticket sales (available at ticketmaster.com $15 general admission / $25 VIP seating) and silent auction earnings will be donated to the DLF.
At 8:30pm, there will be musical performances by Nico Vega, Gods and Monsters, 8MM, The Bangkok Five, Astra Heights and special musical guests.

We looked a tornado in the eye....and lived!

The Bangkok Five — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:19:55 -0000

Yes, that's right.

Now that I am in the safety of our Detroit mothers home---Judy Judy Judy!!! I can now sit back and write a little blog about the insanity that was... yesterday

5.25.08

Were in the middle of Iowa. Better yet, were driving to the "venue"-- a cornfield in the middle of Iowa in a tiny town with maybe 1000 people that live in little houses on farms in the surrounding areas... the town was called carbon.

We stop at a gas station-- the only gas station before making the drive into carbon (nope--no gas station there)
I find some kids who look like potential show goers. I ask them and they say that is indeed where they are heading. 30 miles later, after following them into a lost oblivion, we get left in their dust as they were driving much too fast for our likes...and yes it was in dust---since all the roads at this point were made of gravel or dirt.

We stop and ask the only person we can find. A 5-year-old boy on an ATV doing donuts on the side of the road. We ask him for assistance and like the little red neck he was, he gave us his best directions into "town"--- clearly he was NO help.
Finally a few miles later we found a woman watering her mailbox. We told her we were looking for CARBON... her response " do you wanna take gravel?"

For those of you who don't know this... were from Los Angeles. We all got mildly excited at the thought of this amazing new drug we might have stumbled across.... alas she literally meant... do you want to drive on a gravel road? Seeing as how that was the ONLY road into the town of carbon, we took her directions... "Straight onto the gravel. Turn right at the dead end. Left when that dead-ends. And another left when that dead-ends. There is only business in carbon, you wont miss it"
Another 15 miles later and we had found the FESTIVAL.... perfect timing as well. The band before us was just starting and we were next.

Not expecting much, due to the location, we were quite surprised to find under the tent in the middle of BFE, a good amount of people, waiting to hear their next favorite metal band. awwwww yesssss--- metal!!! Been there...done that.

We set up real quick... it was hot and very HUMID. I knew things were gonna get bad when the soft serve drummer who played before us thought he was dying. I gave him a little smirk, reminded him he hardly even hit his drums and then told him to move his sh*t out of my way. He put his head down, was breathing heavy and looked as if he wanted to puke, pass out or just die. Quite entertaining to say the least when you gotta act like you gave it your all--- or maybe he did--and his all just wasn't all that much.... OK enough of me being a dickhead---- I was just put into a real bad mood (not sure how some people are naive enough to think that things just "go away and get better" and im taking it out on him...sorry man

I would also like to point out that the drum riser was nothing more then a couple tables next to each other. It gets better. The legs of these tables... on the left side, not all of them were even extending to the ground. It was an unlevel, rocky, dirt area. Some legs touched the ground, most did not. SAFE!!

So I got set up. I was already soaking wet with sweat. I walked over to the promoters tent... the same promoter from the night before who fails to understand what its like being a touring rock band--failing to feed us or do anything for us... and yes that continued into this conversation when I asked where the water was... (Let me remind you its about 100 degrees with 5000% humidity) and he says. " Ohhh I didn't get any water for the bands... there are a lot of bands playing... I have a lot of expenses.... there is no water"
This is of course where I said something " RUDE" like---- are you kidding me?? Do you realize how f*cking hot it is.... ??? You don't have WATER??? you're the promoter and you cant even provide your bands with water???--- He realized I wasn't stopping anytime soon and quickly offered me some of his
'Private stash' of water and pointed to less then 1/2 of a case (IE: 10 bottles)
I laughed and said don't worry about it man..... We will take care of ourselves...I grabbed a case of water that we keep on board our bus just for this kind of special occasion --- douchebagery de promoters... and placed them on the stage.

The rock show began... I don't think kids quite understood what was happening. I didn't have 2 kick drums... hell-- I didn't even have a double kick pedal. The crowd sat there with a look of shock for a few minutes but that quickly turned to relief and eventual excitement. We had a great show and I want to thank all the kids who had a good time with us... video to follow soon.

I went thru 10 bottles on my own behind the drums in our 30 minute set. It was very hot, very wet, and very exhausting. Homeboy before me playing drums had half the reason to be as wasted as he was trying to act like he was---the hot and humid weather... I provided the other half... running a marathon on stage in 30 minutes. We killed it. The kids were great!!!

As we loaded off--- my head turned to the sky. In the distance there were clouds. I let coatez and Sweeney know my predictions on the weather. SERIOUS RAIN coming very soon.... lets get our gear put away.
I went to the merch table and let them know that we should start our count out and prepare for rain.... the sun still shining, the weather still hot.

The band after us starting playing... bobaflex started unloading their gear to prepare to play next. I mentioned to Marty (guitar/ singer of bobaflex) that the rain was coming and to make sure he went and settled with the promoter before chaos ensued. The promoter had already mentioned to me that if it started raining- the show would be postponed- as I said before, the drum riser was made of tables, and I could only imagine the corners cut on the rest of the production expenses. Rain + electricity = not a good idea...

This is when all hell....... broke loose.
A few drops began to fall. Within minutes those random drops became a thunder, lightning, wind and hail storm within seconds. People running in every direction.... merch tables being knocked over.... the tent in which the show was being held was being lifted from the ground. It quickly turned into a mud pit. People falling to the ground, slipping and sliding, yelling... total chaos. The merch count out was quickly cancelled and everything was thrown into our tubs as rapidly as we could. Yanking the power on all the lights and cables that ran across our feet. The sound/ light guy ---- yeah BUMMMMMED
As all of his gear got destroyed in the torrential downfall...
I picked up the camera and attempted to film, but our tape had run out. Sweeney took on the task of trying to make it to the bus to get a new tape. He returned within a minute and looked as if he had not only been swimming in a pool fully clothed, but also looked like he was hanging in one of those spinner rides at a carnival which their only purpose is to make you throw up. He got the tape and I gave the camera to frost to start filming...

We made a " B " line for the bus with our merch (more appropriately known as an " I " line by Dane cook) slipping and sliding through the mud. Opening the trailer and just throwing everything in with little to no care of the pack. Then we got inside the van and accessed the situation. I sat in the drivers seat. Turned on the engine, defroster and lights.... within seconds Shaun from bobaflex said, " DONT even think about driving right now... BAD IDEA!!!!"
We collectively didn't know what we should do. Were used to sun and earthquakes out in LA... so we turned on the radio news and Sweeney went back inside to find out what we should do.
At this point things got really hectic and im not sure in what order or how we got what news...but I will do my best to interpret what I remember.

Sweeney jumped back in the van... he seemed calm but the news he shared was anything but calming. " A tornado has touched down 5 miles from us "- at the same time we heard the news on the radio confirming this... meanwhile as we were trying to help bobaflex get their gear back into their trailer --Marty from bobaflex was heard quoting the sheriff and shouting " everybody run for the ditch... were all gonna DIE!!!!!!!"

Determined to not go out that way.... I shoved the van in drive and was gonna get us out of there.... NO SOUP.... we had already sunk into the mud from our weight alone. We were not going anywhere unless it was up and around in the incoming tornado. lightning was striking all around us, on top of us, and the thunder was GINORMOUS!!!
The radio buzzed of tornado ALERT!!!!

Sweeney ran back inside to find out of there was a tornado shelter/ basement... what he discovered was even better... he runs inside and asks " what do we do? Where do we go? Is there a basement???" The person looks at him, turns and points to the bar " that's all there is left to do"
At the bar are some Iowans who have ultimately accepted their fate, their death, and were tilting their heads back--shot after shot---- drinking the misery and the pain away...

Meanwhile we were outside still trying to get the van and trailer unstuck... putting sticks and stones under the tires to try and grab traction... people were pushing and doing everything they could. The wind was crazy... the thunder and lightning was beautiful and beyond scary all at the same time...
Out of nowhere a 4X4 truck pulls up in front of us.... hitches a chain to us and with a little team effort, yanks us out of the mud and onto some gravel and we were free to drive... if we wanted to.
The saint behind the wheel of the 4X4 says " if you're gonna drive.... drive north...and drive fast... tornado is incoming"
I made sure we were all safely, yet muddy, in the van and drove off into the darkness of power outage. We seemed to stay with the lightning for an hour, and we got to witness and amazing light show.... we continued listening to the storm news and soon enough we made our way out of the storm.

Video and photos coming soon.....

I just got off the phone with my mother, she mentioned that on the news she saw the damage caused by the tornado. It was super close to us, and I want to send my condolences to those who weren't as fortunate as we were to escape fairly unscathed. Many died, many more lost their homes that were in the path of destruction. We drove away with an amazing story of yet another day on the road and in the life of The Bangkok Five.

~Blanco

I am a level one security threat - Part 1

The Bangkok Five — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:04:16 -0000

I Am A Level One Security Threat

It all started when the band rose to number one chart status at a radio station in Albany NY Christmas before last, with a dirty little ditty called Spread Eagle. KEQX was putting on a big show with current internet stars and chart toppers OK Go as the headlining band and invited us to play last minute. We never turn a show down if we can do it so of course we accepted. Our manager booked us some cheap tickets on Southwestern and we went for it. Sounds easy, right? Nope, not with Southwestern… Inflated egos, inept airline employees and crazy new rules applied to post 9/11 flying were gonna make this a trip to remember. There was this attractive, thirty something, very dark skinned flight attendant (East Indian???) who apparently had some kind of problem with uptown drugs- Talking a mile a minute, mistakenly announcing to the passengers dismay that we were going to Chicago as opposed to our actual destination of Albany.

I swear, ten people almost got up and off the plane thinking they were on the wrong flight. She had this really offensive, sequined X-Mass tree tie that looked like it was out of some cheesy Las Vegas themed holiday store and a cute bob haircut with sexy little bangs. It’s important to note that in another life, I would have somehow tried to bang the crap out of her. So they come through with drink orders and I ask for a water. She brings me an orange juice. I again request a water. Around twenty minutes later, she stumbles by and asks me if she’d ever brought my water… "No you didn’t" I reply with a smile. "Oh, I must be losing my mind, hold on…" Twenty minutes after that, she wanders by, looks at me and says, "I forgot your water again, didn’t I?" Runs off to get my water. Brings my water ten minutes later… "This woman is such an idiot" I think to myself, but I remember the happy time of year this is supposed to be, smile and thank her for my water, which finally arrived almost an hour into the flight. For me, the cool thing about drinking water is that almost immediately after drinking it, I have to go pee. They say everyone should drink eight, 8 ounce glasses of water a day but when I do, I’m in the bathroom all day so I don’t really think anyone actually does this. Does anyone actually do this? Let me know if you do cause I’d like to shake your hand… Anyhoo, I had fallen into a restful slumber but was awoken when my bladder decided it was time for me to take a leak. Now, you know when your bladder wakes you up, it’s time to pee. So, I’m sitting there about six rows back when I realize that every time someone comes out of the bathroom, they are replaced by someone sitting in one of the six rows ahead of me. I come to realize that if I’m going to make it through this flight with out having to change my pants, I will have to get up my lazy ass up and queue in line. So, I get up after this rather large gentleman had been in there for around three minutes thinking this would, most likely, be around half the time it would take for a very fat, out of shape man, to empty his bowels… I was sick, on a broken foot (hundreds of long jumps from stage to barriers) and not feeling up to snuff so I timed it so as not to spend a bunch of time standing in line.

So, after these three minutes, I walk to the front of the plane where my sexy, Christmassy if not slightly retarded stewardess had been sitting in one of the flip down chairs designated for the flight attendants. I stood in the galley adjacent to the bathroom and begin to wait. Almost immediately, she says; "You can’t stand there…" So I take a step closer to the bathroom door… "You can’t stand there either…" I walk over to her and look down at the empty flip down seat next to her and ask her if I can sit down there. "No, of course not!" She says. Now, I have the vague idea that the seating protocol on a national Southwestern flight with regard to a passenger sitting in one of the flip down seats, does not include me actually doing so, however, I remember, sitting in one of these seats in the past. Could have been on maybe a more lackadaisical airline, but I do remember doing it. She rather rudely suggests that I go back to my seat at which point I lean over and tell her that if I do that, I will most likely be promptly "Pissing my fucking pants…" Uh oh… I guess she had either never had the "F bomb" dropped on her before, or, she was just a rather sheltered individual cause she pretty much lost it when I said it.

Right as this exchange is taking place, with perfect timing, the large gentleman comes out of the WC and in a show of his gentlemanly nature, hence me referring to him as a gentleman earlier in the story, holds the door open for me. I smiled at her, then at him, and walked in. Once in, and positioned for success, I could hear her sounding extremely upset behind the door. Someone was loosing it: Terms like: "He’s a level one threat!" and, "Did you hear what he said to me?" coming, muffled through the door, rendered my penis, in the context of its primary function, useless! I was experiencing something us guys like to call "Stage fright". Yep, I couldn’t pee. This has happened to me in public restrooms before, you know, when you look over and there’s a six foot two biker guy only, ummm, he’s not a biker, peeing next to you, smiling at you? Yeah, like that. So, There I was; I could not pee! I yanked it, I pulled on it, I thought about warm water caressing the tips of my fingers. Hot showers… Nothing. Not a drop. "He’s going to jail for that one… He’s a level one threat!" How the fuck (oops, I did it again) could a guy take a leak with that kind of crap going on right outside the door? I want to say as well, in defense of my manliness, that it generally takes a lot to take me out of my game. I have, on many occasions, peed in front of current girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, buddies, complete strangers, cops, etc. without a hitch.

It’s generally only the creepy guy (six foot two, biker?) standing next to me in the public urinal, who stares at me with seemingly lascivious intentions who winds up, actually "Scaring the weasel". So, I finally, after around ten minutes of deep breathing and cock pulling, manage to give that shitty, little plane toilet, a decent amount of piss. To make matters worse, not only would the fucking seat not stay up, but for some reason, toilet paper was draped all over the thing so as to create a kind of disgusting Paper Mache mold of the seat. God forbid this managed ever managed to dry: "He’s a level one threat!" I could hear her scream in my thoughts. "He vandalized the urinal with piss and toilet paper! It’s like a sick, pee-pee, Paper Mache project!" She’d come in after me and lose her mind… After thinking myself into a panic, I realized I’d have to clean up before exiting. So, I laboriously went about making the place reasonably decent all the while hearing her cries: "What’s he doing in there? He’s taking way too long…" through the door.

Poor lady had no idea what I was going through to save her prissy sensibilities and my own ass. I finally finished cleaning up the OTHER passengers piss mess and came out to a hysterical woman who immediately jumped down my throat proclaiming me, once again, "A level 1 security threat!" She yelled, she asked ALL of the other passengers within screaming distance whether or not they’d heard my transgression. Like a Chihuahua, she ran around barking, her stupid little bark. I kind of attempted to argue with her when some hippie lady from the front row let me in on a little secret. "She’s nuts, go back to your seat, you’re on an airplane, you cannot win…" She was right, I gave up. I was going to be arrested when we landed, and there was now, "nothing I could do about it" the retarded little Chihuahua barked. As I limped back to my seat, she followed me. Baiting me, trying to enroll me into her retarded post 9/11 fantasy that I had some how become a threat to our national security. When I got to my aisle seat, she kept at it. I turned my head down and to the other direction and didn’t say a word. She was absolutely hysterical. To Be Continued

Tour with Bobaflex

The Bangkok Five — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:00:24 -0000

We’re going out with Bobaflex in May and we’re excited to be on this run. The guys, I hear, are real nice people with great attitudes and a true understanding of what it means to go out there and do it for real. Doing it for real... Hmmm, who’s really embracing that ethic these days? I read something pretty cool today in one of my favorite mags about The Hives and why the fuck they went on tour with a gay band like (xxxx). Now, I guess I’m supposed to hate that band automatically (xxxx) when they auto tune the shit out of every fucking syllable that comes out of that singers mouth. Let’s make sure everything is nice and neat… Let’s make sure it’s as soulless as possible… Maybe we’ll sell some records to the cookie cutter, McWTF? generation.

Someone was telling me how great they were live and I asked them; "Then why don’t they just let the guy SING on his records? If they’re so great live, they must have a decent singer… Right?" Who knows and really, who cares? I was mentioning the Hives and how they were apparently putting the xxxx to shame every night with Punk Rock antics and a real grasp on how to get the Boogie on. So, per the article, when asked whether or not Josh Homme liked (xxxx), he was quoted as saying "If I ever liked (band), I sure don’t like them after seeing them with The Hives…" I thought that was funny. The Hives have lived in many different places in my heart. Excruciatingly fashionable at one time, I hated them as I tend to hate ANYTHING excruciatingly fashionable. It’s always the same as illustrated thoroughly by Vampire Weekend at this last SXSW. But, despite all of the gimmickry and hype, The Hives are actually great live, and have been a band since childhood. They were one of the last bands to cash in on all of the idiots at Warner Bros awhile back, I thought that was funny. And they have stayed together through all of the ups and downs this sorry excuse for a business has thrown at them. I think that’s "keeping it real".

Ironically, whether or not I like a band’s music a lot of the time has nothing to do with anything musically. If they are the real deal, whether they make Electro Pop or Black Metal, I will like them. I’m always happy to be going out with people who take what they do seriously enough to bring a band like us on the road with them because we do not fuck around. Ever.

If you want to see something special, and I’m not even talking about myself, come and see the players in this band. Brutal, funny, wicked, sexy; all words that come to mind when I think of the hairy, black tarantula behind me. Ripping and clawing at the air, destroying space with expert hands and dangerous minds.

Then throw a psychopath like me into the mix. I am a man on the edge of my emotions when I walk out there. I make sure I am. I want you to bleed with me. I want you to come back and see me again sometime. These last two years have wrought destruction on our souls and we make sure to put it out there for you to see, hear and feel.

Come out, we will have a real cool time…

FREE Tickets for the Bobaflex/BK5 show in Cleveland

The Bangkok Five — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:53:55 -0000

Peabody's Downunder, Cleveland, OH Wed, May 28, 2008 07:00 PM If you can make it to the above show in Cleveland OH check out the link below and follow the instructions to get FREE tickets with only a $1 service charge. Hope to see you all there. http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0500407A8CFD53CC?artistid=839148&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=60 Under Special Offer - Enter Password: dirttown Tickets are FREE ($1 Ticketmaster service fee) This offer is good through May 23, 2008.