I Am David Sparkle / To Texas And Back

vietnow

2009-04-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

greetings from vietnam!

the band just got in last night and we're staying at this really nice hotel. traffic here is crazy and the people keep looking at us weird. and we don't know why that is. the last thing we would want to do is to stick out like a sore thumb. haha. so we will probably do the usual walking around later. dinner with the rest of the bands will be later tonight.

but all i want to do now is to get some more sleep.

good morning and good night.

love,
the plague

we are here

2009-04-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

goodness me.

forgive us for neglecting this blog. because yes, we are back in singapore and have been back for about two weeks now, i think. and we all made it back in one piece.

and since we got back, we have been doing our own thing, catching up with our respective family and friends, enjoying home cooked food and just living. we just got done with an interview with Today to answer questions in regards to the whole SXSW adventure. will let you know when it will be out so you can grab a copy.

but anyway, here are a couple of updates. we will be playing this saturday at F.A.D studios in support of our good friends, A.U.M. they are trying to raise funds for their own US tour so it would be awesome if you guys can make it! check out our myspace for more details!

and the video of nosferatu makes me nervous is finally out!

i love how it turned out. the guys from WiMe did such a brilliant job.

alright, that's about it for now. hope you guys are all living well. see you on saturday!

love,
sprkl

five oh

2009-04-02T11:48:00.000-07:00

well what do you know?

so we got in to play our set at the phonograph earlier, right after magnolian, who i must add was just awesome. they were loud and epic, just like how i like my music. but anyway, there we were going into our the first song..the intro song...or "zouktro" as we would like to call it, when all of a sudden, the cops showed up! it was unbelievable! we were expecting the bass amp to blow, since we have already fried pedals, a guitar amp and a snare drum...or something to that extent. so to see the cops telling us to stop because we were deemed as loud by the neighbours was just quite amazing. and we weren't freaking out about it, neither were we angry. we just looked at each other and started smiling and i just said out loud "what a fitting end to an amazing tour!". and the crowd started clapping and the cops were just there trying to figure out who we were and what time were we supposed to end. or something like that. i mean, i didn't really know what went down. so about ten to fifteen minutes went by, and we were just waiting it out to see what the management was going to say. they gave us the green light to carry on but only if we played a softer set. so we did. and then for the last song, we decided to play at our normal volumes and rock out, since this is after all our last stop before heading back to singapore, when the management stopped us again. and so we stopped. and again, we weren't freaking out about it, neither were we angry....we just said thank you to the crowd for staying and that we will be back the next time to complete the damage.

so that's that. it was a brilliant night and none of this would be possible without our lovely friends from hong kong, nic and ephraim from love song, the people from phonograph, who did their very best to let us carry on and everyone who took the time to drop by to show their love. we didn't manage to give you our hundred and ten percent but you can be sure that we will be back the next time we have the chance. thank you!

one more day in hong kong! then it's back to singapore!

love,
the plague for i am david sparkle

on like donkey kong

2009-03-31T19:06:00.000-07:00

yowza.

the band has just reached hong kong...and as a matter of fact, i am now at the airport typing this. gonna take a cab in a while to the place where we will be calling home for the next four days before flying back to singapore.

the 16 hour flight from los angeles to hong kong is no joke and you can imagine how tired we all are. so i guess the plan for today is to chill and get our rest before tomorrow's show. FYI, we will be playing at the this place called the phonograph, which is over at tsim sha tsui around nine i think. so drop by if you happen to be around area.

the next update will probably be when we are back in singapore. so till then!

sparkle.

tomorrow's parties

2009-03-25T22:19:00.001-07:00

hello world.

okay. i know i mentioned in the previous post that the next update will have pictures of our south by southwest (mis)adventures but i didn't get any on my camera. i mean, i got plenty of pictures of us around town and hanging around but nothing of us on stage. well there is one, and that picture can be found on our myspace blog here!

and here is a video of us and Dr Jay fooling around. haha!

"I Am David Sparkle are kind of what SXSW is all about, or what I realized it should be about: seeing bands you've never heard of and then, subsequently if you're lucky, really enjoying them. I Am David Sparkle are four dudes from Singapore playing Mogwai/Explosions in the Sky/Do Make Say Think influenced post-rock...and they're really good. I don't even listen to post-rock that much (I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to music sometimes) but this stuff is really good. "
-from kjhksxsw.blogspot.com

anyway, we're still in boston and have been on R&R mode for the past two days. it's such a beautiful city. i can definitely imagine living here...but it can get really cold at times.

we'll be playing at o'briens tomorrow with ketman, thunderhole and you need new glasses. and there might be another possible show on friday...not too sure about that one though. and on saturday, we'll be playing a basement show! i'm the most excited for that one just because we will actually be playing in someone else's house. haha. it's gonna be crazy.

and after all that, we will swing by hong kong to do one show and it's home sweet home.

alrightie then, gonna head off to bed now. take care of yourselves!!

-the plague-
i am david sparkle

gonzales

2009-03-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

greetings from houston, texas!

another quick update. we just did the cactus record store show and are now safe and sound in our hotel rooms. gonna bunk in for one night and catch the 9am flight to boston tomorrow morning.

the next update will have pictures of south by southwest and the cactus show. okay, we're all starving so we're gonna head out for dinner and see more of the town before morning comes.

hope you are living well,
david sparkle

the rush

2009-03-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

hello! here's a quick update.

south by southwest is over! and we would all like to give a huge shout out to all the nice people we have met here. thank you so much! the people of austin and all the bands have been nothing but super nice and helpful and rest assured, we will be forever grateful.

okay. can't talk long. we are driving up to houston next and that's gonna take about four hours. will update with more details in regards to the show in austin as soon as we get the chance.

see you on the road!

don't mess with texas

2009-03-20T04:23:00.000-07:00

we are having an awesome time in austin. met a lot of really nice people and caught a lot of amazing bands. the flatstock show was brilliant. saw tara mcpherson in person, together with the burlesque crew. bought ourselves some posters and tee shirts and mexican food. caught the easy star all stars, this will destroy you, +/-, grizzly bear, these arm are snakes, primal scream, datarock, pristess, maserati, my disco and other random acts....and to think that this is only the second day. we feel really blessed to be here.

us with half of this will destroy you. they were awesomely loud. i thought i was gonna go deaf. honestly.
we were giggling like school girls when we found out that the official sxsw tee shirt had our name on it.

we just got back about an hour ago and are now getting ready for bed since it will be our turn to go on stage tomorrow. we personally can't wait to rock out. hope everyone is doing well!

much love from austin,
sprkl

ps:- more pictures on our myspace blog!

tax us

2009-03-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

us at changi airport with the awesome people who got up at the crack of dawn just to send us off.

at the hongkong airport. first transit.

it's john! at the las vegas aiport for our third transit. the second was at LAX but i didn't have the time to get any pictures.

waiting for our connecting flight to austin.

touchdown! and this is the only picture i got of the airport in austin.

breakfast at ihop! food was good!

the whole journey took us about 28-30 hours to make. but so far and so good. we met the guys from datarock when we got into our hotel and they are so nice and funny as hell. they will be headlining emos annex tomorrow i think. check them out on their myspace!

we are all gonna head out soon to check out more of the town and source out for our backline. will update more soon!

vague gas

2009-03-17T19:48:00.000-07:00

friends!

the band is currently in vegas waiting for our connecting flight to austin.all of us are pretty excited and i for one can't wait to walk around on land and get some proper rest.

will try to update as much as we can from here on. till then, sparkle!

battle ready

2009-03-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

we're a couple of days away from texas and all of us here at camp sparkle are excited as hell! we've been at it since we got back from the philippines, working out the kinks, getting our gear battle-ready and mentally preparing ourselves for the road. it's gonna be crazy.

anyway, you can check out pictures of our philippines adventure on our myspace blog. will try to update before we get on that plane!

flight of fancy

2009-03-08T21:41:00.000-07:00

hey everyone.

it's been a brilliant 4 days in manila and we are sad to leave such an amazing place, filled with the nicest people. but as they say, good things must come to an end. we would like to thank the organizers, the bands and all the people that we have met that has made our stay an eventful one.

we are presently at the airport waiting to get on the plane...our flight got delayed for an hour so, yeah. but we'll be home soon enough.

talk to you guys later,
sparkles.

"i'm sorry sir, i'm not pretty sure"

2009-03-05T23:33:00.001-08:00

greetings from the phillipines!

we got in yesterday morning and have already tire ourselves out with a lot of eating, walking and catching some pretty brilliant bands at route 196. we'll be playing at saguijo later tonight and at magnet high street tomorrow, so we are pretty pysched about that. in the meantime, coffee and a game of ping pong are in the cards. we have taken a lot of pictures but will probably be able to upload them only when we get back on monday.

hope everyone is doing well.

much love,
the sparkle boys.

the longest drive

2009-02-21T00:59:00.000-08:00

was at youtube and stumbled upon the official promo vid for sxsw 2009.

we played at NUS for Radiopulze a few days back and we had plenty of fun. the interview questions especially was a tickler. much thanks to all who showed up and to all the hardworking men and women who put it all together.

have a good weekend everyone!

nervous

2009-02-13T23:07:00.000-08:00

last week we had an interview with mypaper and that came with a photoshoot. would like to apologize for the not so good looking pictures.

it's been a fun few days but we are all aware of what lies ahead. it's gonna be a gargantuan task and we all know that it's not gonna be easy, but at the same time, this is what we have chosen to do with our lives and wouldn't want it any other way. will be playing at NUS on wednesday (check out the myspace for more details!) and it'll be cool to see you guys there!

till then,
march on.

Benevolence. Justice. Intelligence. Togetherness.

2009-02-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

We had the Nosferatu Makes Me Nervous video shot yesterday, and it was fun. The shot was taken at Blackmore Drive I think, some where in the sparse woods, opposite a big field with flying R/C planes. A big thank you to Nick OMG, Esther and Ke Wei, for coming all the way and braving the make up and costumes. Really really really appreciate it. Ak has some pix taken of the afternoon shoots, hopefully it'd be up soon.

We then went to Bras Basah to get some guitar stuff and dinner at the chicken rice joint opposite Mos Burger with the documentary boys. Liang Seah or something. Headed down to Hua Yi Secondary at Depot Rd for the dance segment of the video. The dance scene was taken in the school hall and I just had to document this with the camera in my phone because we didn't have our cameras with us. Also managed to capture some of the dance in video, so I might just upload that later. We also had a little Tour Of Duty of the school, since it's been abandoned and stuff. No shots of that tour though. Heard some paranormal stories from Rozali, the guy in charge of the camera for the shoot, and we just chilled around. It was a good day.

Hope Nic's free today, so I could finish my bit for Ninja Death. And also congrats to Wallwork and Lunar Node for their release yesterday!

ninja death

2009-02-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

here's the new song on video!

much thanks to yamstery for this!

stir it up

2009-02-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

i think this picture pretty much sums up the whole overall vibe of last weekend. it was taken moments before we started the first song. once again, thank you. we could not do this without you.

don't forget to check out the myspace for upcoming shows and other updates. anyway, the week is almost over and i can't believe how time is just flying pass. it's crazy.

hope everyone is doing well.

Thank You.

2009-02-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

We are both humbled and inspired by the generous support you have given to us. You could have been elsewhere, but yesterday you were there with us. There's only so much words can relay, and they can't justify the generosity you've showered us with. We will update the amount we raised, and will keep you guys in the loop.

Once again, thank you. We will try our best and do you proud.

The Swords Have Been Drawn.

2009-01-29T23:07:00.000-08:00

If all goes well, you'd see a screen printed version of this on sale tomorrow. Going to be a busy day. Have a good weekend.

The Rise of the Samurai

2009-01-29T08:59:00.000-08:00

Just got back from practice and we are pretty excited about this Saturday's show. The guys are gonna be starting on the tee shirts tonight, so I can't wait to see how it'll turn out. Mythbusters is on and they just shot a harpoon into a giant toy shark from a hundred yards away.

See you all in two days!

The Roads Are Long, The Swords Are Drawn.

2009-01-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Woke up around 11.30 today, did some touch ups on the poster I intend to put out this Saturday, but i do not know how likely that is. It's going to be a busy day, settling t-shirts, hopefully we'll be getting the frames later, printing stuff, checking out equipment and band practice at night. Will update more, hopefully with pictures. Have a good day.

Amended T(exas)-shirt.

2009-01-27T14:14:00.000-08:00

Here's the amended T-shirt design (black & white ink, instead of just black as posted in the previous entry) by Speakcryptic. Thanks.

3 Amigos.

2009-01-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

In tradition of our cult t-shirt series, 3 more icons have been added to the shirt roster. They might run on limited quantities, so drop by the show this Saturday early to get one (click to enlarge pictures. Sizes of images may vary on actual shirts).

Just to let you guys know, we're still sourcing for quality shirts i.e: Triple A, Hanes, etc so it'd be worth your money. The guys at Camp David appreciate quality merch too.

Fabrics.

2009-01-26T23:45:00.000-08:00

Above are 2 designs that we might print for Saturday's shows (click image to enlarge). There are 3 more in the works and if we have time we'd do some silk screened posters as well. And buttons. Everybody loves buttons. Happy holidays folks.

Light Maketh The Band.

2009-01-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

We all went to the Mogwai show at the Esplanade, and this was the second time we saw them. A good performance, but missing that special edge that (at least I felt) was more present the first time they came Singapore.

Anyways some shots from the show, from a Canon G10. Still learning the camera, so better shots the next time around - from SXSW!

What Time Is It, Honey?

2009-01-19T19:19:00.001-08:00

So we have got the set listings down. This is for you to help plan your Sat and make it cutting edge phweet phweet. If you read Marina Lewycka, you'd know what that means.

To Texas And Back, Sat 31st Jan, Homeclub

Flea Market begins 2.00pm

3.00pm A Band Named Power

3.45pm Indus Gendi

4.30pm Amberhaze

5.15pm A.U.M

6.00pm Plainsunset

6.30pm DJ set by Sweetmusic.fm and Unpopular Radio

7.30pm Amateur Takes Control

8.15pm The Great Spy Experiment

9.00pm Muon

9.50pm 41 (from Kuala Lumpur)

10.45pm I Am David Sparkle

11.30pm DJ set by Unpopular Radio and Sweetmusic.fm

12.30am DJ set by 4 Imaginary Boys

2.00am DJ set by Kid Villain

Thank you to all the performers, you have been so kind.

To The Crypt And Back.

2009-01-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

Poster by Speak Cryptic. Good stuff as always.

The $

2009-01-15T08:37:00.000-08:00

I'm thinkin of a master plan
I'm blingin with the cash in hand
I got a mu'fuckin right to shine
I paid my dues
I earned this cake I abuse
I burn this paper the way I choose
I gotta,
handle my B-I, and I do
And hold the D-I, NY too
when I'm out of the zone , no tellin what it might do
Mess with my loot and it might pop
It might lock, it might not, it might shoot!
And its not the chance to take
Just like it's not the answer
Who's out for the paper?
Hands up!
Blaze that there, pay that dancer
holla if you ever been placed in handcuffs
Survival: the name of the game
You wanna play?
You wanna race, dont wait for the bang

The $ from J Dilla's "Ruff Draft".