Collaboration
The language of music is a collection of tonal rhythms and implicit emotions, and that language becomes very specialized between its speakers. Eventually it can become a shorthand of non-verbal ideas exchanged among musicians.
When you play music for many years you run across others who share this curiosity and speak the language, eventually realizing kindred souls surround you.
Native in your tongue, they share your passion, vision and ambition.
Tonight is a taste of our collaboration with the kindred souls among us.
-One Red Martian-
The Show
What makes rock n roll?
An undefinable energy? The presence of a statement or its interpretation as art?
It’s often easier to say what it’s not; we know it isn’t the Black Eyed Peas. Nor does it include unnaturally groomed pop groups, clad in matching leather outfits, frothing auto-tune laced radio pop.
Rock n roll demands authentic musicianship, unbridled emotional expression and a true commitment to one’s sonic vision. It speaks to all who have suffered and shouts out in defiance against oppression. Rock n roll exists to be witnessed, its performance instantly speaking to humans on a primordial level.
Our album is a picture of motion inviting you to see the source from which it sprang. This source is our show, and our show is what we want to share.
-One Red Martian-
The smell of freshly cut grass.
Everyone can taste the possibilities.
The faint smell of freshly cut grass hangs in the air below a shining sun. Spring is on the horizon, promising something better than the winter before it. In Dallas we know spring is just a brief respite between the bitterness of winter and the scorching heat of summer, but how pleasant it is..
Lately there have been tumlultous occurences in our camp, but the shakeups have only magnified our commitment towards furthering this vision. We are eager to break from the past and revel in this moment, so keep your eyes open and ears atuned…
-One Red Martian-
About the other night…
Tiny, immeasurable threads of fate surround us all. Some, we cast out as we move through life, while others have existed long before and will continue long after we are gone. From time to time, we all see them. Often felt as only the lightest touch, the tiniest coincidence, these threads hint at something more than chaos above and below. They whisper to us that perhaps we truly are the masters of our destiny. Though tiny and insignificant still, we are more powerful than we realize.
Something emerged from that unknowable chaos this Saturday. We looked out on the sea of faces that joined us and felt something extraordinary; strength and certainty. A faith flowing from all those assembled, radiating outward as a palpable vibration.
This is a time that chains us not to the past and future, but to a single moment. This is a moment that buzzes fiery life and hums with music. To all that joined us this past weekend we cannot thank you enough. You breathe life into our dream, and the dream grows.
One Red Martian
Ben, Jimi, Joe, and Dan
Other Futures
Sometimes I wonder how we arrive in the places we do. Is it the total sum of every moment up until that point or, are there singular defining instances that we can trace entire courses of events back to? It seems like it must be a little bit of both; small choices everyday and the occasional large defining ones committing you to your chosen path.
When I look back it’s easy to feel like we’re here simply because there could be no other way. We’ve been playing music for a long time and yes, I’m including the time before anyone knew or cared that we were in a band. It’s just more impressive that way:), and it’s the accepted state of being for us. If you are part of a daily routine long enough it becomes background noise, like the hum of the city that most of us perceive as silence. Ask us how we feel about our lives and situations and we would probably tell you they seem pretty normal. The truth is a little more complicated than that though. Yes, small everyday routines made us better at what we do, but there were also singular moments of craziness in which we truly made the choice to do this, to try and make music for a living.
We grew up in a small place and to some degree I think the idea formed out of boredom. You have an advantage in the beginning of not knowing how hard you’ll have to work to get to where you imagine yourself being. We started, I think, just because it was fun. We were just friends making very loud music and being so sure it was better than it really was:) That became what we did with our time.
I remember the first show we played. It was in the gymnasium of our high-school and I can’t quite remember if I wanted to play or if I had simply put myself in a situation where I couldn’t back out. The safety bar was engaged and the ride was in motion whether or not I was ready for where it would bring me. Something changed that night. The idea, previously only whispered in the backs of our minds, that we could maybe just maybe make this work sprang fully formed into our consciousness. To this day I admit it’s a crazy thought but I’m glad we made it. I know in that moment something changed. We forked away from whatever future might have been and began the path towards totally embracing who we are, and what we do.
Retrospect is easy. Looking back can sometimes be the only way to most truly see a situation, but I feel the same way now that I did then. When I remember this time, these shows we have coming up in Austin September 14th and Dallas October 22nd I think I’ll see that it was another turning point; A time when our efforts became more than what they were before. I want everyone listening out there, everyone who has shared in these moments of sublime of musical creation with us, to be there when whatever comes next is revealed. I don’t know what exactly that will be but I know it’s the most exciting fucking thing I’ve ever done.
Ben
–One Red Martian–
Yes we’re playing at 6 Flags but this time we brought a drummer.
The phrase “stranger than fiction” can cross your mind pretty often when you’re in a band. Trying to get your music heard as widely and often as possible you invariably put yourself in some weird situations. Whether it’s out on the road or right in town the surreal nature of the places you play and the people you meet never fails to amaze. Along those lines we will be rocking the fuck out at Six Flags this Friday. Well not “the fuck out” because it’s a family establishment but you know. It’s not going to be as weird as last time when we played with out a drummer due to injury sustain in an equally weird way but I anticipate some strange moments. We will be playing around 4 and hopefully beating the heat but due to clandestine security procedures at Six Flags we still have to get there at like 10 in the morning. So here’s the deal. If you want chill at Six Flags just let us know you’re coming out on our Facebook page. We’ll ride some rides, see some sites, and blow chunks on the roller coaster after we eat some the food we knew we shouldn’t have but did anyway. Look forward to see some people out there… otherwise this will get very weird… seriously, have you guys been to Six Flags Recently?
Ben -One Red Martian-
Return of the Martian!
I realized the other day that it has been almost a couple months since we have played in Dallas. Sure we played elsewhere and it makes you forget how long it has been but still it’s a long time to be absent from your home base. Part of it was our mini-tour through New York which was awesome but also sort of grueling; 6 shows in 8 days I think and still trying to relax takes it’s toll. We did thoroughly enjoyed ourselves though and looking forward to the next time we can make it back. Part of it’s just getting back into Texas and re-acclimating to the crazy temperature here. Personally I like it but it is a rather extreme change from New York. Whatever the reason we are back tomorrow night at The Curtain Club. We will be playing with our good friends Night Gallery, Redefine, and Truffala Tree. The show is going to be, in the words of one Beau Frye, “Epic.” So that is tomorrow night but what you need to do in preparation for this is go see Jeremy Megert & The Megalomaniacs CD release party tonight at the Prophet Bar. Think of it like pre-gaming it. Only instead of chugging a couple shitty beers you get see an awesome rock band play some awesome new music. Don’t think about it just do it. You will have fun.
Ben -One Red Martian-
Fuck it dude, let’s go bowling.
The dude abides. Here at Martian HQ we take these words to heart. If you know what’s up you know these words are from “The Big Lebowski” and as much as we love all the Cohen brothers movies this film holds a special place in our hearts. If you have no idea what we’re talking about go rent “The Big Lebowski,” make yourself a White Russian and expand your consciousness. I could go on about the nuance of this film and why it is so fucking awesome but many already have; probably doing a better job than I would. Suffice to say it’s an epic tale of a man, and I don’t want to say hero because what’s a hero anyway, but sometimes there’s a man and I’m talking about the dude here; well sometimes there’s a man. He’s the man of his time. We’re on kind of a tangent here but what I’m trying to say is everyone could afford to have more dude in them. So, with that in mind we’re have a Martian Bowling Night not because we’re great bowlers but because… well because, fuck it dude let’s go bowling. Meet us at AMF Richardson Lanes this Saturday and kick back for a while. We’ll all be throwing rocks that night:)
P.S. bring $5 for shoes plus $6 a game.
-Ben-
One Red Martian
Music to Check out (Non ORM Edition)
Being in a band and playing out frequently means you end up listening to a lot of other peoples music. Of course you could be the lame band that doesn’t arrive until their set and leaves directly after but the problem with this approach, other then it being a generally dick move, is you actually end up missing some good music. You will hear some really awful stuff as well but that’s the risk that you take when trying to find some good entertainment. On the plus side the bad music serves to highlight a band who really does put on a good show. After a while the acts that are a cut above the rest start to jump out at you. So with that in mind here are a few bands we had the pleasure of playing with here in the DFW area.
If you’re looking for pop savvy hooks with darker twinges and excellent musicianship check out North of Autumn. These guys hail from Dallas and we’ve had to the chance to play with them on several occasions. They just put out their debut album “Confluence” so check it out. Also side note: There are crazy lights at the shows. Very Nice.
Still in the the pop vein is A Formal Affair. Coming from Austin and definitely bring the piano full force (always a plus for us) you are going to want to look them up if you have even the slightest fondness of bands like Something Corporate or Jack’s Mannequin. These guys are seriously cool and next time they come through Dallas go see them!
Moving into the darker categories of more classically structured rock and melodic metal you have Night Gallery and Twice Broken respectively. We’ve known Night Gallery for quite some time and they always put on a great show. Think Smashing Pumpkins (minus Billy Corgan’s nasally drone, no offense to anyone) with maybe a little Queens of the Stone-age plus Muse and you’re on the right track. I believe they’re taking a creative break right now to come up with awesome new material but they’re DFW based so you should be able to see them in Deep Ellum some time soon.
If you’re a metal fan or a fan of rock that find’s most metal to be kind of derivative take a look at Twice Broken. Coming in from Wichita Falls and bring some serious chops I’m sure these guys could just chug for hours but they bring great melody to the table and nicely texture the sharp musicianship with interesting dynamics. When the guitar player hits his solo’s your jaw will drop. Guaranteed.
A couple touring bands we’ve had the chance to play with also stand out; Kinetix for their super groovy and funked out set, Future People with high energy synth/drum combos, and Lovers bringing one of the best performance’s I’ve seen since we moved down to Dallas.
I know I’m forgetting some other great band’s and for that I apologize. If you have a moment take a look it will be worth your time.
-Ben- ONE RED MARTIAN
Today Austin. Next Month New York. Then something after that probably.
What’s up peeps? Hope everyone had a chance to come and see us at North of Autumn‘s CD release show. We had a great time and North of Autumn put on a crazy performance! There was awesome music, unbelievable lights (they looked especially crazy at the Door) and fire spinners. All three of those statements are true by the way. 🙂 Also our friend David Wilson took some great photos of our set that you can see at his Flickr page. Final details of our upcoming tour through NY have been arranged and we’re in deep meditation to prepare for the extremely extreme shows that will occur upon our arrival;). The design for our tour t-shirts came in a couple days ago and they look CRAZY!!! Sorry we’re excited, the shirt, if this is possible, is rather sardonic. We like it. Jonathon Kimbrell does a lot of our graphic design work and he cooked up something that NY fans will really appreciate. We would love to share it with you now but we’re resisting the urge… for the time being. If you haven’t taken a complete look at all our upcoming New York dates you can catch them all on our Facebook events page. If you read this you are now in the loop. Use this knowledge wisely. Prepare for the coming shows. Mark them on your calendar. With a pencil. Or a pen. Actually, we don’t have a preference. And Yes we are playing in Austin tonight we hope to see some familiar faces there and some new ones.
Thank you as always for listening
-Ben- One Red Martian
The Show Goes On.
Welcome to the inter-webs everybody! It’s been a busy week at our central corporate offices 🙂 what with the Wildflower festival and the House of Blues all in a couple days. We saw a lot of familiar faces at the House of Blues and for those who did rock we salute you. If you were unfortunate enough to miss it you can catch a little video of it courtesy of Calvin Collins. Speaking of video we also got a kick-ass DVD from the Wildflower festival that we are currently deciding what to do with. We want to put out some cool items for you guys and found this really cool site called Kickstarter that would help us get that sweet sweet One Red Martian in your hands. In the near future you can look for a concert DVD, some One Red Martian Vinyl, or ( I’m not making this up) some trading cards 🙂 . More details on these possibilities soon! About now we are turning our eyes to New York and what’s sure to be an epic return to upstate. That’s really about all other than the regular rock-n-roll craziness that goes on, we look forward to seeing everyone this Saturday at North of Autumns CD release party.
Thanks for the Support
-Ben- One Red Martian
House of Blues!!!
So I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here but everything continues even without online documentation of it’s existence 🙂 We’ve just been working out some kinks with our process but One Red Martian is as strong as ever. Case in point: we are playing the House of Blues this friday followed by the Wildflower Festival on Saturday. It’s an exciting time as we’re seeing opportunities opening up for us and we encourage everyone to come check these shows out. Just saying, I know a guy and he says the shows are going to be unhinged/unholy rock for the ages. I’m not saying that. It’s just this guy I know. He has connections. That’s about it right now. As always you can check out the most up to date Martian info at FaceBook or Twitter. Or really you could come to a show, have a great time, and say Hi afterwords that would be the most up to date Martian info. But in this age of social media who needs actual human contact:)
Ben
One Red Martian
2011 Begins
It feels like 2011 is really building some momentum so far for the Martians. We’ve been tweaking our whole process trying to make every show we play into a real event, trying to capitalize on any opportunities we’re lucky enough to stumble into. Now that “Spit My Brain” is finally out we feel like we can actually start building something and it’s really cool that some people are already part of that. In other news we’ve been hard at work on our video editing platform, read: Dan’s girlfriend’s computer, and there’s some really cool test footage cooking up. We wanted to spend some real time seeing what could do but the time is nearing when we will have to shoot or get off the pot :P. Also we’ve started jamming again, finally, after an extended hiatus. It’s just been practicing our recorded material every day, getting it to a fine edge, and its nice to sit back and just spend a couple hours riffing with some new musicians. For anyone looking for a good time next Saturday we’ll be playing at Eisenberg’s Skatepark in Plano. It’s an all ages show so those coming for the nude acrobats will have to wait till our March 4th show. Sorry 😦
Thats about it for today. Everyone keep your ears open you never
know when you might hear the sweet sounds of ORM drifting by.
– Thanks for tuning in –
Jimi, Ben, Joe, and Dan A.K.A One Red Martian
Did You See the Video? Anyone? Have You Heard About This?
Okay so whats new this week for the Martians? We’ve basically been trying to get everything done and semi-organized by January 11th when “Spit My Brain” drops, not as easy as it sounds although you have to consider our musicians handicap with productive activity:) We should hopefully have some kind of website in place by then but we’ll know more on that in the next couple weeks. It was really cool the positive response we got from everyone on our new single “Sly Dreamer.” If you haven’t heard it listen HERE. Also very cool that everyone checked out the video we did for it, watch it HERE, not too bad for our first foray into the world of video and more is too come. We’re pretty sure on the next song we’ll release, when-ever that might be, and we’re going to start thinking about some ideas for a video. Anyway just saying we were thinking about you and we got you a little something, don’t freak out it’s no big deal.
More Music Soon
Ben-
One Red Martian
New Music Finally
After the debacle that was getting our album cover we finally found a good graphic designer and are moving forward with Disk Makers to get “Spit My Brain” into production. Also as you can see if you’ve checked our twitter or facebook we just put out “Sly Dreamer” the first single of the album. (link at the bottom) Some of you might recall we mentioned a video as well and it is still being cut together. There was some cool new footage from the excellent show we got to play with Jeremy Merger and the Megalomaniacs and after spending 2 hours trying to edit the video with imovie we finally just had to find a version of Final Cut Pro, sorry mac you’re still pretty cool… anyway we should have that done in the next couple days so keep your face windows open. It seems like some of the pieces are finally starting to fall together here and at the very least we have some music we’re really excited about getting out to you guys, another song next week and one more the week after that. Also putting some time into getting this blog up as well as bouncing around some ideas for the website which is kind of exciting since with someone else doing it for the first time it might rise above the level of banal mediocrity that we’ve been able to muster in the past. That’s really about it here uh, listen to lots of ORM uh, check out our videos, oh and uh please no hording of the Martian, break a piece off for your friends, its tasty.
Ben
One Red Martian
Awesome Show, Great Job
Practicing then heading over to our managers house for some serious promotional synergy meetings, you know upward revenue scales in emerging sub-eastern markets and such:) It was awesome how many of our Dallas fans showed up last Saturday and we wanted to let you guys know we had such a great time. Also this holiday season It’s important to share those things that really matter with those you really care about, so remember this Christmas share the greatest gift of all, One Red Martian…. because….. you care.
Thank You:)
From the Mouth of the Martian 