USELESS KEYS

$5 SHOW WITH BOOTS ELECTRIC AND TWILIGHT SLEEP ON 8/18

2011-08-03T15:17:00.001-07:00

We're playing a $5 show with Boots Electric and Twilight Sleep on August 18th at Exchange LA. We hit the stage at 10:30pm. You better be there or else.....

SUNSET JUNCTION AUGUST 27TH 2PM

2011-08-02T01:54:00.000-07:00

USELESS KEYS will performing a space rock set at 2pm at the Edgecliffe Stage at Sunset Junction on August 27th. New space rock tunes will be performed under the blazing rays of our closest star and never wavering ally, The Sun. Come join us.

Los Angeles Show Added This Thursday!!

2011-07-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

we will be playing at the satellite in LA this thursday with square on square, twilight sleep and sister rogers. the show is $5. we also added another show in santa barbara on friday july 8th at muddy waters. heavy space rock is catching on. see you thursday.

West Coast Tour Memories

2011-07-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

***June 24, 2011 San Diego, CA Soda Bar***

we left LA around 3pm on a friday afternoon. not the smartest decision in the world it turns out. traffic stretched for miles and miles and miles but we were excited to be on tour so our excitement to play rock music in foreign towns trumped any annoyance traffic could encite. the key to the drive to SD from LA when traffic is horrible is to tell yourself "just make it to the coast". about 10 miles south of irvine, once you have the ocean on your right side and a nice ocean breeze blowing through the van, a peace with the situation settles in and the traffic becomes much more bearable. we passed the time in the van rocking to cassette tapes of slayer and metallica and talking about our plan to rock the hell out of this world, the jackass movies (which i passionately hate and jerry loves) and henry rollins' onstage banter. 3 and a half hours later we arrived at soda bar where a kind gentleman named joe showed us where to store our gear and poured us some cold draft beers. we had some time to kill before the show so we walked a mile to a pizza place near the kensington club and a dude on a bicycle tried to sell us some pot brownies but we declined; they were probably just real brownies which i would have loved but i have a rule against buying baked goods from shady looking dudes on bicycles. after pizza consumption, we went back to the club and played pool. i played horribly, jerry was a true pool shark. the show went off. the short eyes warmed the room up with their 60's garage rock (in a vein of black lips, black apples), gloomsday was a 2 piece with angular riffs and pop vocals, they reminded me a lot of LA's pity party. then we hit the stage and tore through our 9 song space rock set. the crowd seemed to eat up arizona state highway that night, maybe because of san diego's close proximity to arizona? maybe because of regilio's sonic landscapes? either way it was a success and a fine young man named mike came up to me after the show and told me it was good to hear a heavy band in the indie rock world for a change. grand tarantula took the stage next and gave their hometown crowd a rocking cap to their evening. jordan from GT is a great frontman, charismatic and confident. i went outside to load out and this cracked out lady with a cute dog was asking for change to make a call on a pay phone. do people use pay phones anymore? her dog kept trying to run down the street while she wandered in the club (looking for her crack dealer i'm assuming). then she eventually came out and set off her car alarm for 15 minutes. it was quite the spectacle and a good reminder that you shouldn't do drugs kids! somehow she got her dog in the passenger seat and took off. davin's cousin danny was at the show and treated us to burritos at his taco stand. i had the dragon salsa. we drove back to LA and got into town around 3am. night one was a success.

***June 25, 2011 Visalia, CA Cellar Door***

holy shit. not to insult any band we have ever played with but japan's buffalo daughter was without question the best fucking band we've ever played with. they sounded like gang of four meets brian eno's 801. people were freaking out including this one young man with a massive afro that head banged to them for an hour like he was listening to anthrax in 1989. i met buffalo daughter's dj/vocalist mooog and was completely entralled and inspired by him. he's been in buffalo daughter for almost 20 years, touring the world, playing countless shows but he sat and watched and filmed our entire soundcheck. his love for music was evident. we left LA for visalia around 4pm and arrived at 7. only 3 hours to visalia but almost 4 to SD, go figure. someone once told me that a glass of wine was good for your vocal chords so i decided to test that theory and have a couple glasses. the theory held up! my voice felt strong and UK's played with great confidence. white noise seemed to be the crowd favorite. i loved the venue; one giant wall was nothing but glass windows so while you're standing on stage playing, you can look out into the street and see people driving by or looking inside trying to scope out what's going on. we played our set to about 100 people in the fine town of visalia and they embraced us with a positive and loving vibe. i met two dudes from san diego that stood at the front of the stage the entire set, glad they made the drive and thank you for the kind words dudes. i encourage all of you up and coming and established bands to stop at the cellar door in visalia and play a show. it's nice to see a small town has successfully put themselves on the indie rock map by treating bands well, promoting shows and having strong attendence. after the show, we thanked aaron at sound and vision and headed to our hotel in fresno where we set up home for 2 days.

***June 26, 2011 Fresno, CA Fulton 55***

fresno is a hot place to exist on this planet in the summer months. i tried to beat the heat by going to our hotel's pool but there was not any shade to be had so i went next door to the days inn pool and read a book for 10 minutes before a hotel employee kicked me out. yes, i was kicked out for reading a book. we all had dinner at tokyo garden, soaked in a little light jazz in fresno's arts district, and then loaded in to fulton 55. johnny, the venue manager, was a super cool dude that took good care of us. the mallard was a two piece band from san francisco (had one former member of Rademacher). i loved their set, it reminded me of a lot of bands that are getting attention these days like cults and sleigh bells, i can see them doing well with their clean reverbed out guitar lines and 60's inspired pop vocals. they are a brand new band so i'd expect to hear a lot from them in the next year or two. quiet americans were a solid classic indie rock band full of capable musicians as well. thanks to eli for putting the show together. our set was sandwiched between the two local bands and the people of fresno took a trip on the space rock train with us. i was really surprised that people embraced us so much on this tour. i figured we'd get a splattering of applause here and there simply because we are a brand new band to each of these cities, we don't have a record out that they know, we're from out of town, but people seemed to dig the UK wall of sound and "get it" immediately. someone shouted "i loved that song" after we played "radiation burns" and that made us all smile and super confident going into "white noise" and "sleeping underneath the covers". thanks for that extra bump of love whoever you are. after the show we hung out with johnny and the dudes in quiet americans and the two kids in the mallard for a few drinks before heading back to the hotel to sleep.

***June 27, 2011 San Francisco, CA Kimo's***

the drive to san francisco was relatively painless. jerry is sponsored by craviotto drums and we were going to try to swing by their factory located in watsonville (near santa cruz) but time didn't permit us to do so. we'll have to stop by on the next west coast tour. after arriving in SF around 3pm, we walked a few miles to north beach for some italian sandwiches at a restaurant owned by a pittsburgh steelers fan, judging from all the memorabilia on the walls. there's something intangible that i love about san francisco. the fresh air is amazing, the hustle and bustle of packed sidewalks is energizing but there's some other quality that i can't quite put my finger on about SF that makes me love being there. kimo's is a pain the in the neck to load into. you have to carry amps, drums, guitars up two flights of stairs, not to mention that finding parking in SF is no easy task. we lucked out and got a spot for the van right outside. the bartender gave me a free shot of jameson. thank you! regilio's brother, cousin and friends came to the show and we gave them the best damn space rock show we could. we ended our set with "white noise" and then had the task of loading out down the stairs again which wasn't as bad going down as going up. jerry's friend took us out for pizza at victor's next door. he even ordered 3 sandwiches to go which we devoured the next morning.

***June 29, 2011 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge***

the doug fir lounge is fucking awesome. the floor near the back bar is lit up from underneath with an amber color. it reminded me of the sidewalk michael jackson walked down during the "billie jean" video. the decor inside makes you feel like you're in a cabin, high in the mountains. we had the night off the previous night so we were well rested and ready to rock Portland. to add a cherry to the top of our proverbial sundae, we played the doug fir with our good friends in good night billygoat. good night billygoat consists of nick woolley (my former band mate in The Front), david klein and corey nelson. to start my day, i went for a 5 mile run from nick's house to the venue shortly after eating a massive breakfast burrito. i'm not going to do that again. we had a solid soundcheck and shortly after doors opened the venue filled up. we had been closing our set with "sleeping underneath the covers" but decided to switch it up and play "white noise" last. the last song we soundchecked was "sleeping underneath the covers" and like an idiot i forgot to put my guitar back into standard tuning before we went on stage so as i strummed the initial chord to start "sea bells" a horrible noise came out of my amp and i was completely confused. quick thinking jerry roe mouthed to me that i had forgot to retune and he thus saved the day and i just didn't play that one wrongly tuned string for the rest of the song. these are the kind of secrets you get to know by reading our blog, don't you feel special? we blistered through the rest of our set playing new songs "comets", "said you'd never" and "sympathetic/pathetic". the security guard for backstage came up to me after our set and told me he was sick of hearing indie pop shit and was happy to be working for the first time in a long time. thanks kevin, i appreciated your pat on the back. good night billygoat was amazing, per usual and the show was an overall lovefest. afterwards, we had a few drinks at the upstairs bar before eating at sizzle pizza on burnside. then i sat by this campfire with my friend nick and we talked till the doug fir closed.

***June 30, 2011 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe***

the crocodile has a lot of history. nirvana played there. the melvins have played a ton of shows there. the venue was a center piece for the grunge movement in the 90's. it was pretty awe inspiring to get to play this place. we arrived in seattle from portland around 4pm and loaded into the venue. having a couple hours to kill, davin went and checked out the first starbucks coffee shop ever and then we all walked down to puget sound to get a view of the sailboats and city skyline. we ate pizzas at the back bar attached to the crocodile and watched music videos from silversun pickups, interpol and red hot chili peppers (the cool video where they're all painted in silver). i kept trying to figure out what channel we were watching that never showed commercials and showed only music videos. the bartender explained to me they have this special computer video jukebox that is basically like youtube and you just set a playlist and it plays all the videos for the songs you choose, it was pretty rad. we shared the bill with good night billygoat again, the glass notes and the great um. thanks a ton to the great um and glass notes for playing with us, hope to see you dudes soon. before we went on stage i could sense "last show of tour" energy from my bandmates. i thought we all played our most energetic show of the tour in seattle. the sound was spot on and "sleeping underneath the covers" sounded live that night just like i imagined it would sound in my head. "white noise" was as epic as it is suppose to be. thanks to the people of seattle for embracing our heavy space rock. thanks to jerry streeter for coming out and supporting us, good job getting the job at the new studio buddy! thanks to good night billygoat for being amazing artists and human beings. we hope to be back in your town very soon. we are currently plotting our return. see you next time.

West Coast June Dates

2011-05-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

we're planning a short run up the west coast in late june:

june 24th soda bar san diego

june 29th doug fir portland

june 30th crocodile seattle

we're also looking to add dates in san francisco, santa cruz and a few places in between. check back here soon for more dates.

The Satellite with Asobi Seksu

2011-05-17T01:29:00.000-07:00

we're playing a show at the satellite in los angeles with asobi seksu on saturday may 28th. we play at 9pm. buy tickets here.

we finished 10 demos at dangerbird studios last week. they captured the vibe. now we're writing more and playing more shows. we're doing a run up the west coast in late june, dates will be posted shortly.

we're playing a show in santa barbara this thursday at velvet jones with AWOLNATION. this is our first santa barbara show. santa barbara has a population of 88,000 people according to the 2010 census. looking forward to meeting new people.

here's a picture from our last show at the satellite (photo credit: jasmine safaeian):

i've been listening to a lot of ravi shankar lately in an attempt to turn my mind off. it's been working.

new recordings on the horizon, i promise

2011-05-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

greetings fellow earthlings. we've been in the studio for the past week recording demos for our upcoming debut record. thought you would all enjoy seeing jerry roe track drums to our new song "said you never". we're recording in dangerbird studios in los angeles. one more day of tracking vocals and we should be done. thank you all for coming out to our show at the satellite last week. we should have some shows coming up in phoenix, san diego, portland, seattle, and san francisco very soon, don't worry, i'll keep you posted.

war is over, if you want it.

where i record my vocals and play my right handed guitar, left handed.

where regilio stands and stares at jerry and tries to feel the vibe.

keep on rocking in the free world!

The Satellite with Brother (UK)

2011-04-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

hey there useless keys supporters,

i know you don't get updated on useless keys news as frequently as you desire. i'm sorry. we've been recording, writing, rehearsing, playing shows, designing new merch, brainstorming video shoots, really so much i can't list it all right now. thanks to the dudes and dudette in yuck for letting us play a couple shows over the past week with them. they rock and they're nice normal people too.

we have a show coming up at the satellite on april 26th with brother (uk). we play at 10pm. go to this link here for tickets and buy them now so you don't get left out if this one sells out.

i hope you're doing okay.

USELESS KEYS FREE SHOW MONDAY MARCH 7TH

2011-02-26T15:39:00.000-08:00

hey people, we have a free show coming up at the satellite in silverlake on monday march 7th. we go on at 10pm. it's gonna be an epic show, get there early so you don't have to wait in line.

we're also playing march 10th at detroit bar in costa mesa with asobi seksu for our orange county fans.

i'm really into watching this video below this week. must have logged 10 plays. enjoy.

NEW MUSIC IN PRODUCTION

2011-02-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

MIXING MIXING MIXING MIXING..........

Mixing makes your head spin. We're knee deep in new recordings and haven't been doing much other than focusing on that. We have a show coming up at Detroit Bar with Asobi Seksu on March 10th, a show in Phoenix at Sail Inn on March 15th, a show in Fullerton at The Slidebar on March 22nd and more recording in our future.

This is the first time I've ever been in a project where writing, recording, mixing, learning how to play new songs live has all been occurring simultaneously. Generally throughout my musical career, the path has been linear: go write some songs, learn how to play them live, play a bunch of live shows, schedule recording time, go record the songs you've been playing for months, after recording mix the songs, get it mastered, etc... UK's have been taking a new approach where we never stop recording, never stop writing, never stop mixing, play live shows in between, write demos at 4am, record a song from 2 years ago, record a song from 2 days ago, it's much more liberating, pressure relieving and fun this way.

So far we have 6 songs under our belt with Sheldon Gomberg and Rick Parker and the writing/recording/mixing shows no sign of stopping. The working titles we have for the new recordings thus far are:

Sympathetic/Pathetic

Sea Bells

Radiation Burns

Arizona State Highway

Static Friends

You Said You'd Never

The title "Sea Bells" evolved quite a bit, maybe it will evolve more. I originally called the song "Wedding Bells", then "Church Bells" basically because my sweeping guitar and Regilio's guitar line made me recall the church bells I'd hear in my old neighborhood when I was out playing in the street as a kid. Regilio being the devout atheist that he is took issue with that title and subsequently it became "Mary Star of the Sea Bells", then was shortened to "Sea Bells".

Recording demos in my studio apartment in Atwater Village.

This is how I spent a recent Friday night. (I bought at 30 pack of Miller Lite)

I listened to a lot of Rolling Stones in the plane on my trip to St. Louis last weekend.

It's my Arch. Mine.

See you all soon.

mb

"We're gothic/post-chillwave funk."

2011-01-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hey there world. This is Michael Bauer reporting from Useless Keys headquarters. It's been a while since we updated this blog. You might be asking yourself, "Why the long delay, Michael?" Well, I'll tell you why. WE'VE BEEN BUSY DOING SHIT! :)

We started recording our debut full length earlier this month with Sheldon Gomberg and Rick Parker. Those dudes know how to record killer jams. We have no idea how many songs will be on the final product, when it'll be released, the title of the record but I can share with you the names of a few, new tentatively titled songs; "Dream in Red", "Sympathetic/Pathetic", and "Sea Bells".

San Diego has been treating us well as of late; I really love playing in that city. Maybe we've just hit a string of lucky shows down there lately, but the vibe of the crowds have been so welcoming and appreciative that San Diego now has a warm place in my heart. Thanks to dudes in Beautiful View for inviting us down, we appreciate it.

Last week our song "Is The Painting Changing" was played on MTV's Jersey Shore. We uploaded the song to our myspace page, click here to listen.

Tonight we're playing a show at Commonwealth Lounge in Fullerton. The show is free. Thursday we're playing with Shadow Shadow Shade, Great Northern and Wet and Reckless at Satellite/Spaceland in Silverlake. Show is only $5 if you rsvp on the Facebook invite page or email uselesskeys@gmail.com. Get there early because we play at 9pm, new songs will be in the set and you don't want to wait in a long ass line to get inside.

In March we have shows in Costa Mesa with Asobi Seksu and Braids (3/10 at Detroit Bar) and in Phoenix (3/15 at Sail Inn).

Here's some pictures I took over the past week from our recording sessions. Enjoy. More to come soon.....

This is where Regilio records demos.

This is where I record demos.

Day 1: Jerry's starter doesn't work

Jerry's car is subsequently towed.

Jerry's doesn't get upset by machines breaking, he's still kind.

Sheldon produces.

Jerry's drums, regular picture.

Jerry's drums through the hipster filter camera.

Where I scratch vocalize.

Where Regilio stands.

Down time.

Life is ticking by.

It's important to be organized.

Professional recording tools.

Control the room.

Fuel.

Pedals.

Red, Blue, ORANGE.

Rick produces.

Kamikaze Now Streaming on MySpace

2010-10-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

Our new song, Kamikaze, is available for streaming on our MySpace page. You can listen here. Kamikaze was recorded earlier this year at The Carriage House in Silver Lake. The song was produced by Sheldon Gomberg and mixed by Rick Parker (BRMC, Von Bondies).

FREE SHOW AT VIPER ROOM!!

2010-10-19T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends, fans, family. KROQ Locals Only and ShowlistLA are sponsoring a free Useless Keys show at the Viper Room on November 9th with Twilight Sleep and Nightmare Air. Please email your name and your guests' names to rsvp@showlistla.com to get on the guest list while availabilty exists.

In other news, we are still diligently writing for the new album and breaking in our new drummer, Jerry Roe. Hope to begin recording very soon. See you all at the Viper Room.

Opening for Dax Riggs next Thursday and Friday

2010-09-01T13:49:00.001-07:00

We are opening up for Dax Riggs at Spaceland next Thursday and Friday, 9/9 and 9/10. Advanced tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at www.clubspaceland.com.

Sunset Junction Party at Malo

2010-08-18T00:28:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that came out to our Silverlake Lounge show last night. We appreciate you braving the heat and humidity to soak in our heavy space rock vibe. I imagined I was on Planet Mercury most of the set, it was the only way to enjoy the sweltering environment. We have more shows coming up this weekend: Saturday our residency at Casey's Downtown continues with Twinfight on the bill as well, Sunday we play a Sunset Junction party at Malo in Silverlake (set time is 8pm) and next Monday we are heading to San Diego for a show at the Casbah with Young the Giant. The Useless Keys spaceship keeps gliding along, see you this weekend....

Silverlake Lounge with Twilight Sleep THIS MONDAY

2010-08-10T21:57:00.000-07:00

We're playing a free show next Monday at the Silverlake Lounge for Twilight Sleep's August Residency there. Our set time is 10pm. Show is free. We'll be playing some new material. We've booked a number of shows in August including San Diego and Phoenix dates and our own residency on Saturdays in August at Casey's Bar in downtown LA. Check out our myspace page for more dates and info.

In other thoughts, I've been thinking a lot lately about how we as human beings have evolved directly from Earth. I was laying in bed, breathing the other day and as I noticed my chest rise and fall with each breath, I thought about how much our respiratory and circulatory systems and sleep patterns have in common with Earth. Ice caps melt and freeze and melt and freeze with each passing summer and winter. Waves form, crash ashore and recede back into the ocean and repeat. We breathe in and breathe out, breathe in, breathe out while our heart pumps blood through our body much the same as the currents of the ocean have a natural flow or the mantle underneath the earth's crust flows. We plan our whole lives around Earth's 24 hour rotation, adhering to a daily routine of going to sleep at a particular time in Earth's daily rotation and waking at another specific time in the rotation. I've heard arguments that we as humans may be Earth's attempt to reproduce other Earth-like planets; we are suppose to spread to Mars, build an atmosphere, colonize, build a brother/sister to Earth. Anyways, if depression is a feeling of estrangement from humanity or a feeling of disconnect from others and/or the universe, it's healthy to think about things like this, how much we are connected to Earth. We're just a very small piece in a very large process. It should make us less lonely, right? DEEEEEEP THOUGHTS....:) Silverlake Lounge, Monday, FREE.

LA Zoo Show: Friday August 6th

2010-07-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

Be sure to come out to the LA Zoo's first "Local Scene Night" which is Friday August 6th. We are playing and our friends Voxhaul Broadcast and Happy Hollows are playing as well. See some tigers, drink wine and enjoy rock n' roll in a unique setting.

TROUBADOUR SHOW NEXT WEDNESDAY JULY 21ST

2010-07-14T12:59:00.001-07:00

We are playing at The Troubadour next Wednesday, July 21st. We play first; our set time is 8:30 so get there early.

JULY LA SHOWS/KAMIKAZE 7"

2010-07-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

It's mid-July and still only 70 degrees in Los Angeles; this place is awesome and worth the extra couple hundred a month on rent.

We booked two LA shows for July; we're playing at The Echo on July 12th at midnight and we're opening for Gram Rabbit at The Troubadour on July 21st. We're also getting our late summer/early fall schedule in line and we've already booked shows in Phoenix (8/30 at The Rhythm Room) and San Diego (8/23 at The Casbah), we're working on making another trip up the West Coast in the next couple months as well.

Last week we mastered a new track entitled "Kamikaze" which will be released in the fall on a 7" along with "White Noise". We'll notify you here of the release date as soon as we get it. Currently working on new songs for our forthcoming debut album, breaking in our new bass player, Davin Givhan, and saving our dollar bills for recording.

Thanks to everyone that came out to the APTBS show. There's some videos on youtube from the show. Below is a new song "Sea Bells" along with the UK classic "White Noise". Enjoy, take care of yourselves and we'll see you soon.

mb

*SPACELAND SATURDAY WITH APTBS AND LIGHT POLLUTION*****

2010-06-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hey there. We've been working on new music and just finished a new mix for our song "Kamikaze" which will be coming out on a 7" with "White Noise" this fall. We are currently booking tour dates up the West Coast and across the Southwest for this summer and fall. This Saturday we are opening up for A Place to Bury Strangers at Spaceland. We hit the stage at 9pm so get there early. We also have a few new dates posted on our myspace page, keep an eye out for more.

See you all Saturday. Take care.

mb

Silver Lake Jubilee THIS SUNDAY 11PM

2010-05-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

We are headlining the indoor stage at El Cid for Silver Lake Jubilee this Sunday. Our set time is at 11pm and there are many great bands playing with us on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are cheap too; only $5. See you all there.

Recent Video Blog Interviews

2010-05-20T19:25:00.000-07:00

Back in February, at our residency at The Echo in Los Angeles, Nathan from Smashed Chair and Danny from Rock N' Roll Super Show shot video interviews with us backstage. Check out the video interviews below.

The Useless Keys @ the echo from Smashed Chair on Vimeo.

Useless Keys Interview. from The Rock n Roll Super Show on Vimeo.

IS THE PAINTING CHANGING PHYSICAL EDITION NOW AVAILABLE

2010-05-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

We uploaded a paypal button in the right margin so you can now purchase our debut EP "Is The Painting Changing" on a physical CD. The cd includes all 4 songs that were released digitally earlier this year and the artwork was created by David Klein from the multimedia band, Billygoat. The cost of purchase is $7 but this includes shipping to anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. We hope you enjoy it.

We are currently writing new songs, working on a few new recordings from March sessions and also have a number of new shows coming up in LA, Seattle, and Portland. We play Sunday May 23rd at Silver Lake Jubilee Fest; our set time is 11pm at the El Cid stage. Come on out, embrace the rock and say hello to us after the show.

mb

SPACELAND TOMORROW NIGHT**

2010-05-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

We hit the stage at 10pm. Email uselesskeys@gmail.com to get on the $5 list.

NEW SHOWS! NEW SONGS! NEW ALIEN THREATS!

2010-04-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

Check, check, check. January, January, January. Okay, it's working...

Hey there, we have a bunch of new upcoming shows booked and we're in the process of booking more so get off your duff and come see us soon:

4/28 Silverlake, CA Silverlake Lounge
5/4 Hollywood, CA Viper Room
5/7 Lake Forest, CA Gypsy Lounge with Oh Darling
5/14 Silverlake, CA Spaceland with Delta Mirror and Full Frontal
5/23 Silverlake, CA Silver Lake Jubilee
5/27 Phoenix, AZ Rhythm Room
6/3 Seattle, WA Comet Tavern
6/4 Portland, OR East End with Billygoat
6/12 Upland, CA The Wire

We're also playing at LA Zoo's Indie Fest on August 6th with Voxhaul Broadcast, The Happy Hollows and a number of other great local acts.

USELESS KEYS have been in the studio over the past couple months working on new songs. We are currently mixing a few of them, testing the waters, observing, processing, fine tuning, etc... Sheldon Gomberg helped produce the new tracks and Rick Parker is mixing as we speak.

Thanks to those of you that have written us saying you heard us on 107.7 The End in Seattle or 94.9 in Portland or 105.3 in Oklahoma City or 106.7 KROQ in LA. Alternative Radio has taken a liking to "White Noise". Thanks for calling in and requesting us as well, it's helping and we appreciate your support.

In another aspect of life, Stephen Hawking said this week that human beings on Earth shouldn't try to contact aliens in outer space because it may prove to be too dangerous and could put the human race at peril. Hawking stated that he assumes other advanced alien civilizations may have traveled down a similar road as we as humans have traveled here on Earth, raping our home planet of it's resources while taking advantage of the weak and defenseless. If we were to encounter an advanced alien species, they might have already exhausted the resources of their own home planet and may come to Earth to colonize and annex our resources as their own while conquering us easily with their superior technologies, much similar to how the Spaniards were able to conquer the Aztecs.

I hope advanced alien civilizations have developed technologies far enough along that they are no longer after oil or lumber or minerals. I hope we as human beings change our consuming habits and discontinue our destructive relationship with the Earth so we can state that we'd be happy to meet any civilizations that have traveled down the same path as us. Okay? Agreed? Are we all on the same page now? We're all going to stop buying plastic bottles and stop sending the poor to wars. Okay. I feel better.

Come to USELESS KEYS shows and say hello. :)

The most useless key of them all,

MB

It's 83 degrees and sunny

2010-04-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

I just watched the Karate Kid for the first time in a long time. For some reason I found it utterly amusing seeing Daniel Luruso getting his ass kicked numerous times by the Cobra Cai. His only retaliation at the "All Valley State Championship" was his pathetic Crane Kick. What a crock. Anyways, we have been super busy and just finished a month long residency at The Echo with a lot of great bands (Warpaint, Spirit Vine, Repeater, Free Energy, We Barbarians, Box Violet, Aushua etc). We had a blast. Kat Corbett has been playing "White Noise" and we can't thank her enough for the support.

We are finishing up 3 new songs @ Carriage House studios right now with our good friend engineer/producer extraordinaire Sheldon Gomberg. Even though these recording sessions are filled with Makers Mark we have been on point and nailing take after take. On a side note never buy a bottle of wine that's brand name is "Diablo Creek", really?

We're playing a handful of LA shows in May and heading up to the Northwest the first weekend of June to play in Seattle and Portland. We're also looking into some dates in Phoenix and Tucson for late May. Check out our myspace page for show dates.

What's Good:

The Clash: Sandinista
NWA: Straight outta Compton
South Park: new season
At The Drive-In: Relationship of Command
Ella Fitzgerald: anything.

What's Bad:

Diablo Creek's Pinot Noir
Eating Fish N' Chips 15 mins before you hit the stage
Daniel Laruso's crane kick
Not Huey Lewis's 1983 album "Sports"

"It's just that......I think you'd really like us."

2010-01-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, our debut EP "Is The Painting Changing" was released digitally on iTunes, Amazon and all other digital outlets. We just received the physical CD edition (I have 1,000 cds sitting in 3 boxes in the middle of my studio apartment) and we'll have it for sale at our upcoming residency at The Echo in Echo Park; the CD is currently for sale at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. Finally. I'm happy that we have officially released music into the universe. I feel like a farmer that worked hard cultivating a strip of land and just planted his seeds in the ground. Time to water.

It's been rainy in Los Angeles over the past two weeks. I notice a direct correlation between rainy weather and time spent reading. Hopefully it rains a little bit more before the spigot is turned off on Southern California for another 9 months and we're all encouraged to go outside and hike and enjoy our dry, sunny paradise once again. Here's a photo by Fiona Laughlin. Guylaine looks hot.

Till next time, folks. Listen to KCRW tonight with Chuck P, we're playing an acoustic set. His show starts at midnight. If you miss it, check out the podcast. Rock on and see you on Mondays at The Echo this month. Let's drink beer, listen to loud rock and roll and have fun living!

FEBRUARY RESIDENCY AT THE ECHO

2009-12-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

"Let me let you let me down again."

"I put my phone back in place."

"I realize that love flows."

What up

2009-12-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

We're having a residency at The Echo on Mondays in February. Four shows. Working on the lineups this week. Will post the lineup here as soon as it's set.

I'm in love with New Order, especially this week; must be the rain.

Here's a picture from a photoshoot we had a few weeks ago in Guylaine's backyard. We're reviewing the pictures now and will have some better shots that we post on our myspace but this one in particular cracks me up. Fiona Laughlin is the photographer. Have a good week people. :)

Nutzlos Schlüssel

2009-11-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

Useless Sweetpea

2009-11-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

I want to die doing something great, not in an elevator.

2009-11-13T23:52:00.000-08:00

IS THE PAINTING CHANGING

2009-11-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

We here at USELESS KEYS INC. have been kicking serious booty as of late.

We went to New York for 3 shows in late September; ate pizza, walked countless miles of sidewalks for hours on end, hung out at Whole Foods off Houston frequently, didn't sleep, discovered that while the NY subway system is an efficient way to transport one's self, the underground air travelers are forced to breathe is hot and disgusting, met our new manager Mary Rahmani (woot!), and managed to make it back to Los Angeles in one piece. Here's a picture of Guylaine doing what she does (being fucking awesome) at the Mercury Lounge:

Last Saturday night we finished mixing our debut EP with Rick Parker (Von Bondies, BRMC) that will be entitled "Is The Painting Changing". The EP is currently shaping up for a late January/early February release. "Is The Painting Changing" will have 4 tracks.

IS THE PAINTING CHANGING
1. White Noise
2. Down Threw
3. Arizona State Highway
4. Is The Painting Changing

Here's a look at the artwork for the EP which was created by David Klein (Billygoat).

Here's a picture of us before our Halloween show in Highland Park with Happy Hollows, Tasso and Ovideo. We went as a German Electro-band from the 70's:

Useless Keys will be planning an EP release show, more out of town dates, radio shows and a tour to the Northwest over the next couple months. I leave you all with this video that encaptures the excitement of St. Louis Blues hockey in January 1992. You get em Curtis.

mb

SPACELAND 8.29.09

2009-09-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Our friend Angie Gray took some pictures on film at our show last Saturday at Spaceland. We played with a great new band The Black Apples. You should check them out here.

USELESS KEYS AT THE ECHOPLEX

2009-07-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

WE PLAY AT 7:30 SO GET THERE EARLY!!! THIS IS A BENEFIT FOR JENNIFER TEFFT SO PLEASE BUCK UP AND GIVE THE 25 BONES. THE MONEY IS GOING TO PAY HER MEDICAL BILLS. CONSIDER THIS A MORE DIRECT WAY OF SUPPORTING UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. INSTEAD OF GIVING THE MONEY IN TAXES TO THE GOVERNMENT AND HAVING IT REROUTED TO THOSE IN NEED, GIVE IT DIRECTLY TO SOMEONE IN NEED AND GET A RAD ROCK SHOW AS AN ADDED BONUS. SCORE YOU!

I'm sorry we haven't blogged for months. I am going to start blogging more frequently. I'm going to start exercising more often. I'm going to start waking up earlier and being more patient with people.

There have been a million new happenings in UselessKeysLand. Rick Parker (BRMC, Von Bondies) just finished our final mix for "Down Threw" last Sunday. We are very pleased with it. Kat Corbett from KROQ has been playing our old mix of "Down Threw" religiously; we hope to get her new mix as soon as possible. We'll upload it to our myspace within the week I'm guessing. There's been intense chatter as of late about a tour up to Portland/Seattle/Olympia. Our good friends David and Nick (Billygoat) moved to Portland recently and we miss them; we are dying for an excuse to see them so don't be surprised if we are playing a show in that neck of woods in the next couple months.

We are playing another show next Thursday, July 9th, at The Roxy. Our set time is 9pm for that show.

We love you all. Thank you for showing up to our shows and being our friends and giving us words of encouragement and assuring us that we are spending our time here on Earth wisely. We are very luck to have you. See you very soon hopefully.

The most useless key of them all,

mb

Pehrspace 11.1.08

2008-11-04T10:16:00.001-08:00

Photo Credit: LA Underground

Our Official "Salvation" Photo

2008-10-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Photo Credit: LA Underground

It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled

2008-10-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Useless Keys have been holed up in a studio in Silver Lake with producer Sheldon Gomberg over the past couple months. He's been producing and engineering the shit out of several soon-to-be-massive UK hits. "White Noise" and "It's All Made Up" have been uploaded to our myspace page that you can visit by clicking here. We also uploaded a demo version of "Down Threw" for your listening pleasure. Here are some pictures from the studio and yes, that is a man playing a trumpet submerged in a bucket of water...

This is Sheldon Gomberg. His favorite things in life are ice cold horchatas, pizza with vegan friendly toppings, a solidly performed bass line and he absolutely loves it when I place a glass full of liquid on top of his mixing console. I mean if you really want to see him cheer up, give it a try.

Meet Michael Regilio world. He's always munching on something.

So, I guess it's been a while, right? Since we last talked, we played a show in Riverside, where Rory hung out in a very heterosexual bar, we played a monday night at Spaceland with Kenan Bell, played with Eagle Winged Palace at Echo Curio (debuted new songs there) and we just had a show at The Silverlake Lounge this past Tuesday. Here's a youtube clip from that show:

Mark Shovel from Indie 103.1 gave "It's All Made Up" a spin on his local show "Check One Two" last Sunday, so we got that going for us, which is nice. This Saturday we are playing an amazing show with a solid lineup at Pehrspace in Echo Park. We will be joined by Blackbird, Billygoat, Hello Dragon, and Summer Darling. For more show information please visit LA-Underground.

Lastly, Phil Collins kicks ass. Seriously. This dude cranked out hits in the 80's like a Coca Cola plant cranks out bottles of sugar water. Do yourself a favor and watch him give it his all in the videos below. Phil doesn't lack passion in his performance. Don't even get me started about his drum sounds.

Spaceland 8.29.08 Blog

2008-09-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Nothing is better than starting a 3 day weekend (due to Labor day) off with a good ol Rock Show. I was the first UK member to arrive at the club at around 7:15ish. LSD and M.Mortals were already there, sound checking and I just sat there and chilled and waited for my other tardy band members to arrive. I was angered that the bar was not open yet but that would soon change. Guylaine arrives 2nd and we chat with the other bands for a while and decide to smoke a cigarette outside in which I see Bauer rolling down Silverlake Blvd blasting NWA's - Straight Outta Compton (not really, but would of been alot cooler if he did), Regilio shows up and bottoms out driving into Club Spaceland's semi vertical driveway entry which gave me a chuckle. We unload the equipment and sound check shortly after, things where sounding gooood. People started to show up at this point and the UK's stormed the bar to "loosen up" before hitting the stage. Mickey (our manager) and his twin bro showed up and i started to talk to them about Sarah Palin's physical attributes instead of political attributes (heh). Shelly (who is recording us at the moment) also arrived and seemed psyched to see us play the songs we've been recording in his studio live. As i head to the bar to grab a Jack and Coke i see Bauer leaving the bar with 2 whiskey's and a splash of water maybe? Idk, i noted this and used god's name in vein. More and more people started to show up and a nice crowd started to enter the venue. We took the stage at approx 9:40 and our setlist included..

Arizona State Highway
Kamikaze
Down Threw
Radiation Burns
White Noise
It's All Made Up

As far as I'm concerned i thought we killed it, my bassdrum pedal kept falling off causing me to say "shit, fuck, shit, fuck" numerous times in between songs. Apparently i hit the drums to hard but who cares? My personal highlight was White Noise i thought it was the first time we played that song the way it should be live. During this song me and Regilio were on the verge of destroying our equipment but that may of not been a good idea.....We finished our set and some people in the crowd were yelling "Bauer Power" which made me crack up. Everyone in the UK party seemed pretty happy and satisfied. A good show, good turnout, now back to the Bar. I said Hi to some friends who showed up and bought 5 shots of tequila. Now this pisses me off. I grab 5 shots and only 3 people want to take the goddamn things. What am i going to let them sit there on the table and ferment? Fuck no, i drank them....Well I'm not sure exactly what happened to everyone else's night, I left early due to an explicit text message sent to me from a female in the crowd. I'm sure that everyone else got had a grand ol' time. Stay tuned for the next episode...

The Tony Danza of the AB Stanza,

Rory Modica

Cafe Du Nord 8.8.08 Photo Blog

2008-08-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

We stopped for foods shortly after passing through the grapevine.

Is it just me or does this panda seem like he's completely full of shit?

Once we were done playing, we got fucked up.

We arrived back at the hotel around 2:00 a.m. to discover, much to our disappointment, the pool had closed. Never one to pay attention to "rules", I told the hotel receptionist that I was going to do a cannonball into the pool at 3:30 a.m. I'm a man of my word. As soon as I stuck my head above the water after my initial plunge, I was greeted by the presence of hotel security and I said, "Hey! How's it going?" The hotel employee replied, "Okay...... so...... you can speak English and I'm guessing you're not illiterate so how about you get out of the pool now?" I respectfully went back to the hotel room and drank more beer.

This is the picture Regilio took that was suppose to be me in the middle of the air in cannonball form. He was drinking a decent amount.

We all made it back to Los Angeles safely. The bands we played with at Cafe Du Nord were amazing. LSD and The Search for God were dreamy and entrancing, Hot Lunch melted faces, and Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound were incredibly nice guys that blew minds on stage. San Francisco, we'll be seeing you again shortly. Special thanks to our tour manager, Mickey. Goddamnit, Mickey!

Video Flyers Save Paper

2008-08-04T10:31:00.001-07:00

UK's

What does the goddamn line say Tony?

2008-08-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Danger week has continued to roll along for Useless Keys. Yesterday, Regilio managed to smack his shin into a fire hydrant as Guylaine and I strolled along the Venice boardwalk with him. He hobbled around for the remainder of the day. Later in the evening upon returning to his apartment, he tripped down some steps and faceplanted himself on his driveway. I guess you could say I "got caught up in the spirit of things" and sprained my ankle falling down a small set of stairs shortly thereafter. If you are ever in the Atwater Village neighborhood, I'm certain I'd be easy to spot these days; I'm the guy waddling down the sidewalk like a penguin, tending to a twisted ankle and a broken back.

Guylaine had a show last night with Sky Parade at a new venue in LA (Il Corral's old space) where she successfully blew out her eardrums. The room was all brick, incredibly narrow and her head was positioned inches away from a crash cymbal for 45 minutes. No one ever said that being a rock n' roller was easy.

Musically, UK's have been preparing new songs and tightening the set in preparation for our August shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles. We are playing at Cafe Du Nord on August 8th and Spaceland on August 29th. Our set time for both of the shows is 9:30pm. There's also been recent chatter concerning t-shirts in Camp UK. Be on the lookout for those. I hear they are Christmas 2008's "Ultimate Stocking Stuffer".

Lastly, UK's have been enamored over the past 24 hours by yet another youtube video. Meet Jack Rebney. He likes to cuss. "Get outta here you fucking flies." Personally, my favorte moment of the video is when Jack says to Tony, "Thank you very much, I appreciate that Tony, don't slam the fucking door!"

m to the b.
uk's

The Battle of Upland

2008-07-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

Oh Upland! You savvy old veteran you! You put up a fair and respectable fight, attempting to defeat your opposition with self-inflicted wounds. While I do commend thee, I unabashedly claim victory and I do look forward to future confrontations....

UK's had a show last night (Sunday July 28) at Biacci's Pizza in Upland, CA with fellow Los Angeles rockers, Hello From Reno. The day started out with meeting up at the rehearsal space around 4pm, follow by a short run through of the set and a lengthy discussion of band politics. Guylaine had to tend to a sick cat so Rory, Regilio and I drove out in the van and we met up with her there. As we drove along the 210 Highway to make our destination, we grooved to Clinic's "Walking with Thee" and discussed beer production, Marblehead, MA, how Matt Damon has made it easier for Bostonians males to get action, the origin of the geographical term "east bumfuck" among other things. Personally, my favorite story was delivered by Rory Modica (UK's drummer with a thick Boston accent) as he recounted his initial reaction to Californian's probing of his Boston accent. I'm certain this isn't a completely accurate quote but read it anyways (and be sure to read it with a thick Boston accent in mind).

"You really stand out having a Boston accent in Los Angeles. I moved out to LA and people I'd meet in bars kept trying to get me to say certain words and shit. Like this one chick kept trying to get me to say "fork". I was like, fuck that, what am I? A fucking dog?"

That was the line of the night. "What am I? A fucking dog?" I assure you Rory is no dog. He's a motherfucking drummer that blasts the shit out of the skins, kudos to you Rory.

So the van rolls into Biacci's Pizza at 6:30 p.m. and we park right to the side of a beautiful, brand new, white, PT Cruiser. Michael Regilio, sitting in the passenger seat, swings open the passenger door and absolutely creams this beautiful new car. I was already walking toward the back of the van while he did so and noticed a large man with a bushy goatee, shaved head, rushing from Biacci's toward Regilio. This fine gentleman was the kind of individual one would envision belonging to a Hell's Angels-esque biker gang. So literally within seconds upon our arrival, UK's are already being threatened with getting our asses kicked. Goddamn you run a tight ship Upland! Regilio quickly and alertly decides the best course of action is complete denial, so after a hundred and twenty seconds of saying, "No, I swear I didn't hit it" the seas of masculinity calmed and Regilio found a quiet place to ponder his newly reestablished existence. After several clandestine efforts, we detected that no serious damage was done to the PT Cruiser and breathed easier.

Biacci makes one hell of a pizza.

Our set list was as follows:

Parking Lot Angel
Kamikaze
Down Threw
White Noise
It's All Made Up

We kept the set short in the interests of the new audience and Regill's was having some "tech diffs" which cut Neighbors. In my experience, after hearing 5 songs from a band you've never heard before, audience attention starts to wane. While taking apart his drumkit, Rory managed to smash his fingernail in, causing blood to squirt all over the stage and his shirt. Upland, you fiendish beast!

After playing, UK's decided to "tie one on" with the bartender since she was already leading the way. Hello From Reno had their first show and played a very tight and energetic set. My favorite song was "Roy Orbison" which was very pleasant on the ears, made me wish I was on a beach in Hawaii, not that I've ever been.

Around 10pm, it was declared by Sir Modica that it was time to load the van. I yelled at Regilio to help out, then I bent over, grabbed my amp in a bearhug, and picked up the 70 lb amp. Then.......you guessed it! UPLAND STRIKES AGAIN!

I completely threw my back out. I felt like a voodoo doll and someone just jabbed a needle directly into the middle of my back. I put the amp in the van, winced in pain and was unable to pick up so much as a mic stand the rest of the night. Ah, in retrospect, the pain was a small price to pay for this rock and roll life. UK's made it back to LA alive and ready to play another show, which is coincidentally August 8th in San Francisco at Cafe Du Nord, be there if you can.

Lessons Learned.

1. Be careful when opening up the van doors.
2. Be careful when breaking down the drums.
3. Be careful when lifting heavy objects.
4. Biacci's has great pizza and the bartender likes to have a good time.
5. Rock n' roll is bitch and pain is a small price to pay to enjoy it.

mb
uk's

And So It Begins......

2008-06-18T18:43:00.001-07:00

Greetings fellow internet users. Useless Keys are 24 hours away from playing our inaugural show and we're feeling quite satisfied. After months of writing, rehearsing, procrastinating, sleeping, working, running, transporting, lifting, pondering, dreaming, drinking, avoiding, and accepting, we are ready to start performing. We do hope you enjoy the ride. Please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times while it's moving, and in the event of an emergency, please remain calm and wait for instructions that will be transmitted to through the loud speakers.

As for personal information that can be divulged, Useless Keys is comprised of Guylaine Vivarat (bass, vocals), Rory Modica (drums, vocals), Michael Regilio (guitar, keys, vocals) and Michael Bauer (guitar, vocals). I'm pretty sure that all 4 of us want Barack Obama to become president in January of next year. It seems to me that rich Americans have had an ample amount of time to fill their treasure chests over the past 8 years and 2008 is the year that we make the playing field a little less lopsided. All 4 of us enjoy enjoy the occasional alcoholic beverage, so we got that going for us, which is nice. We enjoy three part harmonies, even when one of us is notoriously off mark. Practice makes perfect, right? I'm trying, lord knows I'm trying.

Just for the record, Regilio's last name is pronounced- rah-jill-e-o. He hates it when people mispronounce his last name and harbors ill will until they make the correction, so you better get it right.

Okay, enough small talk. I'm sure we'll have something for you to buy soon. For now, just come to our show tomorrow at Spaceland. Rock and roll forever.

UK's

Welcome.

2008-01-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

We will use this blog as other blogs are used, to direct and inform you. Welcome, good to have you aboard.

Michael

USELESS KEYS

$5 SHOW WITH BOOTS ELECTRIC AND TWILIGHT SLEEP ON 8/18

SUNSET JUNCTION AUGUST 27TH 2PM

Los Angeles Show Added This Thursday!!

West Coast Tour Memories

West Coast June Dates

The Satellite with Asobi Seksu

new recordings on the horizon, i promise

The Satellite with Brother (UK)

USELESS KEYS FREE SHOW MONDAY MARCH 7TH

NEW MUSIC IN PRODUCTION

"We're gothic/post-chillwave funk."

Kamikaze Now Streaming on MySpace

FREE SHOW AT VIPER ROOM!!

Opening for Dax Riggs next Thursday and Friday

Sunset Junction Party at Malo

Silverlake Lounge with Twilight Sleep THIS MONDAY

LA Zoo Show: Friday August 6th

TROUBADOUR SHOW NEXT WEDNESDAY JULY 21ST

JULY LA SHOWS/KAMIKAZE 7"

*****SPACELAND SATURDAY WITH APTBS AND LIGHT POLLUTION*********

Silver Lake Jubilee THIS SUNDAY 11PM

Recent Video Blog Interviews

IS THE PAINTING CHANGING PHYSICAL EDITION NOW AVAILABLE

********SPACELAND TOMORROW NIGHT**********

NEW SHOWS! NEW SONGS! NEW ALIEN THREATS!

It's 83 degrees and sunny

"It's just that......I think you'd really like us."

FEBRUARY RESIDENCY AT THE ECHO

What up

Nutzlos Schlüssel

Useless Sweetpea

I want to die doing something great, not in an elevator.

IS THE PAINTING CHANGING

SPACELAND 8.29.09

USELESS KEYS AT THE ECHOPLEX

Pehrspace 11.1.08

Our Official "Salvation" Photo

It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled

Spaceland 8.29.08 Blog

Cafe Du Nord 8.8.08 Photo Blog

Video Flyers Save Paper

What does the goddamn line say Tony?

The Battle of Upland

And So It Begins......

Welcome.

*SPACELAND SATURDAY WITH APTBS AND LIGHT POLLUTION*****

SPACELAND TOMORROW NIGHT**