Ready! Ricochet Debuts at Demo’s Wonderland

Bending time and space, blurring musical genres and mixing realities might sound like the latest sci-fi show in TV Guide’s fall line up, but in fact it’s just another day for Bay Area band, Ready! Ricochet.

In the midst of preparing to hit San Francisco’s Hotel Utah on October 29^th, Ready! Ricochet has decided to make its worldwide debut actually worldwide in the virtual world of Second Life.   The band will be premiering it’s post-rock, synthesizer fueled music at Demo’s Wonderland on October 6^th at 7 PM PST/SLT (that’s Second Life time in case you were wondering).

How do I get to the show, you may ask if you’re not already part of Second Life. Well it’s actually pretty easy.  All you need to do is go to http://wwww.secondlife.com and create a free account.  After that you download the viewer from Second Life’s website, login and voila you are on your way to experiencing Ready! Ricochet in avatar form.  Just click on this landmark to find the club.

Anyone wishing to see the show but needing a little help to get there should contact Ambrosia Rhapsody or Demolicious Wonder before or during the show.  Hope to see you there!

from L-R Botanik Flux, JohnY Glasswing, Gina Iridescent, Capo Battitude, Skrufi Alphaville

Five Quick Questions with Ready!Ricochet

1. Who’s in the band and what does everyone bring to the mix?

Erica Liss (aka Skrufi Alphaville): As the pilot of our dirigible, I make sure we don’t wander haphazardly through time.  One wrong turn, and it’s 1987.

Gina Montel (aka Gina Iridescent):  I’m the cartographer, the one who has our paths mapped out and keeps everyone on track to the final destination. 

Rina Deville (aka Capo Battitude): I’m the designator of directions, the opener of portals.  The God of Thunder and Venus all in one.

Jeff Woodruff (aka Botanik Flux): I’m the mad scientist who shirks ethical considerations to generate the most wicked of genetically modified sounds. 

 2.Rather than asking you “What kind of music do you play and who are your influences” please fill in the blanks. (Or you can just tell me what kind of music you play and who your influences are):
If (blank) cross-pollinated (blank) and the resulting offspring were to (blank) you would get Ready!Ricochet.

 If George Michael had a three-way with Freddy Mercury and Courtney at the Folsom Street Fair, Ready!Richochet would be the offspring.

 3.  Was the visual element of the band, i.e. the video backdrop and the steampunk aesthetic, something that evolved organically, or a conscious choice from the beginning?

 We were borne out of the City of Lost Children and Oscar Wilde’s wet dream. 

4. What are you looking forward to with regards to your Second Life World Premiere?

 Virtual world domination and the virtual groupies that come with it. 

5. What would be your dream gig?

Easy.  A club with a carousel. 

 

 

 

Y Factor hits Demo’s Wonderland this Sunday

A couple of weeks ago I stayed up too late and found myself avoiding sleep by kicking around on Second Life.  I stumbled upon the open mic at The Palace of Arts and heard Jody Mubble, aka Y Factor, do  a few songs.  I was pretty impressed – so much so that I had to ask someone  if he was for real.   Club owner, BaseBeta Python, assured me he was, so I knew the next thing I wanted to do was book him for Demo’s Wonderland. 

Y Factor in Second Life

Y Factor will be debuting at Demo’s Wonderland this Sunday, September 12th at 10 pm SLT.  The music, a heavy mix of goth, metal and grunge, is all written and performed by Jody Mubble.  Guitar is his instrument of choice for live shows.  Since Y Factor was an unknown quantity to me I decided to do a quick e-mail interview.

What genre(s) help to define your music?

 My Music is a mixture of many types of music. From soft love songs to in your face beat downs. Pop, rock , techno and metal all orchestrated together in one.

Who are your influences?

Real life is my influence. Each song I write has a backward message so to speak. Each song’s words and meaning has a life lesson or folly that I take and mold into a story everyone can relate to.

How did you find Second Life?

A friend at work said he had been on here about a month and was club hopping and he heard someone playing live. When I came into SL and saw just how many people were a part of it, I  knew this was the perfect way to introduce my style of songwriting and performing. My content is something that wasn’t done much on here. Sure people played live, but to play live with  a full sound was still something foreign. I wanted to bring the fullness of a live performance here.

How long have you been playing music in Second Life?

I performed a few places since I started back in 08′, mostly small clubs  or birthdays for friends. I spent alot of time meeting people and just doing the normal sl things like exploring and shopping. I left sl for 6 months as kind of  a break from the character  I am now and created a different account. All the drama that caused me to leave …was turned into some of the music I perform to this day. In March of 2010 my RL sweetie convinced me to get back to what I came to SL for…my music. So I reactivated my account and went searching for venues that would allow me the opportunity to share with others what I create. Since coming back I have written alot of songs that dealt with my departure and my return. From the people who caused me to leave and the beautiful soul that caused my return. I  went from playing for 3 people to 30 plus people in a matter of months and look forward to writing and performing more.

Anything interesting you want to share – real life musical background? What you’re hoping to find here in the Second Life music scene, etc.?

 I want people to enjoy what they hear and to understand that what they hear to be what it is….Alot of practice and alot of thought. I used to play music for a living at one point but the scene was fading and doing covers of other people’s work honestly bored me. I wrote most of the originals we did perform so naturally writing became more important to me to write better than what we  were covering. We had a small following and a regular place to play but live music was slowly being choked out by people who forgot what real music is. (Real people playing real instruments in real-time.) What I would like to see here on Second Life would be a revisited appreciation for music that is crafted with feeling and heart behind each word and phrase. Every type of music has potential to stir an emotion or convey a message. Live music and real musicianship will always come to the surface, and hopefully Second Life will bring it back into the real world we all live in……….One Musician at a time.

 Check out Y Factor at Demo’s Wonderland  this Sunday, September 12th.  In the meantime, have a look at the RL Y Factor in his video for Can You

When Worlds Collide – The Automatic Band plays Slim’s

“Oh my god, they’re all dancing!” the young woman standing next to me said incredulously to her friends.  The group of them looked like they had stepped out of an ad for Hot Topic.  iPhones at the ready  to tweet the horror to their friends, they stared at the crowd in front of the stage; a crowd of people who probably resembled their parents and definitely not the crowd they expected to find at a band showcase at Slim’s.  I wanted to lean over and whisper “Here’s a secret: you don’t die when you hit 30. . . Or 40 for that matter” 

 The song that had all the “old folks” dancing was “Block Party” by The Automatic Band. 

 It was an odd evening where Second Life and Real Life collided, but with little impact.  There were people in the audience who may have been wishing for a dance ball, but I had no idea who they were which I found disappointing.  I was hoping to put real faces to avatar names.  Still there was no way to know who was who – and my previous belief that my avatar bares some resemblance to the real me proved completely wrong.

 On stage, Robert Keller, a.k.a. Automatic Quandry, was in full rock star mode.  “What’s up peeps?” he asked before the next song; an approving whoop rose from the audience as The Automatic Band kicked into another blues inspired rocker.  Despite the guitar difficulties Keller claimed afterwards to have experienced on stage, the set came off seamlessly, the old people danced and the young stood aside and gaped. 

 And then it was over.  I looked around at the dissipating crowd on the dance floor in a  last attempt to figure out who was who, but no one else seemed interested in making eye contact, ferreting out names or making connections.  I congratulated Auto on a great set and headed home.

The Automatic Band