Look Mexicana

Studio Update - Day Three

2011-04-04T11:21:00.000-07:00

We made sure to get to bed early (by order of J. Robbins) to ensure Matt got a lot of sleep before our final full day in the studio. While we did follow orders, it was not enough to heal Matt's sinus infection, so while we spent some time trying to get good takes, in the end Matt decided most of it wasn't usable, so we called our friend and producer Phil Martin (To Bed to Battle, Gasp Asp) who just happens to be moving to Austin this week, and it looks like Matt and Phil will be finishing up the vocals together over the next couple weeks.

With vocals not happening, we decided to move on. We finished all the guitars. Nick did some background vocals. We even got J to lay down some vox and a really cool Jerry Lewis style piano part in a chorus.

Though some of the day might have seemed rather uneventful, there were other definite bright spots. A lot of time was spent with Chaos the Cat, playing Grand Theft Auto 1, watching Matt trying to flush the snot out of his nose, layering breathe-right strips on his nose in hopes of ridding the nasally stuffiness, spending hours on twitter, etc. There's quite a bit of downtime in the studio. Probably best to bring a book.

So that's it. Matt and Phil just have to finish vocals and then we will send it back to J to mix. So stoked to get this record finished and out to you guys. We are really proud of it so far.

Studio Blog - Day Two

2011-03-30T10:49:00.000-07:00

Day two, we arrived at the studio ready to work. We pulled the amps we wanted to use into main live room and J went to work carefully placing mics to get the best sound. Matt used his Vox AC-30 and doubled with a Marshall JCM 800. Slate ran stereo with his twin and J's Ampeg Gemini I. Once we had our tracks done, J went through and did a rough mix to make sure we were getting the right sounds and bam, this thing is sounding absolutely huge, loud, and energetic.

That's what we are loving about this recording experience. J won't let us get bogged down on anything, and the push to keep the process moving, with J's mic techniques, is really capturing the energy on our live show in a way our other records don't. Our last few recordings we did over the course of a month. This whole recording and mixing process will take a total of 5 days. We are very stoked on this method and are already talking about coming back and recording with J for our next full length.

Once we knocked out a few guitar tracks we planned to start vocals, but as luck would have it, Matt's sinus infection was getting worse and we had to push vocals off to day 3. We decided to use the rest of our time knocking out percussion. We all got in the live room and laid down our hand claps. It took a minute to get them tight and as a result our hands were red and raw. We then tuned up the timpani and Nick laid down some sick parts. We tied it all together, got completely stoked, and headed back to the hotel early so Matt could get some rest and we could start on vocals the next day.

Studio Blog - Day One

2011-03-28T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well, before we talk about our time at the studio, I guess we should tell you about our journey to the studio. We booked the time with producer J Robbins (Against Me, Braid, Dismemberment Plan, Murder By Death, etc..) about a month ago, but we had to keep it a secret until the release details were ironed out. We heard (thanks to our friend Chase at No Sleep) that Into it Over It and Mansions were planning a few dates after SXSW heading towards Birmingham for our good friend Ryan Russell's birthday party/show. We had to be apart of it.

The tour was loads of fun, and so were some of the shows, particularly Waco and Birmingham, saw some old friends and made some new ones. Into It Over It and Mansions are some great songwriters and we feel privileged to know them now and call them our friends. Hopefully we can do it again sometime in the near future.

After the Birmingham show, and the exotic wing eating contest, and the hilarity that ensued as a result, we got a little sleep and hopped in new drummer Nick's Tahoe, trailer in tow, and started the 13 hour trek up to Baltimore. It was a nasty drive, we forgot about the time change and arrived at our hotel at roughly 430am. We caught a few hours rest and rose to meet up with the man himself.

J's studio is magnificent. Wood floors, wood walls. multiple isolation rooms and top of the line gear. We were immediately in awe. J himself is such a nice guy and obviously knows what he is doing. He told us how much he loved the new songs and how confident he was in how this recording would turn out. Obviously, we were completely giddy, like little kids at an ice cream truck.

We set up our amps in the isolation rooms and all played together live in the big room. Nick and Smith were totally tight, with all the inevitable kinks being worked out on the tour. With about 3 takes per song, Smith and Nick finished 5 songs in just under 7 hours.

J's suggestions were right on point. Who knew increasing/decreasing the bpm by 1 could really open up/change the energy of a song so drastically? He is such a pleasure to work with, making us feel comfortable and at home. He works very quickly and efficiently, and even with just bass/drums complete, and some scratch guitar, we are all very excited and believe this will be the best thing we have ever done. We wish we could go back to the studio right now. It's 130 AM.

We are also very excited to announce that we will be teaming up with Adeline Records (Co owned by Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day) to put out this recording. It will be a five song 10" ep/digital download, currently untitled, and it will come out sometime late summer/early fall. Expect a full U.S. tour in support. We feel very lucky to be working with such a great label and are very excited about the future of the band.

Got to get some sleep, guitars in the morning!

Look Mexico vs. Online Storefront

2010-12-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

Many new items up in our Official storefront! Pick up some rare and bad-a items just in the St. Nick of time for the Holidays!

Check out the super limited (accidental variant?) pressing up "To Bed To Battle" LP in Orange Creamsicle. Heck, this is your one stop Christmas shop! Forget Wal-Mart, they can fall on these prices! Sorry...

Look Mexico - Official storefront powered by Merchline

www.merchline.co m

We have one box (15-30 I believe) of "This Is Animal Music" in the very low pressing of Cream/Black Marble Swirl. I thought these were done a long time ago. Fake Problems(Perry House) sent us these rare b-utes recently. While you're there, you should totally pick up one of the last copies of our split with those dudes from the Under The Influence series.

Look Mexico - Official storefront powered by Merchline

www.merchline.com

Hopefully, this might keep you busy as we're finishing the writing for our next record(s). Oh yeah, and Look Mexico may have gone back down to its original four-piece numbers. Matt, Slate, Smith, and Alex. Expect some rockin' tunes.

In the meantime, up top is my dog, Samson, dressed as Batman and my neighbors dog, Sandy, as Superwoman.

Wait til I get my money right..

2010-11-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know us personally know how much time, energy, and unfortunately money we've put into this band. We've spent the better part of the last few years on the road supporting our various releases, and racked up quiet a few bills in the process.

After continuous vehicle problems during our shows in Florida w/O'Brother, and again during our recent regional shows with our good friends Fake Problems, we've decided to stay home for a little while, work our part time jobs, and take care of some of this debt. When we hit the road again in the spring, we will hit it hard and in better condition.

In the meantime, we are hard at work, writing lots of songs, and preparing to record a new record for(insert label name here), which will hopefully be out in the first half of next year. We are also planning a couple other releases (7 inch?) for early 2011 as well.

The new jams are turning out very upbeat. So stoked to get them to your ears. It's looking like a look mexico party.

We will be testing these new songs out at various shows here in Austin, TX. So if you are in town, keep a lookout for upcoming shows.

Stay tuned for updates, and maybe some sneak peeks at these new jams.

Life/reviews

2010-04-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

As I write this I'm looking out the front window of my house hoping for more people to show up at my yard sale. In roughly two weeks, I'll be moving to Austin, TX to join up with the rest of this circus. Three days after I get there, we're off on tour again (official announcement soon)!

We were feeling proud of ourselves, so we compiled some of the reviews we've gotten for TBTB. Enjoy! See you soon!

Dave

Absolutepunk
Look Mexico - To Bed to Battle
Label: Suburban Home Records
Release Date: March 23, 2010
score:83%
http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1614421

There was a time a few years ago where I was sick of hearing the next generation lack of pop, Midwestern emo, indie sensibility that was being shoved down my throat. It was like trying to retain sixth wave leftovers from record companies trying to maintain the next buck since they had "one" big breakout. With that pessimism, I bred a history lesson of bands such as Braid, Texas is the Reason and Sunny Day Real Estate. I went back to the gritty roots which were put together in passion and creativity not seen before it.

More than a decade later, I can finally say I'm happy with what's being put on my plate as a new meal. Look Mexico are now dishing out their second album after last decade's proper full length and a handful of EP's. To Bed to Battle isn't to be passed over lightly. It's reminiscent of a time where more was put into the build of a song structure and not the look of the band playing the song.

The opener eases in a repetitive, infectious chorus, "Thank you for absolutely nothing." Its falsetto doesn't seem cheap in production. It's as honest as when Davey VonBohein sang out the circular chorus in "Is This Thing On?" That honesty and Midwestern homage holds true with "I Live My Life a Quarter Mile at a Time" and the closing "Just Like Old Times" on Look Mexico's new album.

But it's the quick left turn that To Bed to Battle takes that separates it as its own, and not just a classic portrait of how we felt about our 90's idols. "Take It Upstairs, Einstein" glistens strings and twang in a band who are attempting a craft outside of its album's first two track marks. That old sound and new Midwest, Saddle Creek influence blends on "Until the Lights Burn Out?" and "They Only Take the Backroads." As the band instrumentally takes its closer to the end of the album, it feels like sun is just setting over the plateau in the back of your mind.

Look Mexico are attempting to cram what they already know how to do and what they want to do in To Bed to Battle. Fortunate enough for the listener, it works on all levels. Sure, songs like "Get In There, Brother!" and "Time for You to Go Do Your Own Thing" don't fit quite right in the sequence, but they still have their moments of a band pushing expected boundaries. The first time I heard the album, my initial thought was, "Cool, it's like if Braid grew up in Georgia." That may not be the most accurate way to describe the band's abilities in the simplest form, but one listen through and you may get a connection of how some of us miss and continue to rediscover those better days, without getting completely stuck in the past.

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Pastepunk
http://www.pastepunk.com/site/look-mexico-to-bed-to-battle/
LOOK MEXICO – “To Bed To Battle”
April 16 2010 // Posted by Jordan
I start work most mornings around 7am. For the past seven months I have had the privilege to work from home full-time, and my home office sits on the second floor of my house with a large window facing due east. One of my favorite moments each day is watching daybreak and tracking the sun as it breaks through the trees that crowd my view. On the brightest of mornings, the sun truly ushers in each day.

With that in mind, LOOK MEXICO’s To Bed To Battle has become one of a few albums that back this sunrise escape at the present time. Far from being some kind of cheery, breezy pop record, To Bed To Battle is an exercise is textures and nuanced, technically proficient indie rock (with footings in midwestern emo, math rock, and [oh how I hate this phrase] chamber pop). Nothing is lightweight in LOOK MEXICO’s musical vision, but To Bed To Battle sees value in putting cautious fluidity into action. Prior recordings may have been guilty of some unbecoming guitar noodling (see This Is Animal Music), but that’s largely smoothed out on this record and the proof is in the way the band deploys horns, keys, and other smothering techniques to beat songs into mostly linear submission like dough on the downside of a rolling pin.

That compactness squeezes any waste out of the 10 song track listing, and To Bed To Battle motors on with an unexpected agility, especially on the hook-filled “I Live My Life A Quarter Mile at a Time.” Sometimes it’s the drumming that takes center stage with a pestering busyness, and likely a measurable amount of sweat.

Call it a cheap comparison if you want, but To Bed To Battle makes me think of what might happen if music by ARCADE FIRE was run through the mental grinder of kids who grew up clutching a handful of BRAID and GET UP KIDS records. It’s as good as it sounds.

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Dryvetyme Onlyne

Look Mexico
To Bed To Battle
Suburban Home
http://www.dryvetymeonlyne.com/2010/03/31/look-mexico-to-bed-to-battle/

Music critics and fans a like have spent the past several years looking for the next big band, the next big sound, and the next big thing that’s going to “save” rock-n-roll. I have several friends that regularly bemoan the takeover of the indie universe by groups like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear, much less the ascension of flavors-of-the-month like “chillwave” and “glo-fi.” Their gripes are understandable – sometimes all you want to hear is a classic guitar-bass-and-drums setup banging out three chords and the truth, not some spaced-out jam, complete with electronic aides and annoying vocal manipulation.
To those people, I would like to introduce you to Look Mexico and To Bed To Battle. This Austin-nee-Tallahassee quintet creates the sort of righteous, unpretentious new-school rock music that combines all of the best elements of the indie and math scenes with tight grooves and crisp drums, yet is refreshingly devoid of any art-house wankery. Instead of merely sulking in the lows like an emo sad-sack or perpetually rejoicing in the highs like Bono and Chris Martin, the group knows how to expertly ride the crests and troughs of the waves it’s writing.
More importantly, Matt Agrella pens lyrics that are both clever and emotional – there aren’t any sappy sentiments present, and he’s certainly not writhing about in his own depressed funk. With “Take It Upstairs, Einstein,” he puts a fresh twist on dreaming about finding “The One” when he writes, “Well maybe a good friend is like a great story. You can pick up right where you left off. But tell me where, where is that kind of book – the book you can’t put down?” On “I Live My Life A Quarter Mile At A Time,” he talks plainly about the consequences of bad choices with the line, “You had eight or nine, a few. Getting home was up to you. Instead, got three initials added to your name.” “They Only Take The Backroads” concludes with this rumination on growing up and leaving behind one’s ugly past for something better – “Yes, I will move through the states, taking notes from the graves, then bury them right above the me I’m learning to hate, the one addicted to shame.”
Musically, I was consistently impressed with the zip and energy pulsing through these ten songs, even the slower, alt-country-tinged ones, and it can be duly attributed to the solid composition and part-writing for the tasty guitar riffs. Yes, there are horns, strings, and keys (Rhodes and organ among them) aplenty, but this is definitely a guitar record, as things shift from jangly, dischordant sections into big power chord regions with ease and without breaking up the song flow. With To Bed To Battle, Look Mexico has deftly bridged the gap between the intricacies of a Minus The Bear, the ‘90s indie-emo of groups like Braid and twothirtyeight, and the arena rock volume of a Muse-type act. With “No Wonder I’m Still Awake,” “They Offered Me A Deal (I Said No, Naturally),” and “Just Like Old Times” leading the way, this is an excellent record that finds a young band growing into its own skin – it’s adventurous without ever being outlandishly weird, as the guys know how to pursue the edges of their sound while retaining a firm pop center.

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Look Mexico’s To Bed To Battle – Fresh Indie Rock from Florida
When most people think of Florida, chaotic Spring Breaks and stretches of elderly retirees are usually two of the first things to pop into mind. Of course, the entire state isn’t just a mass of beach parties and avid seekers of Early Bird specials, but for better or worse, that’s the image that Florida tends to have. A closer look, though, reveals plenty of surprises and many hidden gems -- such as Tallahassee’s Look Mexico. The indie rock outfit is set to release their second full-length, To Bed To Battle, on March 23, and much like their home state, Look Mexico offers plenty of rewards for those who dive deep into the album.

It’s difficult to get a definite feel of To Bed To Battle, as it offers a wide variety of sounds. The opening track, “You Stay. I Go. No Following.”, is a mid-tempo jam that doesn’t try to do too much but does everything well. The verses are driven by lingering organ and a meandering bass line, with distorted guitar chords sweeping in at just the right moments. Singer/guitarist Matt Agrella manages to pull off the everyman feel as he sings, “Thanks all to your promises, we’re picking up extra shifts these days, and it’s not paying for minimum wage.” While such a line would be absurd coming from more established bands, Look Mexico still feels authentic enough to give the impression that Agrella is trying to relate with his listeners, not putting on an act.

“No Wonder I’m Still Awake” follows with a similar tempo, except steady strumming on the guitar is present from the very beginning. The track features some great guitar work, which is ironic considering at the same moment, Agrella is singing that he is “tired of playing the same chords I’ve played before.” By now, it’s evident that Look Mexico doesn’t provide the soundtrack to late nights in Miami or daytime parties at the beach, but instead offers chilled-out indie rock suitable for any time.

The next song, “Take It Upstairs, Einstein,” throws out another curveball, opening with some orchestral strings, but then following up with Agrella alone with a guitar, giving the song a classic singer-songwriter feel. The lyrics here are masterful, with Agrella singing, “Maybe a good friend is like a great story -- you can pick up right where you left off. But tell me, where is that kind of book? The kind you can’t put down.” The band also adds some slide guitar, which is a great touch, although it makes the song sound like it should have belonged on The Wallflower’s Bringing Down The Horse. Look Mexico makes the song all its own, though, with an extended orchestral break that takes the track to its conclusion.

“I Live My Life in a Quarter Mile at a Time” not only boasts a borderline excessively-long title, but a very catchy feel as well. Heavily echoed guitars result in a very dense, full sound. Look Mexico offers some of its hardest moments on this track, with some heavy strumming, crashing drums and Agrella stretching his vocal cords to the point of screaming, though it is very tastefully done.

“Until The Lights Burn Out?” slows things down a bit, opening with some light guitar picking Agrella’s soothing vocals. The song takes a while to develop, but the slow build adds an air of suspense and the melancholy feeling is palpable when Agrella wonders, “What would you say if I told you I’m giving up? No more air left in these lungs.” And just when one gets the sense that a hopeful line is around the bend, Agrella’s imaginary partner answers, “You’re not burned out, you just can’t hold the flame to make a difference.” The song continues to build, eventually leading to a lengthy instrumental break with some creative guitar riffing before the final chorus.

The next track, “They Offered Me A Deal,” brings the tempo back up, with a neat riff in the intro. This song has a bit of an early Wilco feel to it, as some horns can be heard blasting briefly in the background, and the quick strumming of the fuzzy guitars gives off an alt-country vibe. Whatever the inspiration, Look Mexico pulls it off without a hitch.

“Get In There, Brother!” follows, bringing a funky little riff and Agrella’s defiant pledge: “After years of saying please, I’m getting up off of my knees -- I’m so tired of not being taken seriously.” With more songs like this, though, Agrella and company shouldn’t have to worry about that much longer, as this is another well-written tune. Everything from a haunting organ to syncopated percussion and a catchy chorus and skilled riffing are present in this one, making its two minute, 32-second duration seem too short.

“They Only Take The Backroads” is another solid track, featuring more prominent organ work and light guitar riffing. Look Mexico drops in some studio effects during the guitar break, giving this a slightly spacey feel, but things never stretch too far out of orbit. This down-tempo track probably won’t stand out, but blends in nicely as part of this cohesive collection.

The second last song, “Time For You To Go Do Your Own Thing,” settles into another slow tempo, with the great riffing in the chorus easily standing out as the best part of the song. There aren’t too many highlights in between, but this isn’t a painful track to listen to, either.

“Just Like Old Times” wraps up the album, and from the opening notes it sounds as though Look Mexico was in the mood for a big finish. Guitars and horns form an unlikely but very pleasant combination, although everything but the drums drop out for the first chorus. Agrella steps up the lyrics on this track as well, delivering some hard truths as he sings, “You’re too old for this, little boy…why are you still here wasting time, you’ll be late for your own life. So why don’t you go put on a tie and get a job…pull tight until the air stops holding you.” The horns and guitars trade off the leading role, which features an extended instrumental jam section. This is a very strong track and a great finish.

Though Look Mexico isn’t a household name now, it’s not hard to imagine their popularity seeing a surge after the release of To Bed To Battle. While some indie rock bands tend to have strikingly similar sounds, Look Mexico breaks the mold and sounds fresh and creative. The band covers a lot of musical territory, but it’s not aimless wandering -- the roaming pays off.
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Front Porch Musings
To Bed To Battle review:
http://www.frontporchmusings.com/2010/04/04/look-mexico-to-bed-to-battle/

Forgive me, but I’ve never been a fan of Look Mexico. The Floridians turned Austinite’s music always seemed sorta silly to me. All of this was of course based on the album cover for their debut This is Animal Music which I couldn’t stand nor get past. Lucky for me, the band returned this last month with their follow-up record To Bed To Battle, and this time they equipped themselves with possibly the best album cover of the year. Oh yeah, and the songs are pretty good too.

So this March at SXSW was the first time I really heard the band. A devoted follower of all things Suburban Home Records, I’ve had their debut for years but never got around to really listening to it. When we were fortunate enough to have Look Mexico play our SXSW showcase this March, I went into their set not expecting much. What transpired over the next 45 minutes was the absolute best musical “find” of my week.
Mixing elements of alt-country and indie/emo rock, Look Mexico plays a style of music that equals part Minus the Bear, part Braid and part Saves the Day. The instrumentation on To Bed To Battle create spacious sounds featuring driving drum beats, light string harmonies and an occasional trumpet behind guitar riffs that could have been found on lost American Football tracks. Lead vocalist Matt Agrella is a great vocal talent, but is cautious not to overpower the songs with his voice and drown out the wall of sound behind him. Such evidence can be heard on the standout track “I Live My Life a Quarter Mile at a Time” which is a big hook-laden anthem that perfectly balances the rage and wail of Matt’s vocals with the hysteria of the instruments around him.

My favorite track at the moment is what sounds like Sunday’s Best to me, “They Offered Me a Deal (I Said No, Naturally)”. I love the guitar work and the blasts from the trumpet (played by Agrella) really ties the track together. It sounds familiar but altogether completely new. Lead single “You Stay. I Go. No Following.” shows off the band’s penchant for big hooks and clever lyrics where Agrella sings “It’s not paying the bills working for minimum wage”. Obvious? Maybe. But as a broke kid in his 20’s, I connect with the message.

Anyway, I really love this record and think it deserves every one’s attention. If you’re around the southwest in May I highly suggest checking them out live as they put on an incredible performance. I’m really enjoying their maturation process and really looking forward to seeing how this record is received.

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Under The Gun
http://underthegunreview.net/2010/03/07/tobedtobattle/

Artist: Look Mexico
Album: To Bed To Battle
Genre: Indie Rock
Label: Suburban Home
Score:9.5/10

Tallahasee’s indie rock outfit Look Mexico took form in 2004 but it wasn’t until their debut album, This Is Animal Music in 2007, that they gave listeners a clear vision of diverse musical territory they cover. By bridging the gap between emo pop and math rock they introduced a breath of fresh air in the indie world. Following that up with the experimental and well received Gasp Asp EP, only left fans anxious for more. Lucky for those fans, their forthcoming sophomore album, To Bed To Battle, on Suburban Home indicates their already diverse sound continues to expand with their intricate instrumentation and ability to interchange between catchy pop rock anthems to acoustic driven tunes.

Look Mexico’s use of anomalous song titles recapitulate on this record, starting with opening tack and first single, “You Stay. I Go. No Following,” which happens to be a quote from the beloved animated film “The Iron Giant.’ The opening bars alone, with Matt Agrella’s passionate voice layered over clashing drums and an abiding organ, left me in awe. Continuing with the astonishment, Agrella’s falsettos during the chorus and a cameo from Frank Turner on the bridge that led to an orchestrated break with sweeping guitar chords affirm that this track was build to please from start to finish. “No Wonder I’m Still Awake,” follows with a similar tempo and a deep bass line, on the other end of the spectrum, “Take It Upstairs, Einstein,” slows things down with deeper vocals alongside an acoustic guitar. Agrella’s noteworthy and introspective lyrics, similar to the chorus’ heart wrenching question, “Maybe a good friend is like a great story, you can pick up right where you left off. But tell me, where is that kind of book? The book you can’t put down. Am I the entertainment on a coffee table or the dusty novel by the bathroom sink?,” continue to be a strong attribute before an enduring and beautiful orchestral interlude brings the track to its conclusion.

“Until the Lights Burn Out?,” opens with light guitar picking, condensed percussion, and soothing vocals all creating a melancholy atmosphere that transcends during the questioning line, “I’ve been working hard on the same failing fire, where there’s a lot of smoke. What would you say if I told you I’m giving up? No more air left in these lungs.” The song builds up momentum with an electric piano and preceding the chorus that leads into yet another extensive and artistic instrumental break. Fortunately, the distorted guitars throughout the modern rock tune “They Offered Me a Deal (I Said No, Naturally),” and neat electric riffing in “Get In There, Brother!,” brings back the upbeat tempo. Later. following his declaration, “After years of saying please, I’m getting up off of my knees. I’m so tired of not being taken seriously,” Agrella stretches his vocal chords to an impassioned and almost screaming voice.

As the album unwinds with the organ playing a more prominent role, “They Only Take the Backroads,” exhibits a soothing and unique guitar effect filled finale, making it one of the catchiest songs on the record. “Time For You to Go Do Your Own Thing,” continues with distinguishing studio effects and wrapping up the album, “Just Like Old Times,” intertwines horns and strong guitar work for a colossal finale. Realizing the difficult truth, Agrella sings, “You’re too old for this little boy, then why are you still here wasting time, you’ll be late for your own life. So why don’t you put on a tie and go get a job. It’s right over left, right back over and through, pull tight until the air stops holding you,” before the music escalates to a crescendo instrumental break layered over a repeating rally of “too old for this.”

Whether they are belting out explosive ballads, acoustic tunes, or edgy math-rock songs, Look Mexico succeed. Surprisingly, they have remained relatively under the radar, but To Bed To Battle, is bound to push them more towards the forefront of the indie scene. From start to finish, the cohesive yet very dynamic and compelling To Bed To Battle demonstrates exceptional songwriting skills, intricate instrumentation, and profound lyrics make forimpressive follow up to much adored Gasp Asp EP indeed.

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Vegas Seven

http://weeklyseven.com/ae/2010/april/08/cd-reviews
EPIC INDIE
Look Mexico To Bed to Battle (Suburban Home)

Somewhere between the gritty anguish of Cursive and the arty guitar wallop of The Walkmen exists the expansive rock sound of Look Mexico. Expertly recorded in a pizza shop in Tallahassee, Fla., Battle mines territory already explored by earlier, more mature emo acts. “Maybe a good friend’s like a great story—you pick up where you left off,” singer Matt Agrella wonders. This versatile quintet doesn’t just specialize in clever metaphors. Blast-it-with-the-car-windows-down tracks like “Until the Lights Burn Out?” are deliciously visceral. Still, Ryan Slate’s pedal steel, Dave Pinkham’s keyboard and Agrella’s horn (trombone and trumpet) parts cause Battle to brim with musicianship. Like the band’s lush home state, the sonic palette of Look Mexico makes you feel like anything—even love—is possible.

Look Mexico vs. An Impending Release

2010-02-03T10:39:00.000-08:00

Ok folkerinos/folkerinettes.

I thought I'd compile together a couple of the last press releases to get everyone up to date on our upcoming releases.

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http://www.buzzgrinder.com/2010/look-mexico-album-to-bed-to-battle-out-march-23/

We’ve been keeping an eye out on more concrete info regarding Look Mexico’s Suburban Home debut, and now we’ve got some. It looks like To Bed to Battle will be hitting the streets on March 23.

Additionally, they’ve got a limited-edition seven-inch single forYou Stay. I Go. No Following. (with an acoustic version of They Only Take the Backroads as the B-side) coming out Feb. 23. Pre-orders start this Thursday over at the Suburban Home site.

Listen to the track @ http://www.myspace.com/lookmexico

Look Mexico – You Stay. I Go. No Following.

To Bed To Battle track list
01. You Stay. I Go. No Following.
02. No Wonder I’m Still Awake
03. Take It Upstairs, Einstein
04. I Live My Life A Quarter Mile At A Time
05. Until The Lights Burn Out?
06. They Offered Me A Deal (I Said No, Naturally)
07. Get In There, Brother!
08. They Only Take The Backroads
09. Time For You To Go Do Your Own Thing
10. Just Like Old Times

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http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/02/03/watch-look-mexicos-you-stay-i-go-no-following-cos-premiere/

Watch: Look Mexico’s “You Stay. I Go. No Following” (CoS Premiere)

By Michael Roffman on February 3rd, 2010

We’re still a month or two away until Look Mexico unveils its sophomore effort, To Bed To Battle, but the band’s doing a pretty good job at keeping us busy. Last week, we revealed that they’d be issuing an exclusive 7″ single, and now they’re back with a music video to kick around, as well. How’s that for being downright wholesome? Well, maybe just smart in terms of PR, but let’s give ‘em the benefit of the doubt.

Directed by Bobby Marinelli and drummer Joshua Mikel, “You Stay. I Go. No Following” finds the band hunting in the dangerous, boggy Floridian wilderness. But, wait… aren’t these self-respected indie-rockers benevolent to nature? Of course they are, but it’s not the idea of hunting that’s wrong, it’s what you hunt for — right? Right? Regardless, follow the adventurers and you’ll be sure to scream, scowl, and most likely laugh. Also, don’t forget to stick around for the video’s prime, non-sexual “money shot”. It’s well worth the watch. However, beware folks, the song’s downright catchy.

Sigh, that March 23rd release date can’t come soon enough.

Look Mexico has also announced dates for a spring tour, which will be highlighted by an appearance at next month’s Harvest of Hopefestival. Find all scheduled dates below.

Look Mexico 2010 Tour Dates:
02/21 - Austin, TX @ Red 7
02/24 - Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
02/25 - Gainesville, FL @ 1982 Bar
02/26 - Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
02/27 - Brandon, FL @ The Porch (early show)
02/27 - Tampa, FL @ New World Brewery (late show)
02/28 - St. Augustine, FL @ Limelight
03/02 - Athens, GA @ Caledonia Lounge
03/03 - Columbia, SC @ New Brookland Tavern
03/04 - Charlotte, NC @ The Casbah
03/05 - Raleigh, NC @ Tira Na Nog
03/06 - Richmond, VA @ The Canal Club
03/07 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Balcony of Trocadero
03/08 - Boston, MA @ Middle East
03/10 - New York, NY @ The Studio at Webster Hall
03/11 - New Brunswick, NJ @ Court Tavern
03/12 - Wilmington, NC @ The Soapbox
03/13 - St. Augustine, FL @ Harvest of Hope
03/14 - St. Augustine, FL @ Harvest of Hope
03/16 - Little Rock, AK @ Vino’s

Camo Consultant - Miles Anderson

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Oh yeah! And make sure to go pick up the March issue of Alternative Press (out now) because we got a whole page in it! Woooooo!!!!

Look Mexico vs. Holiday Sweepstakes???

2009-11-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

That's right.

We here at Look Mexico were sitting around LMHQ, decorating for the Holidays, when we thought, “Hey! We sure are thankful for our fans!” Getting in the spirit, we’ve decided to give away some rare and fun LM items to 3 deserving LM fans! How will we decide?? I’ll tell ya!

From today, Wednesday 11/25/09 until Tuesday 12/15/09, anyone who orders $15 or more worth of merchandise off our Online Merch Store will be entered into the Look Mexi-Holiday Sweepstakes! Three winners will be randomly chosen periodically over the next few weeks and then announced on our Facebook page. (For instance, one winner could be announced in a week, or maybe even sooner- just check the FB page frequently!)

What will you win?? Check it.

Limited Edition Hand Screen Printed Poster (Artwork by our very own Joshua Mikel)

Signed 11"x17" Poster

And Lastly, a one of a kind (x3) personal "Holiday Greetings" card from your buds, Look Mexico.

So! Tell your friends, add us on Facebook, and get ready for the festivities to begin! Hey, if you already have everything in the store, why not buy an early Christmas present?? Also, follow us on Twitter to catch hints on what the special "Holiday Greetings" card might be...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Check out how HUGE these tires were!!!!

Love you all.
Matt

Look Mexico vs. CMJ '09

2009-10-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

Ok. Short and sweet.

We've been having a BLAST in New York. The tour up here with Hop Along was fun as hell and the fun keeps on comin'. Tour starts tomorrow with Bridge and Tunnel, taking us back to Sunny Florida for FEST 8!

I promise I'll have one of Josh's long and beautiful updates on here soon, but for now... Indulge on THESE gems!

Look how much this guy loves Mario! I saw him on the G train today and had to share. Notice that he even looks like Mario. Mustache and all! Smith actually pointed that out. What you cannot see is that he had an NES controller for a belt buckle!

Speaking of Smith, he got TAZED a few times at The Milestone in Charlotte, NC. Willingly.

Oh yeah, and the record is FINISHED~ "To Bed To Battle" is getting mastered as we speak. Expect a single 7" out from Suburban Home by the end of the year and the LP in early 2010! HURRAY!!!

http://www.suburbanhomerecords.com/2009/10/14/look-mexico-finish-to-bed-to-battle-begins-tour-to-cmjfest/

love you.
matt

Look Mexico vs. Orlando

2009-08-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

It’s been a real long time since we have spoken. Too long really. Honestly. Especially considering all that has happened since we last spoke. I mean, you, look at you. All grown up. And us? Well, shoot, got a minute? I’ll fill you in.

We’ve been working really hard on our next album, and it’s coming together beautifully. We’ve got a planned ten tracks for this release, of which five are almost completely together, and we’ve started work on the second half, having recorded all the drums and started in on the guitars and what not too. It’s awesome. Matt laid down some of his sickest vocals yet, for a song we have yet titled, but endearingly call “thank you”.

The first batch of songs were collectively pretty sedate, but something happened in our writing process, and this second half are, well, balls out. We think you’re really going to approve, because we do ourselves. And even better, we have a bunch of stuff left over that we’re really excited about for the album to follow this one; at least the beginnings of three or four other songs.

A few weeks ago we went down to full sail to do some demos of our new stuff with the recording classes there. But before we left, Matt had to replace a couple of our bus' batteries that needed a-changin'.

We spent four days using their state of the art studios to track four songs. We learned some interesting things about the songs we're recording for this new record, and even changed a few parts. All in all, it was a solid four days.

I got to record on my new C&C drumset. It sounds like a dream.

Some of those Full Sail kids sure dress funny though. It’s okay to poke fun because they are going to be really successful, and buy more computers than I can even imagine. I snapped a few pictures...

This guy has a funny hat on.

This one wears a lot of clothes during the 100 degree summer heat! Get with it!!

Nerd transport.

Hey Slipknot called…

The Sith will rise again!

Credit card slots in the coke machines for the use of mom and dad’s credit card.

While we were in Orlando, our good British buddy, Frank Tuner, (and yes we have British friends. Lots of them) had picked up a string of opening shows with The Offspring and Sum 41. This particular show was at Orlando’s Hard Rock Live. It was pretty amazing to see Frank playing in front of over 2,000 people, when just a few months earlier he was out on the road with us. He and the always crucial John Berna got us backstage. We ate some of The Offsprings catering! Kind of like being famous.

This is a picture I snuck of the Sum 41 guy backstage. He looks just like he does in the videos OMG!!!! It’s hard to see, but I SWEAR that’s him. He <3’s Avril.

Dave and John Berna wrestled. John B won, but then I think Dave won. Who knows!? They gave us free drinks backstage!

We stayed with Matt’s parent’s in Auburndale. They always treat us like kings. They treated us to all you can eat chicken (which was surprisingly not very much. That is Smith and I were the only ones to get down more than one plate.). After that went swimming and played with puppies and everything.

The next two nights we played shows with out good friends XOXO and our new buds Dignan. Our first show in Ybor at the Crowbar was a little loose by our standards, but there was a great crowd, and we got to hang out with some of Matt’s closest Auburndale friends and also now our good friends (who are amazing), along with some other true scroots and our good buddies from Merchline and Reax Magazine. The folks at Reax magazine put together this little video for us. They are awesome!

We filled up on some oil after Tampa from a nice guy with regrettable tattoos.

The next night we played Orlando and had an epic freaking set. One of our most fun and tightest in a long time, which was such a relief. We’ve been working real hard on this album, and so getting back on stage is always a bit nerve-wracking for us. But the Orlando show was awesome.

That night we drove back up to Tally feeling pretty refreshed and focused to get back on the album. Having finished my drums, I headed up to Virginia for a few weeks to work on this production of a play I wrote, while the guys got back to tracking their instruments and vocals.

A few days later our good friend Billy Wallace (of the next disbanded Wading Girl) rolled into Tallahassee and was playing a solo show with my roomie Arnold and his band Oh! Geography. He, Matt, and Britain (Pie Party) traveled to a sly joint called Pockets to play some mini-bowling. Who knew? The next day Matt had him over to the studio to lay down some harmonica on our new record. Should be awesome.

And we’ve been busy coming up with names for our new record... Any ideas?

++joshua

----- My brand spank'n new iPhone made this jam-pic-packed post possible! Brought to you by the letter P. --- Matt

Look Mexico vs. Suburban Home Records

2009-06-03T14:10:00.000-07:00

We have the biggest news in the freakin' world for you right now!!!

Look Mexico is proud to announce that we are now a part of the Suburban Home family! That's right! We'll be releasing our next record with Virgil and his amazing crew at Suburban Home in the fall of this year! We've had a wonderful stay at Lujo Records, and cannot thank Erik and Jocelyn enough for their care and support through these last couple of years, but we know Suburban Home is the right next step for us, and we cannot be more thrilled to have such an awesome group of folks releasing our next record. How do we know they're awesome? Because we met them on our last tour!!! Sweetest dudes/dude-ettes ever!

Speaking of the next record, I just finished laying down the first seven drum tracks from our new one. Here's some footage of me looking sloppy and Auggie manning the keys:

Still don't have a name for the record yet, but we're working on it. Big thanks to John Frank and Ronald for letting me borrow their sick drum kits so I could have the sickest sound on these new jams. Our main man, August Hansen, is now in the process of mixing those tracks down so we can get to laying all the other stuff on top. Smith is slated to start tracking his bass tomorrow, and then we'll roll from there. From the way things are looking with the drums- this is going to be our most awesome record yet. We have demos of two of our songs that are set to appear on the next record up on our myspace now, but they will only be up for a few days, so peep them while you can, baby!

In other amazing news, we're working very hard to try and figure out how to make our first UK tour a reality. Our Brit friends, This Town Needs Guns, have offered us a string of shows on their home turf, and we're trying to iron out the details as we speak. That tour is shaping up to be some time in October. Don't worry, though. We'll do our best to make it back for The Fest. We hope to have more amazing news in this department in the next few weeks.

To all our Tallahassee and Florida buds- we have a few shows coming up. Friday the 19th of June we're playing the Engine Room with Damion Suomi, Oh! Geography, and Relondondo (which features our producer Phil Martin on drums and drum tech August Hansen on the guitar and vox). Then we have two shows with our buddies XOXO from Orlando and Dignan from Texas. Those dates are the 17th of July at the Crowbar in Tampa and the 18th at Backbooth in Orlando. Come one, come all, okay?

The Look Mexico crew would like to give big ups to Matt's mom- wishing her a happy retirement after thirty nine dedicated years of elementary education in Auburndale, Florida!

Also- congrats to Slate and Smith's longtime bud Alex who just tied the knot last weekend. All right!!!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks so much for the support, and stay tuned for more awesome stuff!!!!
+joshua

This is what Virgil from Suburban Home had to say about everything!

Today, I am excited to announce to the world that we have just "signed" Look Mexico. The Tallahassee, Floridians started writing music in mid 2004 having released a full length ("This is Animal Music"), a collection album ("The Crucial Collection"), and a number of EPs including a song on the first ever Under the Influence 7" with Fake Problems and one of my favorite 7"s of 2009, the Gasp Asp EP. We became fans of the band when we first spun "This is Animal Music" and was absolutely delighted that Fake Problems wanted to do their Under the Influence with them. We later met the band at the past year's Fest and have since been discussing the possibility of us working together. It is important for us to be able to get along with our bands, maybe even more important than any other factor, and Look Mexico are family. I realized it when the band were in Denver (while on tour with Frank Turner) as we shared more than a few drinks together, up front singing along to Frank Turner's set. Musically, Look Mexico are one of the few bands that everyone in our office enjoys. Their sound recalls, at least to me, early Minus the Bear mixed with some Get up Kids, 2 bands I absolutely love. They mix melody and technical precision in a way that just grabs us.

The band are currently recording what will become their Suburban Home Records' debut. They will again be working with Phil Martin and August Hansen who will be engineering and producing the recording out of a rented out basement (underneath a pizza joint). We hope to release the album in the Fall of 2009 with a 7" single prior to the album's release. Expect the band to tour like crazy throughout the UK, Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States after the release of their new albu. Stay tuned for further details and know that we here at Suburban Home are absolutely positively excited to be able to work with such a talented band.

Right now through the weekend, you can listen to 2 demo recordings of songs that will be featured on Look Mexico's upcoming album. Just visit their Myspace page to listen to the songs.

While waiting for their Suburban Home Records' debut, I recommend you check out the following sites:

Look Mexico's Blog (they are always updating the blog with studio updates, tour diaries and more)
Look Mexico's Myspace page
Look Mexico's Facebook page
Purchase Look Mexico vinyl (Through this really cool webstore called Vinyl Collective)
Lujo Records (Great Label responsible for most of Look Mexico's back-catalog)

Look Mexico vs. Tallahassee

2009-05-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Alright. Matt here, making my debut on the writing side of the blog! I will apologize ahead of time for this not being too lengthy, but I'm actually heading over to our "studio" (the quotations because it's a basement under a pizza shop that we rent out) to finally set up and record. Woo!

Over the past month, we've all been hard at work (literally at work- like jobs), makin' the big bucks. Well, that is when we're not practicing and writing. Too bad we don't get paid to make music! Ha.

Dave's uncle let us borrow some amazing preamps and microphones to add to our gear lists and Dave has been fixing a few of them up. He also modded several of his own mics and REALLY souped 'em up. I'll let him tell you about it all later.

ANYWAYZ. We start recording tomorrow! Starting with 8 songs, we'll have another 6 or 7 to record in about a month. And no, we're not making a rap album with 21 tracks on it. At the end we'll pick the best 10 for the album and probably blow up the extras.

Awesome!
matt

In the meantime, here are some videos of my new dog, Samson, playing with other puppies. (Sorry don't have a lot of band footage for this one)

Look Mexico vs. Disney World

2009-04-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Okay okay okay!

We’ve been back from tour for a few days, but here’s the highlights!!!

Our show in Lawrence, Kansas was the freakin’ bomb! The Replay Lounge again handed us out our most attractive paycheck of the entire tour, and it’s always a pleasure to play that place.

The next day we drove to Dallas. The show at The Door was pretty righteous. A solid showing of folks there to see us, and we rocked it real hard. I had a drum riser for my drums, which is always kind of embarrassing. I got to see my good friend Jules, who is an amazing filmmaker. Other than that- Matt went down the street and heard a real amazing band that was playing a city festival there. (Sarcasm). They had a song called Tel Aviv in which they shouted Tel Aviv over and over. (Also sarcasm).

After that we drove the crap home! In the middle of the night we found some amazing vegetable oil behind a Chinese buffet that lasted us the rest of the way to Tallahassee.

The tour all in all was a success. We came back with a little green, some amazing stories to tell, and energized and eager to get to tracking this new record. We were so stoked to see our crowd sizes steadily grow from our last treks across the states. And even more encouraging, we played with a number of bands out there that told us that we were one of their favorite bands and biggest influences. That’s a real amazing thing, and it always gets us buzzing to hear stuff like that. A huge thank you to everyone who came out to these past shows, and thanks for bringing friends too. It was one of our most comfortable tours yet.

A few days after our return we headed down to Full Sail (an arts school in Orlando, Florida) at which we spent three days tracking four of our songs with four separate recording classes. The sessions went very quickly, but we laid down real solid demos of three of our new songs, and a new version of “I Like Being a Millionaire, You Will Too Believe Me.” You can expect to hear those demos in a live stream some time in the next couple of weeks on Punknews.com and the new version of Millionaire should be uploaded to our myspace. It promises to be a bit more, how should we say… balls out.

On a day off from recording, our main man Ian got us passes to go to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM Studios) through his mother that works at the Disney Parks. A big thank you to the Kutch family for letting us sleep at their place, and getting us those tickets. Also thanks to Slate and Smith’s long time friend Navid, for letting us crash at his place and making us some of the best popcorn we’ve ever had.

We had a real awesome time at Disney. I think all of us have real fond childhood memories of the spot. To mark the occasion, Ian bought us a round of beers inside the park. It was kind of surreal. We saw the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, went on Star Tours (the Star Wars ride), Tower of Terror, and Muppets 3D which is still hilarious after all these years. Dave was real scared on Tower of Terror- even though he likes to think he wasn’t. I put together this little video of our time there. Ian took all the video with his digital camera. Disney World RULZ! Thanks Mama Kutch!!

We came back to Tallahassee and had a few practices where we locked down a fresh new track that will appear on this new record. We also started work on the infamous song two- and may have cracked the case as to why that song was giving us such trouble. (We just needed to speed it the crap up and make it ROCK AND ROLLLLLLLL!) Thankfully enough- our frustration with song two has acted as the catalyst for a number of other songs we’ve written thus far for the new record.

After about a week back, we made our way back down Florida for a show at the University Of Florida Campus in Gainesville. We’re all FSU alums- man did we have them fooled- I’ll punch a gator right in his brain.

It was an awesome show in their outdoor amphitheater. We did feel a bit bad though- the UF students had to set up a huge lighting rig for our show. It was a bit immodest for our tastes, and it weighed on our collective conscience since those dudes had to spend their night setting up and striking lights and sound equipment (sans pay I am sure). The show was nonetheless a bad A success, and we felt for once that we could rock a bigger area with no problems.

That night we made our way over to The Top and The Atlantic where our buddy Cam (No Idea/ Southern Lovin’) let us in the show FO FREE!!! Playing were Anchor Arms, Gatorface, and a few other bad-A bands. Gatorface’s drummer, Richard, used to play for the band New Mexican Disaster Squad, and is also known under the penname Horsebites. If you’re not familiar with him, he does amazing design stuff, and it was my first time meeting the design juggernaut. He’s a real awesome dude. We also hung with our good bro Tony from No Idea Records, where we locked down our spot at this year’s The Fest, and I will again be designing a t-shirt. After the show (again with Ian Kutch and now accompanied by his brother Paul), we partied hard, as per usual when we make our way through Gainesville.

The next day we spent about five hours in a Tire Kingdom getting some simple maintenance done on our bus. After that we made our way down to Tampa for our show at The Crowbar. The show went real well. And it felt good when the crowd that for the most of the night had been clinging to the walls, made their way forward to get close and comfortable to us. We played with our long time buddies In Passing, to whom we owe a great deal to for getting folks out to our early shows in the Tampa and Brandon areas. We also played with this real awesome band from the area called Anthony and the Grapes. Solid musicians writing solid music. Hope to play with those guys again soon. We drove all night back and arrived around eight the next morning.

Dave, Matt, Smith and Slate returned to their glamorous restaurant jobs. Here you can see some little characters Matt fashioned with a coworker on a particularly "busy" night.

I head out to L.A. this week to get some work done with a friend, and when I return we’re going to start laying down the drum tracks for the first five songs for our upcoming record. We’re freakin’ stoked! We have all of May, June and July basically off , but might take a little run through Florida some time in June/ July and a Tallahassee show there in the mix too. Our main man Phil Martin is giving up any partying until this baby gets done, and our good buddy Auggie (ex One Small Step For Landmines drummer) is going to be drum teching on the record. (The same production team behind Gasp Asp).

In other news:

I ordered a new drumset from C&C drums. They make amazing kits. It’s going to be turquoise sparkle. I am so pumped about it, I could punch a whole bunch of idiots in the face. Sadly- it won’t be done for a few weeks, so it may not appear on the next record.

I have a play I wrote going up in Amherst, VA this July at Sweetbriar College with Endstation Theater Company (www.endstationtheatre.org) It’s called My Brother’s Knife and it’s about an old rock and roller whose suicide attempt is thwarted by a loose cannon cop that forces the suicider to start a rock and roll band with him. It should be awesome. If you’re in the area- hit me up, and I’ll get you tix.

All right, dudes. Thanks for reading. More soon.
+joshua

Look Mexico vs. Frank Turner

2009-04-12T18:30:00.000-07:00

Wassssuuuuup? Here’s a video of some of our time in California and a look at our studio session for Lujo’s Choose Your Own Holiday comp- for which we recorded Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

We played Thee Parkside in San Francisco. It’s one of our favorite places to play. Always a good crowd, super professional staff, and killer sound. My childhood friend Tony showed up, as well as our friends from Tallahassee Kenneth, Dave Geis, the Say It Twice boys John and Matt and friends. It was our last show of the tour with Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts, and we bid them farewell and thanked them for an insight at true musical professionalism. In our few conversations with them they unloaded a wealth of knowledge and insight of being self-sustaining musicians.

That night we crashed with a friend of Frank Tuner’s and Ian, Matt, Smith, and I slept on the bus, tired enough to make it quite comfortable. We woke in the morning, found some coffee and began the long haul to Portland, now with our British tour buddy Frank Tuner riding along. From our few days out west last summer with Frank, we knew we’d like him, but the coming days with Frank riding along would only fan the fire of our infatuation with that “chap”. Highlights: we talked about important things with Frank like Dame Judi Dench, how sad he was when his British mate The Crocodile Hunter took that sting ray barb to the heart, British Office vs. American Office, why British people call fries chips and chips crisps, the amazing British cartoon character Rocko from Rocko’s Modern Life, popular British idiom like “jog on” and “quit bitchin’ my shit” among a slue of fun cross cultural topics. Needless to say, we are deftly keen to all things British. Thanks, Frank Turner.

We made it to Portland in the early hours of the morning and holed up with our friend Jordan. We made quick work of making his nice new pad smell like bum pants. Our buddy Jordan is one of those rare souls who open their doors completely and whole-heartedly to us every time we cross paths, and we are lucky to know him.

After about three hours of sleep we headed over to the Wieden + Kennedy advertising headquarters for a radio interview set up by my Florida State friend Simone (who is now interning at the advertising juggernaut’s headquarters). That gal is going places. The interview went very well, and you’ll be able to hear it online here.

That night we played a killer coffee house/ venue called The Backspace. They treated us very well and the show was awesome. Lots of attentive applauding folks. Frank closed out the night with a killer set, and was accompanied by our very own David Pinkham who played a ripping harmonica solo on one of Frank’s new songs.

Later that night Jordan and Ian treated us to a wild go at Portland’s night life. We will leave it at that. Ian caught a cab to the airport around six A.M. for his return flight to Orlando after three months in the northwest. Sad to see him go, but so nice to see him walk away. Not sure if that applies…

After about another three hours of sleep, we woke up again very early to make our move to Nampa, Idaho. We spent all day in the van, and arrived to The Flying M a bit late. Our performance wore our tired van suffocated personalities like campfire smoke in a sweater. After the show, we took our time loading out, desperate to not get back into the cave of our bus to again hit the road. The venue again treated us very well, and I recommend stopping through if your tour needs a stop in Idaho.

We drove all night to Salt Lake City and again arrived, in the words of the great Bob Segar, strung out from the road. Somewhere between 5 and 6 a.m. with Smith at the wheel, we were caught in a nasty snow storm that took our road visibility to about zero. One cavalier truck driver tried his luck, and we later saw him t-boned on the side of the road. We had a quick interview at the Weber University radio station with our new buddies Matt and Shay, at which our Slate and Matt plucked out acoustic versions of “You Ever Been…” and “You’re not Afraid…” I played the knee slap and the scotch tape holder.

We played our first show of two a few hours later to a mild but attentive crowd, and had a solid show. Following that show we rode over to our second show at a bar down the road. And there in the crowd of about fifteen, four of which were the other band, four of which had seen us earlier that day, and the rest could care less if a band was playing or not, we were struck with the stinging backhand of hubris. With no real local support, beers that only pack a punch of at most 3.0% alcohol (due to Salt Lake legislation), and the realization that Salt Lake is not a town anyone should try and play two shows in one night at, we packed up our stuff and checked into a motel down the way, much more bloated than drunk from the six pitchers of water-beer the bar offered us as consolation prize. High point- we got to play with the tight band Shark Speed.

The next morning, we helped ourselves to Super 8’s continental breakfast and hit the road again for another blistering drive. At this point we’re so excited about making it home. The routing and time frame for this tour has been disastrous, and if we weren’t running veggie oil, we’d be coming home in the red. But thankfully we like each other enough, the shows have been encouragingly attended, and our shuttle bus is supremely comfortable.

Shortly after we arrived in Denver, we stopped off at our friend Virgil’s place, the Vinyl Collective/ Suburban Home headquarters. It was our first time at the spot, and Virgil snapped a photo of us with our favorite records he carries. The spot is staffed by an awesome group of folks, and Virgil is yet again another one of those dudes we are lucky to know.

The show in Denver at The Marquee Theater went very well. We were treated exceptionally well with drink tickets, food vouchers, a green room, an amazing guarantee, and a real healthy welcoming crowd. We played one of the most energetic rocking sets of the entire tour, and I broke a cymbal. Sometimes things like that can quickly be under-rug-swept in the face of an amazing show, and so it was.

Here are a couple vids Virgil took!

It was our last show with Frank Turner, and we stood front and center singing at the lengths of our breath to all the words we learned and a few we didn’t. Dave again played a ripping harmonica solo, and Frank finished to very pleased audience. Denver rocks. After a few hugs goodbye, Frank, that amazingly hard working Brit, was again out of our lives. Ah, what a dude. Hopefully we will make it to his side of the pond later this year. More on that to come post recording our next record.

Dave has a number of family members that live in Denver, and so we stayed with his warmly welcoming Aunt and Uncle. We shared a Jameson whiskey and ran each other through our favorite youtube videos. Patrick Stewart on Extras, David Goes to Dentist, The amazing rock band from Fort Worth Texas Complete, and Dave’s uncle- a long time musician- delivered a special gem of youtube hilarity in the video “Korean Drummer Steals the Show.”

With a big thanks to Dave’s aunt and uncle, we set sail for Lawrence, Kansas for our show at the replay lounge.

In other Look Mexico news- our best friends Fake Problems are about to embark on a supporting tour with The Riverboat Gamblers. And recently confirmed our other best bros Bear Colony just picked up a string of dates with mewithoutYou and The Dear Hunter. Two amazing tours, and plenty of opportunity to catch some great music near you.

Thanks so much for reading. More soon!
+ joshua

Look Mexico vs. The Road Again

2009-04-04T18:36:00.000-07:00

Back on the road! We made it out of Austin catatonically tired from the three full days of partying, and headed deep into the long stretch across west Texas. If you’ve never had the displeasure of taking the trek across that part of the state, it is safe to say it’s one of the straightest most boring drives one could subject themselves to.

We rolled into Phoenix for our show at Chyro arts. It was probably the worst shows of the tour thus far, and to follow at the heels of such an awesome SXSW weekend, it was straight up saddening. When you’ve been a band for four plus years and have seen your audiences steadily grow- to be suddenly faced with a sparse attendance of around 13, it’s a bit hard to take. Our good friend Tracy showed, and it’s always nice to see that bro. He’s sports one of the few Look Mexico tattoos out there so far. And one of my best friends Clint, with whom I played in Kids Like Us with, and who now is studying entomology at The University of Arizona, also was in attendance. We stayed the night at Clint’s- which was pleasingly uneventful in comparison to our first visit with him at which we battled a black widow spider and a scorpion that we found in Clint’s yard. The black widow won. Insects are freaking awesome. Clint is freaking awesome. The next morning we picked some oranges from a tree in his yard. They were delicious.

Our next stop was San Diego. We rolled in very late (due to a few curvy mountain passes) to the show and ran one of the quickest set up, play, take down cadences we’ve ever run. We played a solid show to a very attentive crowd. We were again floored by the musicianship of Steve Soto’s backing band the Twisted Hearts and the bitingly witty lyrical stylings of Frank Turner.

The venue, The Flying Elephant, which is owned by a member of Flogging Molly treated us very well, and the folks there were freaking awesome. We also met up with our main man Ian who had just finished a job working as a marine fisheries observer on a crab boat out of Dutch Harbor Alaska. Ian is one of our dearest friends from Tallahassee. Matt crashed in his bed for a few months when he was between homes. He is the most solid of scoots. He took this amazing picture at sea that I’m trying to convince him to enter into photo contests.

That night we rode up to L.A. buzzing from the show and excited to have Ian riding with us to Portland. We crashed the night at another one of my best friend’s, Travis’, place. Travis handled the animation on our “You Come Into My House While I Sleep?” video as well as cam-opping for our “Guys I Need a Helicopter” video. He’s one of my favorite people to work with professionally, and I think he will be a lifelong collaborator.

The next day we woke, saw some sights around L.A. including the Hustler building which features a towering bronze statue of John Wayne at its entrance, simply epic. Then we made our way to the show at the infamous Viper Room. The place was packed, and we had a guest list of over twenty folks. A few record label dudes, and a whole butt load of my friends from Florida State. Most of the folks I had met through the school of theater and film schools at FSU. We played a real fine set, not perfect, but a very solid show under the given stressful circumstances. We had all intentions of making it to the Cha Cha Lounge in Silver Lake for the after party, but I got caught up handling money stuff and had to turn our bus into in ipso facto party lounge, booze supplied by Trader Joes and their amazingly economically baffling two dollar bottles of wine; the “two buck chuck”. For the record, Jenn Oakley, Ben Hayes, and anyone else who went to the Cha Cha that night- I am so sorry we didn’t show. The night wailed on as Travis, Ian, and the Look Mexi-bros did it up L.A. style. Needless to say, we were wrecked when we woke in the morning to begin our trek to San Jose. We always have an epic time in Los Angeles. Oh L.A., like the statues of a cinema hero sbronzed outside the megaplex of pornography, you are a veritable buffet of unabashed decadence and American splendor.

It’s always a bittersweet thing to leave L.A. On the one hand it is the epicenter of entertainment brimming with some of my favorite friends I’ve ever known, but on the other hand- it’s one of those cities that fall in the ranks of places we could never live because we would get absolutely nothing accomplished.

After a deathly tedious drive up California’s torso, and a short stop for a bit of strength training, we arrived in San Jose for our show.

It was all right, but not a whole lot to speak of other than our label heads, and dear friends, Erik and Jocelyn showed up with Jocelyn’s amazing folks with whom we crashed the night in the most comfortable digs we have had all tour.

The next day we woke up early and headed over to a close studio Erik had contacted to record a rendition of Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman” for Lujo’s annual holiday compilation. It was a long day in the studio, but we had a killer session, and think the track will make a real fine addition to the compilation that will hit shelves later this summer. Ian, Smith, and I took advantage of the bay scenery, taking a nice jog around the surrounding lake and bay area. Real beautiful. Special thanks to Erik and Jocelyn for buying me some killer comic books (for research of course), stuffing our bellies, and Jocelyn’s parents for housing us an treating us so well. Jocelyn took some photos of the recording session and us getting some oil. You can see those here!

In other Look Mexico news- the second edition of the blog I wrote about our veggie van is up at inconvenientyouth.org – check it out!

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, dudes! More to come.
+joshua

Look Mexico vs. SXSW

2009-03-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

Freakin’ tour! We rolled out of Tallahassee around six? Seven? Or eight p.m. on Wednesday with two full tanks of vegetable oil bound for our first couple of shows in Austin, TX. We drove all night, three hour shifts, and made it to Houston Texas around nine in the morning. We crashed at our good friends Eric and Val’s place from I Heart U Productions, and Eric was kind enough to let us get a quick practice in at his band’s, O’Pioneers, practice space. Following practice, we loaded up and hit the road.

South By Southwest was ridiculous. Hands down some of the most fun we’ve had in a good long time. Enough fun, in fact, to make us consider a future move to the music hot spot.

We arrived and met up with our friends at Amp energy drink, who gave us dangerous amounts of their product, and then caught up with our dearest bros Fake Problems and loaded in for our first show at Plush. We played after Consider the Source and Frank Turner. It was a real tight space, but we made due and played an all right set. Particularly in thanks to our main man John B., who helped keep folks off the dude’s pedals and cords. Our new Austin buddy Jerome, was front and center (um, mildly intoxicated) singing along, and it was real nice to know we had some friends in the audience. We were followed by our good friends Constants, to whom we owe our vegetable oil salvation. They owned and have gotten so tight and full as a three piece. Thanks to James from Consider the Source for getting us on that show.

Following the set, we took to the streets of Austin for Thursday night’s festivities. We followed Fake Problems into the artist lounge- which we would do all weekend- helping ourselves to free booze and fruit drinks… yep… fruit drinks.

Good and tired from the long drive, show, and party times, we crashed on our Tallahassee bros, Matt and Costa’s, Motel 8 floor. Those dudes are real solid.

We woke and made it over to our second showcase, the Consequence of Sound day party. We played a fine show amongst a real healthy line-up: Sybris, Gringo Scarr, among others. Oh yeah and Rachel Ray’s husband’s band. Yep… you got it. Rachel Ray- as in 30 minute meals. She failed to show, and he and his band failed to be any good. The showcase was a lot of fun though, and we are real lucky that Dan, Mike, and Alex at COS are solid enough dudes to have helped us get on that one. Not to mention we got free PBR.

After the show we rolled over to the Amp energy drink’s Rock Paper Scissors battle. The winner would walk away with five grand. Spoiler alert: we didn’t win. Smith put up a valiant effort, but was cut down in two sets. Matt, who adopted the RPS nomen “The Barber” won his first battle and miraculously by some stroke of luck or pulled strings, made it to the final eight. I, in the meantime, won five dollars from a busty babe bartendress in a side game.

The barber’s reign at the top was short lived, as he fell to the soon to be winner, and we left the tournament sad for the loss, but harboring a great deal of pride for the journey. NOT- the barber was f-in pissed. He’ll be back next year and cut their dreams.

That night we picked up a house show that our new buddy Jerome put on. It was freakin’ awesome. Hot dogs, keg beer, good people, and Jerome’s band “The United Snakes of America,” were both kind to us and a real awesome rock and roll band.
That night we got our party on with our friends Fake Problems. We crashed the artist lounge again, and were the last to leave. It seems we still have things to talk about when the beer dries up.

The next day we partook in the Austin Festivities yet again, catching sets from our friends Slow Claw and One Small Step For Landmines. Amazing to see those dudes. Smith and Slate later caught a set from Cursive which they hailed as “f-ing awesome.”

That night we rolled over to catch the Fake Problems set. Matt played horn along with them, having written the horn stuff for their latest record “It’s Great to be Alive” released earlier this year on Side One Dummy. They owned, as usual, and we stuck around following the set to again partake in the free booze and food that was offered up at their showcase spot. We eventually made our way to the Vice party, and well… things got raucous. Highlights- Casey Lee puked in a beer bin. Frank Turner (from the U.K.) got a tattoo of Texas. Party. Party. Party.

The next morning we woke and bid farewell to the sweet Fakers over a hearty lack luster meal at Denny’s, and hit the road for San Antonio.

That night we played the best set of the tour thus far. Also playing the show was Frank Turner, who wailed, and punk rock legends Kepi Ghoulie from the Groovie Ghoulies, Kevin Seconds, from the legendary 7 Seconds, with his folk project. And Steve Soto from the legendary Adolescents. It was our first show on our tour with Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts, and we were real impressed with their effortless musicianship.

It’s been a solid tour thus far. After our short stay in Austin we have been seriously considering the option of relocating to that musical hub. There will undoubtedly be more on that to come. We’re in route to a show in Phoenix tonight. We drove all night. Smith and I are coming down with something… but things are still looking good. Thanks for reading. More to come.

+joshua

PS- Dave has been cooking a bunch of stuff in the crock pot.

Look Mexico vs. HOH Fest

2009-03-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

So last week we played the Harvest of Hope Fest in St. Augustine. It was freaking awesome! We stopped by Slate’s parent’s place for a real fine meal his mom prepped for us, and then made way to the festival. We arrived punctually, signed in about four hours before our set, and were so pleased to find that we had gotten a very large write up in the HOH Guide Book, along with a Lujo Records ad for Gasp Asp on the opposite page. We met up with our friends Tony and Cam from No Idea, Nate and the Merchline dudes, Eric and Val from O’Pioneers, and Matt’s, Smith’s, and Slate’s parents all showed up to support.

(courtesy of ceephoto)

We did have a bit of a messy start to the night though. Our keyboardist Dave left Tallahassee around six o’clock for our set scheduled for at nine fifteen. That would have just barely been enough time to make it, but alas, it was the beginning of spring break for college kids all over, and there was plenty of traffic. With about ten minutes until our set, more stressed out than we’ve been for a long long time, we had to compromise our set and play a completely new one. We had practiced all week, and had incorporated three completely fresh songs into the set, but all three of them feature Dave. So we had to revert back to stuff we played as a four piece. We took to the stage a bit ill tempered, but after the first song, amazing crowd, and beautiful smiling singing familiar faces beaming up at us, it was hard not to put all that mess behind us. We played, if I might say, a real fine rock and roll set. It was so much fun and such a relief that the night wasn’t botched. Dave apologized to us profusely as we got off the stage, and all’s well. Granted, he probably won’t live that one down for a very long time.

The line up for the festival was incredible. I got a chance to see Girl Talk, Propaghandi, Lucero, Summerbirds in the Cellar, Less Than Jake, Against Me!, JohnVanderslice, The Mountain Goats, and Tilly and The Wall, among others.

After the show Smith and I took a spin on the whirl-a-gig carnival ride. It was a real fine bro- date, and I captured it with my phone. Later Smith went again with Matt. Smith is a big fan of the whirl-a-gig. Matt also captured it with his phone...

I think the stand out band of the weekend was Monotonix from Tel Aviv, Israel, who are hands down the most rock and roll band I have ever seen (we had the pleasure of playing the Summerbirds in the Cellar CD release show with these dudes over a year ago, and were amazed by them then). They wrap their arms around something more rock and roll than any band from the states could pull off without seeming a bit contrived. This three piece hurls their bodies across the stage, out into the crowd, ripping off their shirts, moving their drumset from place to place, as the singer crowd surfs like a drunk monkey, lands, chugs a beer out of some dudes hand, and hangs on to anyone within arm’s length. I caught wind from a friend that after our show in Orlando with them that the band offered him some drugs and led him to their rental car, in which they had cut out some of the carpeting to hide their whatever. Rock and Roll. If you get a chance to see these dudes, do it. If that opportunity doesn’t present itself- check out their youtube videos, and you’ll get a sense of what I am talking about.

On Saturday we were treated to an amazing meal by the Smith family, who live in Jacksonville. Afterwards we made it back to the festival for good times with our friend Nate and the awesome dudes at the Merchline booth who brought along some awesome yard games, and tons of candy and beverages. Those dudes are awesome. It was a stellar weekend. Only regret- we didn’t get to stick around late Sunday to see our good bros Fake Problems. Luckily they’ll be out in Austin for SXSW the same time as us.

The last week we’ve been working hard on demoing two more tracks. If you’re keeping count, we’ve demoed four completely- and have them in a very solid spot. We have about four other songs we have yet to demo for the new record. Yesterday we laid down some bell tracks, drums, and guitars for the forth of the new demos. We’ll hopefully have those squared away to show off before we head out on tour. We are super stoked about this record. Matt said last night, “Sometimes I listen to Gasp Asp just to be proud of it. I think I may listen to these new tracks because I honestly want to listen to them.” And I think that’s how we all feel.

We leave for tour on Wednesday with our first show in Austin on the 19th. It’s going to be awesome! Stay tuned. More blogs from the road to come!

+Joshua

Look Mexico vs. Look Mexico

2009-03-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

It’s been a busy few months for us dudes here at the Look Mexico camp. If it seems like you haven’t heard a whole lot from us lately, that’s because we’ve been locked in a basement… literally… kind of.

We’ve dropped proverbial anchor in an old mattress shop below local 'za hot spot, Decent Pizza. It’s an amazing space; roomy, warm, and acoustically brilliant, especially after all the work Matt and Dave did on soundproofing it. We’re talking hours and hours of hard labor on sound panels, and some heavy-duty sound proof doors so we can practice late into the night. Usually until 1 a.m. before we start waking the dead. (The space conveniently backs up to a funeral home.) From the looks of it, the spot, which we’ve endearingly named “The Magic Cave,” will be our home for a while. After finishing up our tour last November, we’ve stayed static in the cave, meeting four to five times a week to write our next full length. You can catch a look at The Magic Cave in our video for the first track off our EP Gasp Asp, “You’re Not Afraid of the Dark, Are You?”

Prior to our move, we had already started working on the first track of what we hope will be a batch of about twelve songs, ten ultimately making it to the next LP. It’s the track “Just Like Old Times,” and you can see an early rendition of it here, documented by the folks at Bionic Ear in Orange County, California. Since that recording, we’ve made some serious instrumental additions and changes, and really spruced the song up. We’ll be playing “Just Like Old Times,” out on our next tour.

The second track we tried to write didn’t come so easily, and we entered into a bit of creative constipation.

It’s interesting being a band at this point; on a label, with a few releases, the ability to book healthy tours, a lot of great press, but still working steady jobs and a whole heck of a lot of collective band debt to boot. We’ve of late experienced a number of folks approaching us saying things to the effect of, “you guys are getting big.” Of course that’s a real nice thing to hear, but for us, it’s been close to five years of hard work, and everything comes so gradually. Ryan Slate has been delivering pizzas, while Ryan Smith puts in long hours at a pizza joint too. Dave and Matt work at Fusion Café in Tallahassee; Dave waiting tables, and Matt working in the kitchen. And I’ve been working hard to pay the bills with my design work at sharkguts design. Three nights of the week we write from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m and allot a few hours during in the afternoon on other days because that’s what our work schedules permit. And so, as we started writing more for the record we could feel the great weight of our hard work pressing down upon us. We found ourselves caught in the terrible mindset that everything we did from that moment on had to be golden, because WE HAD TO WRITE AND INCREDIBLE SOPHOMORE FULL LENGTH. (Cue lightening).

As anyone in music, writing, or art can attest, you don’t strike gold on the first go. Writing is tedious. It’s rewriting. And so we spent a long while slamming our heads against our instruments, getting stressed out about this second song- and then finally one day we stepped back and started writing the third song. And then the fourth. And things came easier, and we found a way to compromise and swallow our collective pride, and we wrote a fifth, sixth and seventh song. And it’s hands down our best stuff to date.

What can you expect? Well, it’s definitely smarter. Not smarter as in mathier, but smarter in the sense that we’ve found new weave, a new groove.. The give and take of the instrumental play is something that makes this latest batch of songs so exciting. We’re experimenting with dynamic and modesty, simple and chaotic. It’s certainly more mature. And the addition of our latest two members, Dave Pinkham and Ryan Smith (who, contrary to some reviews, have not been a part of the writing process up until now) have brought so much new material and life to the mix, that it’s hard to image we made due without them.

For a special behind the scenes look at the recording process, click here.
Okay, just kidding. That’s a video of Matt lighting Smith’s back hair on fire.

We demoed two of the tracks, laid down rough recordings of the rest, and we’ll hopefully be playing at least four of them on our upcoming tour. We’re playing the Harvest of Hope Fest on the 6th. After that we come back for about a week then head out to Texas for South By Southwest. Then we make our way to California, up to Portland, and then back home to begin recording this next record with our main man, Phil Martin in The Magic Cave. It’s an exciting time. We’ll see you out there.

Thanks for reading. Stay turned. More updates to come.
+joshua