The Fig Mints

So I go to college, right? Well, kinda… I attend classes at a community college in Utica, NY. Anyway, I was approached by my good friend and boss about producing a song that members of the nursing department wrote to go with a video that would be entered into a national contest, so I figured why not? So I recorded and mixed the song for them… And a fellow student filmed the video, which was produced by my friend and boss who did the fitness ninja stuff that you can see in the videos section… So anyway the video was entered into this national contest… And it kinda won. Weird. Maybe I should just hang up the original music and start producing other peoples’ stuff, eh?

So I figured I’d share it with y’all cos it put a bit of wind in my sails… It ain’t rock and roll by any stretch of the imagination, but these ladies are feelin’ it and I’m proud of ‘em.

In other news, the summer will bring much recording, and hopefully two EP’s and a full album from the Figs. Thinking about vinyl, but I ain’t got the dough… I hear kickstarter is good for that, but we’ll cross that bridge when and if, eh?

Cheers!

More news, freakazoids!

Check the videos section for a short film by Mike Zombek with soundtrack by Bobby and Paul Burnout. Not exactly the Figs, but most definitely rock and roll.

Also added in the videos section is the Figs’ cover of yet another Burnouts song called Find Me. Check it.

Don’t forget to tell your friends!

Alright, everybody! At long last, there are new Figs tracks available for purchase and download, both from the music section of the site.

Say Okay is the culmination of a year of songwriting and ridiculously tedious mixing throughout 2010. It’s been done for nearly a year now, and finally after all the mixing, remixing and monetary hangups, we’re able to bring it to you for a measly 5 buxxx! Of course I think it’s worth more, but be honest: who’s gonna pay more than 5 bucks for a DIY CD-R, no matter how fancy it looks?

Well, if you just said, “Why, I’d most certainly pay more than 5 dollars for your new songs, but thank you for being such a cheap date,” then I’ve got some news for ya. If you can scare up some more scratch, go to my Band Camp page here and buy the download with the option to donate a little more to the cause. Of course, you’ll still get the real CD in the mail; just make sure you drop a line and let me know where to send it!

Songs For My Friends And Those Girls is the newest of the new, and was written in a month or so between November and December of 2010. Not much time spent behind the wheel of this one; it mostly just spilled out of the various wounds that this past winter has inflicted, which are just now starting to heal. Read all about it at the Figs’ cllct page and download it for free in the music section.

This will be the Fig Mints farewell to cassettes and tape machines as the main recording tools. Of course, there will still be some lo-fi one offs and the like, including the upcoming releases of the two soundtracks for Zombek films that were recorded over the past couple years, but for the most part we’re going big!

So make sure you mosey on over to the music section of the site and scoop up some quality tunes for your summer.
Stay tuned, kiddies!

Don’t count the Fig Mints out! Say Okay has been hung up in tracking and mixing for the better part of 2010, but it’s finally done! Mastering and duplicating are the only tasks left at hand, and barring any cataclysmic event, release is slated for March of this year. Keep yr eyes on this space for further details.

In other news, there are two more Figs albums in the works this year; one of which will probably see the light of day before the summer, the other maybe by the end of the year or middle of 2012 at the latest. “Songs for my Friends” is an album of catharsis chronicling the very confusing, depressing, frustrating, sometimes infuriating, and frequently drunk late fall/early winter of 2010, and will be the Fig Mints’ farewell to cassette tapes. Yes, it’s true. We’ve gone …(gulp)… digital. You can’t expect to move forward by staying where you are, dig?

Which brings us to the next line of business. “Bad Age for the Underdog” (thanks Jason Raspa of Frogville for the suggestion!) will hopefully be the deep breath after the freak out. The beginning of better days to come, and a new take on songwriting and recording that may just yield the most polished and fully realized Figs record yet. Only time will tell, so make sure you keep on checking this space for details!

Up now for free download are the last two Daydream Generation compilations! Yeah, we’ve all heard the word “last” from Smally before, but each time seems more and more final and this just might be it, kiddies. No worries though; quixodelic.com will remain in business for all you cats and kittens who haven’t downloaded each and every one of the countless wonderful records available for free, and surely there will be more to come!

The Fig Mints are proud to have been featured on each and every one of the DG comps. Number 10 is another place to hear “We Love You”, the single from the imminent album, Say Okay; and the Best Of DG features “A Piece of Fluff (For the Record Breaker)” from the album Exercises in Futility (available for a measly 5 bux in the music section of the site).

On the new music front, the wheels continue to spin. There is a new album in the works, which will be released for free by Winter’s end; Say Okay, which will be up for purchase before Springtime; and Bad Age for the Underdog, which will be worked on if not completed by the end of 2011, so watch out, world!

Keep your ears and minds open, kids!

Hey, the mixing of the album is getting tedious, so I felt like I had to release something to break up the frustration. Up now for streaming at cllct.com and free download in the music section is a four song EP featuring a new song from the new record, and some other stuff.

Check it!!!

In other, equally important news, the newest Daydream Generation compilation is out! It features the Fig Mints covering Guided By Voices’ Peep-Hole, as well as The Real Burnouts, the Wheelies, Becky N, Simon Piler and the Atom Band, Dead Canaries, and so much more that you need to download it twice! Get on over to daydreamgeneration.com or quixodelic.com to get some great tunes to add to what’s left of the glorious summer sunshine. We love the Daydream Generation, and everyone else should, too!

Hey! Been a while…

So Quixodelic #3 is out, and an outtake from the new album, Say Okay, is on it. Smally did a little write up for what’s going on, so do be kind and click on the picture to visit the daydream generation for more details!

My deepest apologies to Smally and the Daydream Generation for not throwing that out there sooner, as Quixo 3 has been out longer than Elephant 6 #2, which I’ve posted below… Smally pours his heart and soul into his wife and family, and the fact that he still finds time to keep up with the DG and a day job is a testament to how big this guy’s heart and soul are, so go there and show some love!

Just finished a day at the studio figuring out the last song that needs to be tracked for the new record, so a good solid couple more daze, and it should be ready to master and have out for the masses to masticate and digest, hopefully without any undesirable side effects…

…And now for the weird news…

The Fig Mints have joined yet another social network… But this one really seems fit for what real people who make real music really need, so it probably won’t meet the slow, painful demise of the Myspace site, or the quick, painful demise of the Facebook/Reverb Nation accounts. Follow the link below to get to my CLLCT page, and after you’re done there, look around. Loads of great stuff up there; a lot of DG participants, too!

Happy Summer solstice, everyone!

Alright, so there’s a really big Elephant 6 covers album up for a free listen over at CLLCT. The Fig Mints have covered Elf Power’s The Secret Ocean, as was mentioned before, so get on over and listen to the whole damn thing, already!

click here to go there…

And while you’re there, look around. There are some great acts hanging about just waiting to be heard for FREE!

Hey, there’s a new Daydream site up, completely devoted to Quixodelic releases! It’s one-stop-shopping at its finest, so get ready for a flood of free freakouts and mindfucks. My leftovers EP, “The Passionate Misunderstanding” showed up on the Daydream Generation first, before making it over here, and now it’s over there… Yeah, over THERE… Along with some other great acts like Becky N, Simon Piler, Frogville, The Wheelies and tons more! A link to the site is in the linkage section, or click on the picture below!

In other news, the Fig Mints will be featured covering Elf Power’s “The Secret Ocean” and maybe something else on an Elephant 6 covers album via CLLCT; the site that the White Christmas album (below) was released on. Keep an eye (and maybe a couple of ears) out for it this summer!

Be real.

VSometime in the early Spring of 2005, local artist and mystic Alex Jager asked if he could film me walking around, playing my guitar in various parts of Utica. The aim was to make a video for the song You Got Too Much, Son, from Enjoy It While You Can. Well, one early morning Alex dragged my hangover out of bed and poured me into his car, dragged me all over splendid Oneida County, and got the footage he needed. A week or so later, a DVD appeared in my mailbox of a rough draft of a video, and after being lost for a few years, I’ve finally uncovered it and threw it in the videos section for all to enjoy. So get to the videos section and enjoy it, already… Thanks, Alex, wherever you are…