So the thing that probably sucks about being in a punk band with horns and singing in Spanish is that no matter what, people are always gonna have to talk about Voodoo Glow Skulls. But though today’s Synthesis Band You’ve Never Heard Of…OF THE DAY!!!111, San Francisco’s La Plebe, doubtlessly owe something of a debt to the venerable VGS, they are definitely doing their own thing. For one thing, ALL of La Plebe’s songs are in Spanish. And if anything, musically La Plebe sound more like Less Than Jake than they do VGS; their songs are for the most part pleasantly mid-tempo and straight forward, even if I have no idea what the fuck they’re saying. But don’t just listen to me, if you’d like to personally compare the two, and live in the Northern California area, you shall soon have your chance as La Plebe and Voodoo Glow Skulls are playing together not once, but TWICE in the next couple weeks:

I had the chance to check the band out live this past weekend right here in good ol’ Chico, CA and let me tell you what, better bring your fucking skanking shoes because the dudes on the horns can BLOW. Check out the band on their Myspace and DO NOT hesitate to get them to come to your godforsaken town.

Known mainly as being the drummer for every band in Chico for awhile, Jake Sprecher starting interning at the Synthesis for shits and giggles after realizing that if you play in more than one band in Chico you are legally obligated to work at either Woodstock’s Pizza or the Synthesis, or in his case, both. After proving his mettle by taking on all the lame interviews that no one else wanted to do, like Pete Best and Five Finger Death Punch, we felt really bad for him after his Pinback interview for Issue 9 of the Synthesis Digital got rescheduled like 234 times and decided that we would actually start paying him to do all the shit that no one else wanted to do. So now he’s here most days of the week stacking ultimate fame, while his nights are spent fronting the fucking bad ass Candy Apple who will be on tour next month.  Check them out on the Space or in one of the following cities and tell Jake to hurry back, because there’s always a bunch of shitty bands that need so coverage BRO!

When we found Video Matt aka Matt Wilson at the local troubled teen shelter [actually it was Butte College, but close enough] he had been on the grind for a minute, setting up interviews with bands and filming live footage totally guerrilla style, working with bands like Paramore and Dance Gavin Dance and repping Gridley, CA like a motherfucker. Since no one else at Synthesis even knew how to turn on a video camera, let alone had the balls to stand in front of it, we immediately hired Matt to be our guru of all things video, allowing him to slay 234 times more tang on YouTube and in the process, giving him a chance to work with most of his all time favorite bands, including New Found Glory, Cartel, Jacks Mannequin and Danger Radio to name a few; get super hammered at SXSW before even turning 21, and learn all about industry rule #4080. Check out our YouTube page for all sorts of Video Matt madness and be sure to hit your boy up on the comments, maybe he’ll holla next time he’s kicking it at The Boardwalk, nahmean?

Since the theme of this blog lately seems to be recurring features ( see Band of the Day, The Next, et al )I figured I’d add to the fray with one of my very own: MEET THE SYNTHESIS, will introduce you, the loyal blog reader, to some of the great minds behind the words and images you see on this stupid web site, and some of the rad things they do outside of their roles at the unstoppable internet juggernaut that is SYNTHESIS.

We’ve worked with a lot of badass photographers over the years here at ol’ Synthesis. But Harland Spinks is definitely one of the most BA. Besides just taking amazing pictures of bands and totally croosh local dance parties, he also is very adept at taking pictures of his own statuesque figure and stern-yet-inviting countenance. Check out his shit over at Flickr and holler at him to shoot your shitty band when you come through NorCal.

The other night I cruised down to LaSalle’s, a local shithole that from time to time hosts badical rock shows, to check out my friends, the always heavy-as-fuck Armed For Apocalypse. Opening things up were a band that no one seemed to know anything about, some yahoos named Trigger Renegade from Santa Cruz. Needless to say, expectations were low. But then the band started humping their gear onto stage, and I began to take notice. Bogner half-stack? Double Bass drumkit with a fucking 236″ single rack tom? White curly guitar cords??!! Suddenly the scent of rock began to fill the air. Adding to this presentiment was the fact that the members of the band all looked the part of late-70s rock gods, with long flowing locks, tight shirts, and the requisite rock snarl. But could their sound match their image?? COULD THEY COME THROUGH WITH THE ROCK????!!

The answer was a resounding yes. From the first harmonized guitar solo it was apparent that Trigger Renegade were not, and weren’t going to be, fucking around. The band was like The Sword kicking it with Ted Nugent playing Iron Maiden covers with Rick Neilsen’s guitar collection. Check them out on Myspace and if you like what you hear, buy their fucking CD from CD Baby so they have enough gas money to come back to Chico and rock Saddam Hussein’s ass back to fucking Russia!!1oneone!

I fed the animals, and I don’t recommend you do the same. But before my rebellious breaking of the rules, I witnessed a time-lapsed video of a UC Davis art installation created by one of Chico CA’s finest artists, Dylan Tellesen. Press that little white triangle in the middle of the square below for one sweet motion picture extravaganza, not doing so could result in blindness. (don’t say I didn’t warn you)

Re: Dylan’s Blog

I am the king of ranting, incoherent-ness and run-on sentences.