(Ryan drumming for Red Knife Lottery)

We’ll be playing a show with our friends, 1956 and All The Way Rider, at:

Club Garabaldi
2501 S. Superior St.
Milwaukee, WI

21 & Over.

Or keep reading below…

Small Club Brings Big City Sound

November 4, 5:12 PM Milwaukee Indie Music Examiner Stacey Johnson

The Cactus Club may be one of the smallest venues in the Milwaukee music scene, but they never fail to host a great show with some huge sound. Oct. 11th was another hit with a progressive rock line up of Sleepcomesdown, Roma 79, Traindodge and Disguised as Birds. Each of the bands put on a stellar performance with unique sounds and undeniable presence.

Sleepcomesdown was the opening act of the night, made up of Tim Feret, Steve Ruppa, Danny Strash, Kristofer Taylor and Dylan Zocchi. The band is from Milwaukee and performed a set that seemed to turn a chaotic compilation of chords, riffs and steel into one seamless sound and presentation. Their album Secret Handshake is a great testament to what you will get in performance value.

The second performance of the night came in the form of a rousing set by Roma 79 with amazing lead vocals by Jeremy Patfield. This San Francisco-based act also includes Andrew Skikne, Aaron Bonsall and Rob Smith. Each song in their set seemed better than the last, with a crowd favorite of “Heads Down” from their album The Great Dying. Hopefully they will return to Milwaukee for another performance in the near future.

Traindodge followed Roma 79, and included two of Roma 79’s band members- Jeremy Patfield- who performed in place of Chris Allen who couldn’t make the show. He was joined by Jason Smith on vocals/guitar and Rob Smith on drums who is also a member of Roma 79. The sound produced was entirely unique and equally in depth. The overall sound is one that is a complex blend, but works well rhythmically. One of Traindodge’s not to miss tracks is “Maze” from their album Wolves.

Disguised as Birds rounded out the night with an incredible sound and energetic performance led by Chris Chuzles on vocals and Kris Endicott on vocals/guitar, Tony Ciske on bass guitar and Kevin DeMars on drums. This Milwaukee –based group’s sound is aggressive while lyrically introspective; a truly difficult musical feat to master. Each of their tracks are completely encompassing without being intrusive. A crowd-pleasing track to check out is “Hayabusa’s Lament” from their latest EP New Demons.

Make sure to check out future Cactus Club shows and all of the bands’ future line-ups on their web sites:

http://www.cactusclubmilwaukee.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sleepcomesdown
http://www.roma79.com/news.php
http://d566572.u42.gravityfarm.com/home.asp
http://www.disguisedasbirds.com/

You can check out the review and our profile page for the EP at:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/disguisedasbirds3

And if you feel so inclined, you can also get a copy of the album from them. The best $5 you’ll spend this summer.

Their review goes a little something like this…

The hard rock EP, when used correctly, can be a powerful tool, a
bludgeoning ax that doesn’t concern itself with wasting time or space.
When you’ve got a handful of songs (five, in this case) within which
to say your piece, you better make ‘em count. This Milwaukee band
doesn’t waste a breath or a beat, rattling through these tracks by way
of craftily ragged grooves, slyly finessed guitars, and a rhythm
section that hits incredibly hard. It’s this solid foundation that the
other members play off, wrenching the time signatures around a bit
while still maintaining the original intentions of the compositions.
While the group is clearly influenced by DC post-hardcore heroes of
decades past, they’ve updated the approach of their predecessors and
created something that needn’t be defined by comparisons that
ultimately won’t hold true. “New Demons,” the EP’s final number, is in
itself about four different songs. Give it a go; you’ll be surprised
by where it starts and floored by where it ends.

-CDBaby

Thanks, Kevin!

Here it is:

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-6229-disguised-as-birdsrs-dueling-rock.html

Much appreciated,

Kevin/Birds

Although Seeds came out in the summer of ’08, it had been in the making for a quite a long time, due to various factors that none of us can even really pinpoint anymore. We hope to have this new batch pressed and available within the next month or two as long as things go according to plan. What we have is a collection of 5 of our most recent and fully realized songs. While we have a few more on the backburner, we figured it would be best to get these particular songs out while they were still fresh. We can go back for the others later.

What I can say about the tracks is that between the excitement we had to track these and the constantly improving talents of Shane, we’re all in excellent shape. We can’t wait to share this with anyone and everyone who may be interested in hearing it.

Thanks,

Kevin

We are extremely lucky – after constantly botching our winter show calendar, our good friend Shane Hochstetler (Call Me Lightning) is going to save us by sitting in on drums with us for our show at the Cactus Club on FEB 21st. First of all – he is SUPER busy – so it is amazing that we are going to have a few jams together to get the set tight, but also – THE 21st IS HIS BIRTHDAY! In addition, on a personal note – he is one of my favorite drummers of all time – you know this from seeing him constantly bash over the years w/ CML, Tintoretto, Hero of 100 Fights, Haymarket Riot, Managra, Mazes and Monsters, etc. The dude rules. The dude abides.

So – in closing – come on out! Say Happy Birthday to Shane. Come see the Birds, Kid You’ll Move Mountains (CD RELEASE SHOW), etc. This is going to be a really special night.

We are not hibernating. We promise. We’ve got a bunch of new tunes, and we’re recording (with Shane, of course) at Howl Street in March for an upcoming EP. Probably 5 songs. Maybe more, maybe less, maybe some surprises. Stay tuned!

Thanks a billion (eyes)!

Rock and Roll Soldiers of Love,
Kris Endicott/Birds

First off, what can be said about a band that gives you a t-shirt to review? That their songs are so good that they don’t even need to be reviewed.
Some might say that they’re trying to disguise (pun intended 100%) their new album’s quality by hiding it behind a free shirt. I would have to disagree.

When I received my brand new ‘Disguised As Birds’ t-shirt I was extremely happy for more than one reason. They’re a great band, shirts are cool, and it was free. But the fun didn’t stop there. Kris Endicott (guitar player and vocals for Disguised As Birds) said that it was probably too big and I agreed. Not off to that great of a start (much like the Milwaukee Brewers season thus far). I went home and washed it and left it in the dryer for way too long to shrink it down a little bit and gave it that amazing fresh out of the dryer test. When I put it on it fit perfectly. I maybe have 2 or 3 solid “go to” t-shirts and this has now been added to the list. The color (silver ink on black) is amazing, the offset print is great, and the design is simple enough to go unnoticed yet bold enough to let you know that they rule.

I cannot stress enough to each one of you the importance of obtaining a shirt like this one. In a world of all over prints and gold foil printing this shirt is a sigh of relief and comfort. I will most likely be playing baseball in this shirt later this weekend and wish that you would join me wearing your new ‘Disguised As Birds’ t-shirt.

I scratched my orginal ending of “In a world where parent’s just don’t understand I can guarantee that this is one shirt they will understand. Because these guys are old. I’m serious.” I realized that it’s not a world where parent’s just don’t understand anymore and that would just make me sound old. Haha.

-M.A.
Olen

Thanks for coming out to the 5/30/08 show everybody! 1956 and Test Site were brilliant as promised, and we had an awesome time.

Little by little, we’ll be getting the new record “SEEDS” out there – in stores, and on the web. Hoping to get lots of feedback on this one.

We played WMSE’s Local/Live Show last Tuesday (5/27/08) – check www.wmse.org for the accompanying video footage which will be posted very soon. Thank you, Brent, and BILLY, and everybody at WMSE!

In addition, we can’t thank the four following individuals enough: Brian at the Royal Bureau for the incredible aesthetics/design of the new record; Rob at Nerophotos for the glamour shots/Euro shots; Eric Endicott for the rehearsal time + space; Shane Hochstetler for the sweet sounding recordings.

Tell me what its like to be you,
Kris/Birds