Oso Closo

new ray lamontagne song up on his myspace. his new record is coming out soon. he’s doing his first american tour, maybe ever. i’m not sure. coming to dallas. sold out. and i’ll be on tour. its hard for me to express the weight of not going to this concert. when i was in high school i got in line for weezer tickets on the pinkerton tour. i got there early, got in line, and waited. i was the guy who got told ” sorry we just sold out.” the first guy in the line to get denied. i thought my world was crumbling to peices.  looking back at that experience is bittersweet. pinkerton was not only the latest great work from weezer at the time, but proved to be the finest of the work that they have done. i missed the peak. which in some ways is depressing but i’d really like to think that being in on the ground floor is even more satisfying. now, naturally i’m not in on the ground floor of ray lamontagne’s career. he’s gained all kinds of critical acclaim worldwide. but what he hasn’t really even come close to doing, is the very thing that he is destined to do. which of course, is to become one of the most legendary songwriters of all time. perhaps in sort of a leonard cohen kind of way. but definitely in the “recognized as the genius that he is after his death” sort of way. his relatively young but immensely powerful body of work is already poised to be the death of me. check him out if you haven’t yet. he will drive you to a new level of gutwrenching melancholy. but i mean that in a really good way.

now on a lighter note. we did the designer run through tonight. it was a lot of fun. definitely some wrong notes on the piano happening but all is well. i’m having a blast with this. its so much fun. everyone is fantastic. and i’m fully in brainstorm mode with regard to the oso musical. oh yes, it will be. and it will be ridiculous. so massive that no man can comprehend. i don’t even know where to start. you know i’m gonna have to deliver if i’m talking it up this early. so just keep your eyes out over the next several years. this is the new big project. i’ll keep you posted.

love,

adrian

No Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

So I just heard that we might be playing some shows with this band from Nashville called Parachute Musical. They are a totally awesome band that would be fitting with us musically on a bill. After some webbing I deducted these freakish similarities to Oso:

1. A similar piano/pop sound with good hooks and vocals.

2. They have a driving piano song in 6 in which the first words describe not having any new ideas. We have one of those too.

3. There’s videos of them conducting strings and horns in the studio for their latest recording. That’s like, what we plan to do for the next one. And what Chris did for the first record.

4. The drummer’s name is Ben Jacoby. My name is Ryan Jacobi.

5. Some people think our girl face logo is a bit creepy. Maybe, but something that is also creepy is a sad teddy bear with a bullet hole through it.

6. Exceptional good looks.

Looking forward to meeting and playing with these guys

No Comments » Posted by jacobi / Uncategorized

so we’ve been busy bees the last couple of weeks. sorry for the long wait on new posts. we’re seriously really tired all the time. we’re also getting all of the final stuff done for the remix/remaster/repress cd dvd combo. so thats a bunch of stuff as well.

so we’re a little more than two thirds of the way through the show in terms of learnin tunes and staging them and cool stuff like that. its pretty much the most badass thing of all time. everybody involved is ridiculously good at doing what they do and we’re having a lot of fun and making friends with lots of really amazing people. here are some photo’s i’ll definitely post more soon. but here’s a little taste of the goods…

the amazing chris flynn doing rad new art for our record.

the kalita humphreys stage. without set. its pretty sweet.

mcqueen, lindsey, and andy staging for some tune.

mcqueen on top of the pinball machine. jealous.

the lovely emily habeck chillin with some osos

the amazing betsy wolfe reading a magazine about how to cope with being a super famous person.

the one and only gregory lush. possibly pissed. don’t think so though.

oh yeah and andy got a new tattoo yesterday.

love,

adrian

No Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

No Comments » Posted by estus / Uncategorized

wrote this yesterday forgot to post it. so now i’m posting it after. even though it was about today as though it were the future. its like 1984…now.

so we’re starting rehearsals for Tommy tomorrow. i’m pretty stoked. i’ve never done this before. i was a band kid in high school so i didn’t sing in any musicals or anything. and i wasn’t enough of a dedicated band student to ever get asked to play in any pit orchestras. it was always a small ensemble made up of the kids with the brownest noses. never really was one of those. but i was such a huge musical theater fan though. this is one of those little factoids about me that my friends are always saying caught them off guard when they found out. i think, to be perfectly honest it was mostly brought on by this outrageous attraction to girls on stage that i had. particularly the stars of the show. especially if it was a musical. something about a leading lady singing and dancing pretty much kills. anywho the song we do called “promenade” or “the country song” as its known to the vast majority of people, is all about guys and dolls, one of my absolute favorite musicals. when i was in high school i saw that at school and the girl who played adelaide was the answer to all questions about beauty to me. i had it really bad. i was also a very silly person at that age. but during that whole spell i was very expressive with regard to my leading lady friend. i wrote notes and called them letters. and i wrote the country song. and then we started playing it because we’d been playing all of our songs for a good long while and i wasn’t having any luck writing so i busted out that super old song kind of as a last resort. its ended up being a really fun part of the show these days. which i’m glad about. but i still feel a little silly singing the words now. oh well. but let me just use this as a little segue` to something about the band that matters. the record is Re-coming out you know. its cool. its got a live dvd with it. you buy it and you get the cd and the dvd. its of the cd release show. so its got really great live versions of a few songs that aren’t on the record. and a couple of them, like the country song for instance will probably never make it on to a studio record ever. so i’m stoked that they are on there. hopefully you’ll like it. i think its good. anyway. i’m seriously up way too late right now. we have to start in…not long. so i’ll see you guys soon. i’m gonna post about some exciting new tour dates for post tommy stuff sometime soon. keep an eye out.

now that its today. it was a lot different than i thought. i’ll let you know when im not falling asleep sitting up.

No Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

3 Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

We in Oso Closo have been playing some of the songs in our setlist for a few years now. We keep the songs exciting by frequently changing little details, whether planned out in a rehearsal or in the spur of the moment live. Sometimes a mistake can lead to something golden. Something that I have started doing in the drum department on a few of the songs has been leaving a little rest of space before a really big section of a tune. This creates a moment of beautiful calm before the storm which is usually the McQueen. I feel that a pause can sometimes be even more affective than the most tasteful drum fill. It gives a little breath, maybe with some tension too, during a transition to a next section. It works at all dynamic levels too. Off the top of my head, I have been doing this during Andy’s solo on Phonetalker and right before Chris’ solos on Poetic and the Ruiner. The result is usually triumphant. Here is a sweet analogy I thought up in the van this past weekend:

Imagine you’re at a basketball game. There’s commotion everywhere. Vendors yelling, fans cheering, annoucements blaring, referee whistles, squeaky gym shoes on the court, loud shot clock horns… But when a big star goes up for an awesome slam dunk a good distance from the hoop, the whole place just stops. The player, Michael Jordan, hangs in midair. It seems like an eternity. Everyone in the stadium holds their breath and ceases cheering. A million flashes ignite the silence. It’s like a dream. And then he slam jams the ball and the chaos resumes, amplified greatly. That’s kinda how I feel about these little drum silences. I am Michael Jordan. Watch me dunk my drum jams into your sweet little ear hole.

Here are some insightful quotes from some guys that know what they’re doing:

“Music is the silence between the notes.” - Claude Debussy

“Silence will save me from being wrong (and foolish), but it will also deprive me of the possibility of being right.” - Igor Stravinsky

People can get caught up with chops and spectacular displays of technique, especially on an instrument like the drums where you don’t have to breathe. There’s this crowd of drum clinic-going, Modern Drummer magazine discipled, gear headed, I can play a million notes in three seconds while juggling people that I just want no association with. I want my playing to look and sound organic and natural, serving the music. I strive to play simply and supportively. If a song is fast and 16th note based, sure I’ll play a quick fill that might be considered “cool” if it is appropriate within the music. Thank you, Ed Soph. Man, this sounds like a rant for another post…

Anyway, come hear us live, the silence will rock you more than you think.

from Ryan

No Comments » Posted by jacobi / Uncategorized

there is just something about louisiana that does something to me. maybe its the humidity. maybe its the amazing food. maybe its the incredibly relaxed system of laws. history, culture, music…crawfish.  could be anything. but its safe to say i love louisiana. particularly a little town you may have heard of called new orleans.

first time i went there i was in a band called my spacecoaster. we had a show in lafayette but we decided to drive to new orleans and eat because we’d never been there. we pulled into town, parked and walked to a restaurant. we quickly realized that the restaurant was far to nice for a bunch of scraggly lookin rockers so we walked back to the van, only to find it occupied by a homeless man. desperately trying to figure out how to get the many musical instruments to a nearby hiding place, most likely a box or pile of vomit somewhere. so the point is that for a long time i wasn’t fond of the city. but in all reality i just parked on the wrong corner.

later i went down again with my good friends snarky puppy and met up with a great friend of mine named casey who was living there helping rebuild after katrina. this was a much different experience.  as soon as i arrived casey and i got started on changing my mind about Nola. we drove straight out to all the carnage, picked up some beers and i started figuring out why this place is so great. we went to the airport. still totally shut down and very much off limits to the public, but with some creative curb hopping and off roading techniques we made it over to the infamous levee. we walked out on it about 200 feet and sat down with our feet hanging off and casey told me that it was the best spot to fish in the entire world. we spent the day in the 9th ward driving around looking at houses that had been demolished by the storm and thousands of FEMA trailers. we stopped at a little building that you have to duck down to walk inside, and ordered a few pounds of crawfish and ate them on the curb outside. daytime new orleans is fantastic. but it is fully eclipsed by nighttime new orleans.  around ten oclock we went out to magazine street to meet up with casey’s many new local friends. all bartenders and waitresses on the same strip. we hit what seemed like every place with a menu and a bar. i’ve probably never been so indulgent in my life. i could barely walk. whiskey going to my head and food piling up in my stomach. at some point i looked at my phone to check the time and realized that it was 4 in the morning. i asked casey if we should get going and he said that right now is when all his friends are finally getting off work and can hang out. i clarified that we were talking about the droves of bartenders that we had just spent hours hanging out with, and he clarified that at this point in the night we would leave magazine and go to the frenchman and keep workin. i told him no dice. and we headed home. but not before he showed me one last place. brothers. brothers doesn’t make any sense. you walk up, you’re at a gas station. there are bullet holes in the gas pumps. seriously. when you go in there are about 20 people all piled around one girl who is serving fried chicken and fried fish. as gross as this looks and sounds, its late. i’m pretty much wasted and need something to try and fight the ridiculous hangover i will undoubtedly have the following day. what i taste is quite possibly the greatest chicken that the world has ever known. there isn’t any way to try and describe it in text form. doing this chicken justice is laughable. ha. so anyway we go home sleep it off and have a really great day scrapping metal and running around like a couple of kids. thats a whole ‘nother blog though. i loved it. i love new orleans. i love brothers.

but i just realized that i was supposed to be blogging about the weekend. during which we played three shows. here’s the rundown.

tulsa: exit 6c. sweet little club. great owners. and some of my family came out to see the show. it was awesome.

new orleans: we didn’t have a show booked for the night. and i got an email from our good friend jenn gates. a sweet girl that i mcqueen and i know from several snarky puppy trips. she said “hey man i’m havin a party, saw you don’t have a show. come down.” so basically doing that would be really irresponsibe, financially, as well as in terms of the potential for liver spots someday. but i couldn’t resist. so we had to go. we drove 11 hours from tulsa to new orleans. showed up. figured out a PA and played until the cops shut us down. it was a total blast and i’m so glad we did it. thanks again jenn. you’re the best

monroe: … monroe louisiana is a very interesting town. we played at the blue monkey with our good friends the feds. they destroy. i slept on a couch in a strange house that smelled a lot like crap. and this cat kept climing up to cuddle with my feet, but i’m allergic to cats so i kept trying to get it off the couch without touching it. so eventually i just grabbed a little towel and popped the cat with it locker room style, and it moved. but kept trying to come back. so i would just hold up the towel and it knew what was up. so i thought i’d won. but when i woke up i was staring face to face with a big cat turd. i did not win.

anyhoo. i’m sure there’s some footage from at least the monroe show that will be put up by the mighty estus himself at some point but i thought i’d let you know how things are goin. we’re having a blast. thanks everybody whos coming out to these shows.

No Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

Our new friends at Dallas Theater Center sent out this press release last week, so we wanted to share it with you. This is going to be awesome!

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Dallas Theater Center Artistic Director announces featured band for his Dallas directorial debut

DALLAS – July 14, 2008 – Dallas Theater Center Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty announced today that his DTC directorial debut, The Who’s Tommy, will feature local band Oso Closo. The five-member rock band, based in Denton, will appear in the legendary rock opera alongside actors who are still being cast in Dallas and New York.

“Oso Closo is one of my favorite local bands,” Moriarty said. “The moment I first heard their album, Rest, I was struck by their unique sound, inspired musicianship and fresh personality. Seeing them perform live confirmed for me that they will bring a bold musical style and dynamic personality to DTC’s production of Tommy, which will feature Oso Closo at the center of the production, singing, playing and interacting with the actors who will play the characters in the rock opera.”

The quintet’s eclectic style of blending genres like rock, pop, bluegrass, jazz and even mariachi with energetic strings and operatic inflections is a testament to the five members’ music education. Adrian Hulet (lead vocals, pianist), Ryan Jacobi (percussion), Chris McQueen (guitar, vocals), Lindsey Miller (guitar) and Andy Rogers (bass, vocals) have degrees from or ties to the renowned jazz program at the University of North Texas.

“We feel honored and overwhelmed to be a part of a piece of work as legendary as Tommy, particularly alongside an organization as accomplished as Dallas Theater Center,” Hulet said. “We’re shooting to remain true to the original, but with an especially unique interpretive approach.”

Oso Closo’s debut album, Rest, received rave reviews when it was locally released in 2007. A professionally remixed special edition of Rest featuring a live DVD will be released in conjunction with the run of The Who’s Tommy at DTC.

“They’re going to blow the roof off the building and bring a real rock sound and energy to the production,” Moriarty said. “For the first time in 50 years, the Kalita Humphreys Theater is going to truly rock.”

Before taking the stage in DTC’s season opener Sept. 2, Oso Closo’s summer tour includes Lola’s in Fort Worth July 11, The Deli in Norman, Okla. July 12, Exit 6C in Tulsa July 17, Hailey’s in Denton July 25, Flamingo Cantina in Austin July 31, Warehouse Live in Houston Aug. 1, and House of Blues with Fair to Midland in Dallas Aug. 2.

The Who’s Tommy will launch DTC’s 50th anniversary season and signal its commitment to producing a wide variety of musical theater pieces in singular productions, and its belief in collaborating with a wide range of local artists. 

“As a new member of the community, I’m deeply impressed by the vibrancy and talent of the local arts scene,” Moriarty said. “From rock bands in clubs to the diverse theater companies and the many outstanding cultural organizations throughout the city, Dallas is teaming with artistic life. As we look ahead to our move to the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre at the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts one year from now, we’re already preparing to engage a wide variety of talented artists from Dallas and across the nation to create bold, exciting work here in Dallas for our community.”
All performances of The Who’s Tommy will be held at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, located at 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd. at Blackburn St. where it runs Aug. 27-Sept. 21. Preview performances are Aug. 27-Sept. 1. Opening night is Tuesday, Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Performance times are Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00 p.m.; and select Sunday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Single ticket prices range from $16 to $60 and are available by calling the box office at 214.522.8499 or by visiting www.dallastheatercenter.org.

ABOUT DALLAS THEATER CENTER

One of the leading regional theaters in the country, DTC produces new, contemporary and classic plays and musicals to an audience of more than 90,000 patrons annually. DTC’s Mainstage season is presented at the Kalita Humphreys Theater, one of only three existing theaters designed and built by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 2009, DTC will move into and become one of the resident companies of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, a multi-form space conceptualized by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas.

The mission of DTC is to engage, entertain and inspire our diverse community by creating experiences that stimulate new ways of thinking and living. DTC is committed to consistently producing plays, educational programs and other initiatives that are of the highest quality and reach the broadest possible constituency.

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We’re really pumped about this, please come check it out, Aug 27 - Sep 28.

3 Comments » Posted by mcqueen / News and Updates

she lives next door to me. she’s pretty old. but she’s also old school. she doesn’t use air conditioning if she doesn’t have to. she just opens the front and back doors, and lets the air flow through all day. cool right? tough old lady. doesnt need any of your new fangled air cooling whatsits. anyway so the other day i’m on the porch and this dude comes out from between the houses. scares the crap out of me. he’s got on some tiny jean shorts of the cutoff variety, a jersey type of shirt. in terms of whether or not he was dressed, i’d say he was getting by on a technicality. also a bandana tied around his head. not in the biker way but in the daniel son way. so he walks up and introduces himself. i’m going to leave names out for now but we can just call him gus. cause thats a funny name. so gus is asking me about what i do and telling me that he’s old friends with this old lady next door. lets call her beulla. cause thats even funnier.  ok so he’s old friends with her. they’ve known eachother for a long time blah blah blah, here’s where it gets interesting. Gus starts asking me a lot of questions about what we’ve got in the house.  he’s gathered that we are musicians but is curious to see if we have some sort of recording setup or anything like that. so i’m starting to get the vibe that gus is casing our house. which makes me very uncomfortable. so i start making weird faces at him, in an effort to let him know its time to either get to the point or go away. he briefly apologizes for asking so many questions without making his intentions known. he goes on to explain that Beulla has been seeing strange things in and around our house lately and he was here to inquire about them.  here’s what she sees:

every night around “dusky dark” someone walks out of the house (this is my house mind you) and goes to the shed in the back yard. at this point there is some loud clicking noise that results in the emergence of a person who is dressed in a full set of armor.  shortly after this the armored man is joined by others and they all have what seems to be “a meeting at the trees” for some sort of  “oxygen cleansing ceremony” also it should be noted that there is definitely one of us that is “the preacher” and she’s not sure but it seems like we’re in some sort of cult. unless of course there is some strange explanation of these actions that she is not picking up on.

well darlin. i’ve often wondered if losing your mind is degenerative  or all at once. i wonder if this lady knew she was going crazy and it frustrated her or if she just woke up one day and started seeing armored men and stuff. i hope it was the latter. all of the seniors i know are losing control of their bodies. can’t pick up things they used to. hard to move around. i can see frustration in their eyes. sometimes its just downright fear. fear of dying, maybe fear of being a vegetable. in any case its not something i ever want to have to go through, and i know i will. ugh.

anyway that got dark.

so i tell the guy that the lady is obviously crazy. and sure enough. he doesn’t believe me. he says he does. but i’m pretty sure he’s not convinced that we’re not drinking our own pee and worshiping magnolias and oaks.  not sure. but its all good either way. gus and beulla seem very tolert

2 Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

So it’s 1:28 am and I just returned from a Night Speed mission with my two younger brothers. We made the middle-of-the-night run to our favorite 24 hour doughnut shop - Spunky Dunkers Doughnuts. Yep, that’s really what it’s called. Go nuts people. En route we listened to the King of the Roots albums (in my opinion), Game Theory. I decided I think the next Oso record should have some orchestral crash cymbal moments. Looking forward to getting back to Denton and Osoing this weekend. Cheers.

RJ

No Comments » Posted by jacobi / Uncategorized

Yes, it is in fact my first blog on the Oso site, and what better way for me to begin  than by telling readers about the third greatest day in my life; the first greatest day being the Jimmy Page and Robert Plant Walking Into Clarksdale tour in 1998, the second being the Robert Plant Mighty Rearranger Tour in 2004 and the third being the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising Sand Tour, which just passed through DFW this past Monday.  Both Plant and Led Zeppelin have been my musical alpha and omega leading back to my days as a wide-eyed thirteen year old obsessively watching the Whole Lotta’ Love bit in “The Song Remains the Same”.  I’m now pushing twenty-five, and very little has changed.

I have to admit that this Robert Plant experience has been quite different from the past two.  The music he and Krauss performed is much more subdued than the Zeppelin catalog that most listeners are familiar with and I, therefore, do not feel that he unleashed in quite the same way that he stereotypically does.  I don’t necessarily mean this in a critical way. When Jimmy Page has done so much to beat the Zeppelin horse to  death i.e. two reunions with Plant, the Puff Daddy Kashmir remake, and the Black Crowes tour, I find it admirable that Plant  perseveres to separate himself from the Zeppelin legacy.  

While I could turn this particular blog into a concert review, I’d rather take this opportunity to enlighten readers on one of the many facets of my complex and bizarre personality.  It’s not possible for me to have a casual interest in anything.  All my interests are in actuality obsessions.  Led Zeppelin is perhaps the most long running of these dating back to my early teens.  Since the band is no longer together I can now only obsess over the one member who is still active touring and recording.    Rumors are flying that this may soon change.  With any luck the Zeppelin ship may be taking off again this spring.  

As these blogs continue I may feel more inclined to disclose my other life interests.  I fear, however, that readers may find me so strange that I’ll lose my only chance of ever landing a boyfriend or husband and will be earmarked as some type of “cat lady”, which I guess is cool.  I like cats. 

2 Comments » Posted by lindsey / Uncategorized

Three fifths of Oso Closo and friends blowing things up and singing songs. Amurrrica!

1 Comment » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

No need to fret if you’re without cup in the wilderness. Adrian shows you why…

1 Comment » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

2 Comments » Posted by admin / Uncategorized

well folks we successfully started our june and july summer weekend dates. i’ve got to say the only bad thing about the first trip was realizing that we have to come home for all the weekdays. i freaking love playing out of town. if it were up to me we’d be on the road everyday. i love it. here’s the rundown

Denton:

gotta love starting it off at home. it was good to play at andy’s again. and the crowd was rowdy and ready for some rock. i love you denton. thanks for coming out during the summer. all you townies make all the difference in the world.

Austin:

another night at the flamingo cantina. my absolute favorite place to play in austin. great vibes. semi open air environment. and ridiculously good sound. not to mention katy the bartender coming and trying to put hair on my chest with lots of whiskey. thanks darlin. you nearly did me in.

San Antonio:

the second time we’ve gotten to play with our new friends Nothing More. who are a fantastic band from san antone. we’re definitely looking forward to being band friends with them forever and ever. also the new venue that we played at. scout bar. its rad. the sound is sweet and the people smile. you gotta love texas. anyway this one was cool. we played pretty early and had a short set but it was a blast. jacobi and i were talking about playing the short, sweet, high fast and loud set is really fun sometimes.

basically it was an all around fun trip. on our way home from austin we had a wicked blowout near temple. that was interesting. but man. technology. between the iphone and the garmin and jacobi’s special nationwide AAA, i pretty much didn’t even notice that anything went wrong. pretty sweet day and age we live in. anyhoo. hope everyone is well. here are some smiles and frowns

smiles:

Global Positioning Systems

Team Oso

Cold Showers in june

new tunes (we’re crankin out the jams lately)

Greenhouse’s stuffed chicken (i have dreams about it)

frowns:

all the technological advancements in the world and there still arent tires that never blow up. come on good year. sell the blimp, put some money into research.

coming home to broken AC (though its fixed now, thanks mcqueen)

all my exes live in texas

not being on the road right now

ok so yo know those carwashes that you put in coins and do it yourself?…the sound they make when you need to put more money in. man i hate that sound.

1 Comment » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

sometimes its really good. however, sometimes it can be a little ocd/ annoying. i realized the power of this method back in high school when some kid who had an important bells part on a concert didn’t show up to school that day due to sickness. i needed to cover his part that night, but i had absolutely no time in the day to practice. so i carried the music around school all day and practiced it in my head during class, starring at the music and picturing the bells in my head. that night i didn’t play a wrong note. that really did something for me. 

we just had a fantastic oso closo weekend. when we play back to back nights, the music just keeps getting better and better, because we talk about it a lot in the van and during free time. we discuss what we liked as well as what could go better. and the next show always goes better. so lots of times i’ll practice what needs to go better in my head before the next show, and sure enough, it comes out on stage. also, the band often practices in the van with a little guitar. mostly vocal harmonies, but this gives me a chance to hear the music whilst going over my changed parts. 

look for some pretty sweet drumming on the upcoming album. there will probably be 3-4 grand cymbal grabs in there. (no one does that in rock drumming really, i’m going to be the Davy Crockett of that technique. short note = cymbal grab!)

RJ

No Comments » Posted by jacobi / Uncategorized

I thought I’d take a moment to clear up one of the most commonly asked questions by fans - What does the name Oso Closo mean, where does it come from? The story behind the band’s name is actually quite fascinating. 

Back in the late 90’s front man Adrian Hulet was busily on tour playing drums with Texas alt. country band Rodney Parker and the 50 Peso Reward. To stay true to their name’s theme, the band was on an exclusive Mexican tour. One dark and ominous night in a little town called Estusiendo, just 24 hours before a big show, Adrian found himself in dire straits - he did not have a pair of drumsticks. He had traded his last functional pair for three cigarettes. Being in Estusiendo, a dusty little town with no major music stores, Adrian knew he needed to start making the long trek to the nearest town with a Centre del Guitarón - Christo del Rogéro. He could not use the band’s touring van because earlier that day Rodney had traded it for two bottles of whiskey and a carton of cigarettes. Adrian began the long desert hike on foot, following the roadside signs to Christo - of course only wearing a flimsy pair of flops…

Adrian walked all through the night, his beard growing inches by the hour. His determination kept him going. There was no turning back. The hot Mexican sun rose and then set again. The desert was barren, the occasional lizard kept him company. Eventually Adrian gazed at the sleepy shadows of Christo del Rogéro’s city limits. Was it a mirage? He certainly hoped not, because by now he was literally crawling on all fours due to exhaustion and fatigue. Little did he know that his trip was far from over - doom was actually lurking ahead…

If you’ve ever heard of Christo del Rogéro one thing should enter your mind - grizzly bears. The spanish word for bear is oso. Additionally, the second thing that should enter your mind when you hear Christo del Rogéro should be quesadillas. The city had a reputation for the most delicious quesadillas in Mexico. Naturally, the savory smells of beef, chicken, cheese, pico, and sour cream lured the many bears out of the neighboring woods, called El Smítho del Guelda. So many bear attacks occurred that the town had recently appointed a townsman to stand guard atop a moderately sized lookout post. The town’s faith was entrusted in this particular townsman, named Lindseiro Milleirgro. Lindseiro was armed and prepared to sound the alarm at the slightest sight of a bear figure approaching the fearful town…

Adrian was approaching the outskirts of Christo. Fatigued, helplessly exhausted, crawling on all fours, and quite hungry, Adrian’s keen nose perked up at the scent of delicious quesadillas, wafting above the town like a delectable rain cloud. He moved his arms and legs as fast as he could, practically charging on all fours towards the town, full straggling beard encompassing his entire face as the wind blew. The sand, still hot from the blistering day, began grinding up against Adrian’s limbs, and he let out low pitched, growling like groans…

Just when Lindseiro felt himself drifting off to sleep in the dead of the night, he saw his opportunity at heroism - an unmistakable form of a bear charging towards to city, growling loudly. Lindseiro had trained for this. It was no test. This was the real deal. Raising the torch in his right hand and his half eaten chicken quesadilla in the other, he twirled around and called into the megaphone, those two words he was trained to say at the sight of such a beast…

“OSO CLOSO!”

2 Comments » Posted by jacobi / Uncategorized

Greetings Oso Bloggers! As my first post, I have decided to express some thoughts on a fantastic musical experience I recently had. Last weekend I attended the Bonnaroo Music and Arts festival for the sixth time. Bonnaroo regularly boasts an unforgettable weekend of huge music names, food, art, comedy, and camping - pretty musch a surreal experience for the senses. I have seen some incredible musicians in Bonnaroos past such as Radiohead, Dylan, James Brown, Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, Joshua Redman, Bela Fleck, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, the list goes on and on.. This year had a stand out performance though - The Swell Season. Don’t recognize the name? Its the duo from the indie cult darkhorse candidate film gone famous - ONCE, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. I enjoyed the film and joined the rest of the world in feeling warm on the inside when the two won at the Grammy’s after an inspiring performance of the song Falling Slowly. I anticipated their performance at Bonnaroo 2008, but I had no idea that it would become, dare I say it, the best musical performance I have ever seen in my life. I can be a dramatic guy, but I stand confident in my assessment.

The duo was backed by a band containing members of Glen’s previous project called The Frames. They played the hits from the soundtrack, other songs from the album, and a couple well-chosen Van Morrison covers. The performance dripped with heartfelt singing, emotional guitar playing, and an overall honesty that reached all in attendance. Everyone in the band looked like they were thrilled to be there. They interacted with everyone on stage and in the audience. They smiled and laughed as they played. They took their music seriously but still looked as if they were children who just picked up an instrument. Musically, the performance was unbelievable. Some might not realize after seeing the movie or hearing the soundtrack that this band completely rocks out. Their dynamic range is broader than most. One minute they will play sensitive and quiet, and the next loud and rockous. They held the highest energy level at all dynamics. They held the audience in the palm of their hand at every instant. Sometimes you could hear a pin drop, sometimes the entire crowd was cheering as loud as they could in the middle of a song. Glen made honest and inspiring comments in between songs like “If you’re walking and you come to a wall that cannot be climbed over, simply turn around and walk away from it. Eventually you’ll walk around the entire planet and be on the other side.” Now, I know, I know, maybe a little bit cheesy. But in the moment of this concert, it was perfect. I really felt people’s spirits being uplifted around me. It was like a Christian rock concert, except without all the stuff that makes Christian rock concerts awful. Maybe the experience was like what you’re supposed to feel like in church. Whatever it was, it was different, special, heartfelt, maybe a little life changing. A music concert. For real. This group is in the middle of a tour, and I am led to believe that the performance the Swell Season gave at Bonnaroo was typical of how every night goes for them. Their performance had an aura around it unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of. 

Of personal significance was the Swell Season’s cover of the Van Morrison tune Into the Mystic. Unfortunately, I had recently been part of a terrible performance of this tune, a tune that I have loved since a child. The Swell Season’s performance of it completely kept it alive for me and saved it. The next day I saw Glen and Marketa walking on the grounds. They were nice enough to speak with me for a couple minutes and seemed genuinely interested when I thanked them for their Into the Mystic performance.

The strange and perhaps surreal aspect of this group is that they absolutely seem for real, more than others. Glen and Marketa looked at eachother like they really did love eachother during the set. It was like we were watching a live version of Once on stage. Their performance made the movie seem like it wasn’t a movie, but a documentary. And it wasn’t just for show. It appeared genuine. 

I hope to someday touch an audience with Oso like the Swell Season touched their audience at Bonnaroo and probably wherever they go. I really do believe in the power of Music. I’m thrilled to be part of a group that has such musical and personal talent. Congratulations if you’ve made it this far. I might enjoy this thing called Blogging, as i’ve got lots to say. 

RJ

No Comments » Posted by jacobi / Uncategorized

Hey there, we’ve got lots of stuff going on, check it.

Remix on Rest

We have almost completely run out of our first 1000 pressing of ‘Rest’ and we’ve decided to give the debut record a remix before it goes to press again. This means it’s going to sound totally different (and we hope way better) this time around. It’s being mixed at this moment in LA by Jason Cupp, a pretty serious engineer who just did a record with Finch, at one of the best studios around–Sage and Sound. We’re driving out there tomorrow for several days to finish up the mixing process. Look for some road-related postings on this’ere blog.

DVD, New Merch, New Website

We’ve got it all folks. The live DVD of our CD release show in Denton, with live strings and orchestral percussion, is finally hitting the pavement. It will probably be packaged and released in conjunction with the freshly mixed ‘Rest’. Also we’ve finally got a new line of T-shirts, stickers, and other merchandise for your consumption, with new designs and girl-friendly options. Apparently some people thought the old shirts were “creepy”. I don’t get it. Also we’ll have a brand new website that will be up and running right around the end of the summer when the remixed ‘Rest’ comes out.

Writing

Adrian and I took a week out of our lives a couple months back to go to a cabin and write a bunch of new music. We came up with seven new songs, most of which we’ve brought out into the world at this point. There are still a couple waiting to see the light of day, and several more songs are brewing right now. So keep looking out for new songs at all of our shows.

Shows!

I almost forgot about the shows, we’ve got lots of them. Maybe the most exciting is we’re playing for the first time at The House of Blues in Dallas August 2, opening for Fair to Midland. So that show is going to rock.
Here’s a brief synopsis of what we’ve got:

June 26 - Denton, TX - Andy’s Bar
June 27 - Austin, TX - Flamingo Cantina
June 28 - San Antonio, TX - Scout Bar

July 11 - Fort Worth, TX - Lola’s
July 12 - Oklahoma City, OK - Belle Isle Brewery
July 17 - Tulsa, OK - Exit 6C
July 19 - Monroe, LA - Blue Monkey Tavern

Aug 2 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues w/ Fair to Midland

As always, you can get details on all these shows at www.myspace.com/osocloso.
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Thanks for reading, keep checking in with us in the next month or so. We have a really big announcement we’ll be making soon (wink).

-Chris

1 Comment » Posted by mcqueen / News and Updates

so we got this blog thing that estus told us we have to write in all the time. hopefully you’ll read it. tonight the majority of us are going out to a nice little place called the greenhouse to see some friends play some jazz. the greenhouse has really good stuffed chicken, although unfortunately by the time we arrive the kitchen will be closed. there is however a fantasically low price on draft beer tonight. so i’m sure we’ll all make good use of that.

some records i’m listening to:

tommy -the who

till the sun turns black -ray lamontagne

the diary of alicia keys -alicia keys

the new death cab (don’t know what its called)

mcqueen making noises on a half-discombobulated piano in the living room -chris mcqueen

movies i’ve watched recently:

atonement, pick of destiny, tommy, brick

alright, i promise to do a much better blog from now on. i just had to put something up to get things rolling.

love you all

adrian

No Comments » Posted by adrian / Uncategorized

Welcome to the Oso Closo blog – pretty much the best thing on the internet.

1 Comment » Posted by admin / Uncategorized