Thank you to the Launchpad and Slick Idiot, you guys rock, and I hope we do it again soon.
/brian

Just a reminder that we will be playing with SLICK IDIOT (former members of KMFDM and Pigface) this coming Tuesday June 1st at the Launchpad (613 central ave., Albuquerque NM) – the show is 21+, $8 at the door, but if you act NOW, you can get your tickets for only FIVE DOLLARS!  You can buy them from us, or you can buy them online:

http://holdmyticket.com/event/8039

But you’ve gotta do it by 5pm on tuesday the 1st!  After that, it’s $8 at the door.  And you wanna save cash, right?

So please, come out to this show, it’s sure to be great.  You can hear some music here:

http://www.slickidiot.com

I hope we see you!

Also, we STILL NEED YOUR VOTES!  Please click, and vote:

The end is coming near, we need all the help we can get!  THANK YOU!

/brian

Red Elvises w/ Vertigo Venus, 5/17 @ Corazon (Santa Fe, NM)

Having never seen the Red Elvises, (which is sad, considering how often they make their way through Albuquerque), I was pretty psyched to get to finally catch a set by them (much less open for them!) I wasn’t let down in any way shape or form, that’s for damn sure. The last time a band got me this jazzed up was The Gluey Brothers reunion at Launchpad in December of ’09, and before that, I can’t even remember. I’ve rarely seen a band with this kind of energy and awesome skill on a stage at once. Igor’s one of the finest frontmen you could ask for, with a distinct ability to control a crowd. Oleg’s giant bass is actually outshined by his giant smile he flashes constantly while playing. Milka, on backup guitar/vocals, had a voice that you would never have expected to come out of her frame – like Tom Waits mashed up with an army of gospel singers, this girl delivered. Elena on keyboards was officially one of the most awesome keyboard players I’ve ever seen, with so much energy it almost hurt, I have no idea how she was able to do what she did in high heels. Finally, Kyle on drums held it down like a fucking metronome, and his drum solo was by far one of the most expressive and original I’ve ever seen.

In the two (yes, two) sets that the band played, they did everything from “Your love is better than Cocaine”, to “I wanna see you Bellydance”, and even the most amazing cover of Chris Iasaak’s “Wicked Game” I’ve ever heard.

I can’t wait to see this band again, they’re obviously hardworking and deserve all the success they’ve had. My only regret of the night? Forgetting my “Six String Samurai” movie poster to have the band sign

I should also make a mention of Corazon, which is officially one of my favorite venues in New Mexico. Mikey Baker is a man who knows how to run a quality space, with great staff and sound. This is a great club that I hope has much success.

I do understand that they’ll be back in September, though, so when they are, I urge you to see this band.

Hey all, my band, Vertigo Venus, has got a TON of great shows coming up, and we hope to see you out!

Firstly, we’re opening for the RED ELVISES at Corazon in Santa Fe, NM on May 17th:

This is sure to be an AWESOME show!

Next up, we’ve got a great gig in Santa Fe again, at Warehouse 21 – ALL AGES and FREE!

We follow that up with a REALLY IMPORTANT GIG. On May 26th, we’re playing an instore appearance at Hot Topic at the Coronado mall in Albuquerque. yeah, that’s right.

So here’s the deal. We need as many people as we can get at this gig. Why? Because if we can show HT management that we kick ass (which we do), they’ll sell our new CD. That means a lot of good things for us.

so, what we need YOU to do is show up at 5:30pm to Hot Topic in Coronado mall, ready to rock. Bring EVERY FRIEND YOU HAVE with you! PLEASE! I know we ask a lot of you, but this is REALLY important!

And Finally, we are still selling tickets for our june 6th show with SLICK IDIOT, featuring former members of KMFDM and PIGFACE, for only FIVE DOLLARS! This is sure to be an AMAZING GIG. Get in touch with us at vertigovenus@gmail.com to purhcase your tickets, do it now!

Thank you as always for your support, it means THE WORLD to us!

-brian, drums

Last night, we closed a set in a way we’ve never done before. Tomorrow, we’ll be doing more amazing things we’ve never done, as we play with ABQ local rockers Shoulder Voices for their ALL AGES CD release @ Revlis gallery at 712 Central .SE in Albuquerque:

This show is ALL AGES, with a $3 cover and A FREE CD from shoulder voices! Check them out here:

http://www.myspace.com/shouldervoices

Also, in the next week, you’ll start to see a lot of cool new stuff from us, as we gear up for our very own CD release of our NEW CD!

On May 17th, we’ll be opening for the RED ELVISES at Corazon in Santa fe – sure to be a great gig… come out! Info is here:

http://www.corazonsantafe.com

We’re also selling tickets RIGHT NOW for our upcoming gig with SLICK IDIOT on June 1st. Slick Idiot features former members of KMFDM and PIGFACE. This is going to be the show to kick off the summer with! Get your tickets from us for only FIVE DOLLARS! Email us at vertigovenus at gmail dot com to purchase!

There’s plenty more good stuff coming, so please do keep your eye on our calendar and beyond… 20ten is the year of VERTIGO VENUS!

/brian

Vertigo Venus worked very hard in 2008.  We played tons of shows, made new music, opened for big bands, and did a two month run as The Angry Inch in at the Vortex Theatre for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”.  We were rewarded by winning best Punk band, Bassist, Vocalist, and Drummer, as well as best Stage production and 2nd best guitarist in the 2009 Best of Burque.

When we won, there seemed to be an air of dislike toward us for the fact that we had marketed ourselves and campaigned for these positions.  We were accused of cheating in various channels, and even the mention of Best Drummer made sure to mention that I was good at drumming, but better at networking.

When the 2010 BOB came around, there was mention on various channels that we would win silly categories that we didn’t fall in, and musicians that said that we shouldn’t promote ourselves, that we would do better to sit on our hands and wait.

That’s not the Vertigo Venus way.

So, we did a small amount of promotion asking our fans to vote for us in the categories of Best Punk band, guitarist, vocalist, bassist, and drummer.  We didn’t market nearly as much as we usually do for something like this.

When the 2010 BOB issue came out, I picked it up, anticipating the results.  I was surprised to see that in the Music category, five main categories were missing; each of those being the categories we’d campaigned for.

I then found out via one of our fans on Twitter that there was a mention in the Alibi’s “Staff Picks” section on the website saying that we’d been “retired” from winning Best of Burque.  I found this interesting, because, well, we hadn’t been informed that we’d been retired.

Our fans took this and ran with it, coining the Twitter trending topic #vertigovenusgate, and spreading the word.  The issue wasn’t that we didn’t win; the issue was that we were discounted from winning for a reason that didn’t make sense; as it was said in the web posting, because of anticipation that we’d win some category like “best sculpture”, we were retired from winning Best of Burque.

Soon after attention was brought to this, the posting was removed from the Alibi’s webpage.  But, it was too late; VertigoVenusgate was already in full effect.

A posting on the Alibi’s forums brought to my attention a proposed explanation for the omission; if a category didn’t have enough votes for a clear first, second and third place winner to be declared, then the category would be omitted; if there were so many votes that there were an 80 way tie, the Alibi would remove the category because it would seem one-sided.

I find this hard to swallow, though; in previous BOBs, there were plenty of two way ties; in one case, Torture Victim and Le Chat Lunatique both tied for a best of position.  So, by the Alibi’s reasoning, if someone were to do “too well” in a category, they would be discounted from winning that category?

It’s difficult to believe that this would happen, but obviously it did. The reasoning for this seems contradictory, but we’re not in a place to argue much.  Our fans, however, have already run with this issue.  It’s actually worked out as nice promotion for our new album, “Success or Suicide”.

While we respect the  Alibi and it’s employees, as well as their responsibility to make the choices they make, we’d still ask for a clearer view of why, after seeing the hostility put toward us for being good at what we do on the internet and in other ways, it would be reinforced by the Alibi’s music editor in a hastily posted comment on the website.  The posting didn’t say that we didn’t win any categories or were not allowed to compete in those categories because we cheated or because as they have insinuated, we’re “too good”.  The posting stated that because it was expected that we’d take some silly category, we were discounted.  But why were the categories taken with us?  And what about the bands and musicians who were also pushing for those categories?  Surely there were other musicians who wanted best drummer, guitarist, and so on.  But, the Alibi would have me believe that there were not, so little of them in fact, that it warranted the complete removal of the categories, as well as us, from the Best of Burque.

It’s a bit offensive, and while I realize that it may be been in jest, being “retired” against our will wasn’t funny.  I’d still kindly request an explanation outside of the general disclaimer of “not enough votes for others”.  Perhaps someday, I will see one.

VERTIGO VENUS NEEDS YOU TO VOTE IN THE ALIBI’S BEST OF BURQUE POLL.

ALREADY READY TO VOTE? CLICK HERE:

http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote
http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote
http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote
http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote
http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote

In 2008, we worked harder than we ever had before in Albuquerque, and we were rewarded with BEST PUNK BAND, drummer, singer, bassist, guitarist, and best theatrical production.

Soon after, many of Albuquerque’s whiners stepped up to accuse cheating and over-confidence. Well, they got the last one right

Vertigo Venus wants to get BEST PUNK BAND in The Alibi’s Best of Burque poll because we are the single most hard working band in that genre in this city. We are proud of ourselves and we have good reason to be.

You MUST VOTE by 11:55am on march 29th. AFTER THAT, IT WON’T COUNT. DO IT BEFORE, PLEASE! All entries should be kept local, because it’s about Albuquerque – but people from outside Albuquerque can vote.

So, we ask you to vote for us, by clicking this link:

http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote

You’ll need to vote for TWENTY ITEMS, OR YOUR VOTE WON’T COUNT, so here is a list of SUGGESTED VOTING ITEMS:

We are campaigning for:

LIFE IN BURQUE:

BEST DJ – Tommy T
Best issue of the Alibi – The one where Vertigo
Venus won EVERYTHING.

ARTS:

Best art gallery – Chroma Gallery
Best theater troupe – Burlesque Noir

MUSIC:

BEST DJ – JUSTIN GEORGE
BEST ROCK BAND – DIVERJE
BEST PUNK BAND – VERTIGO VENUS
BEST ELECTRONIC ACT – BRIAN BOTKILLER
BEST AVANT-GARDE – ALCHEMICAL BURN
BEST SINGER/SONGWRITER – JEFF CANNON, VERTIGO VENUS
BEST DRUMMER – BRIAN BOTKILLER, VERTIGO VENUS
BEST BASSIST – KEN CORNELL, VERTIGO VENUS
BEST GUITARIST – CHRIS CANNON, VERTIGO VENUS
BEST VOCALIST – JEFF CANNON, VERTIGO VENUS
BEST LOCAL MUSIC PROGRAM – CYBERAGE RADIO
BEST SOUND GUY – JASON WOLF
BEST LOCAL MUSIC LABEL – DSBP RECORDS
BEST LOCAL MUSIC NONPROFIT – NMROCKS! PINUP CALENDAR

WRITE IN –

Best anything we forgot:

BEST INDUSTRIAL BAND – DIVERJE

These are SUGGESTIONS, you can make up your own mind about these things; our biggest request is BEST PUNK BAND. We would love to see all these categories, as well, though. It’ll keep pissing off ABQ’s whiners, and proving why we’re the best at what we do.

We love all of you. We’re not bribing anyone here; everyone votes because they support and care, and we love you for that. THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU
THANK YOU

http://alibi.com/?scn=bob_vote

You’ll need to vote for TWENTY ITEMS for your ballot to count, and you have until march 28th at noon to do it NO LATER! Try after, and you suck.

Do it up here to vote:

I did double duty, drumming in Diverje and Vertigo Venus (back to back, no less!), and I held up a lot better than I thought I would, having not done it in awhile.  I think that my drumming is continuing to get much more controlled, and therefore, I’m feeling a lot better about my style as time goes on.

The night was comprised of awesome sets by Cranial smash device and Tripping Dogs, followed by Diverje, and a riotous set by us to finish it off.  Great DJ sets by Xibabalola and Marino.  Everyone moshing, jumping, going crazy for everything we threw at them, proving that we do indeed have the best fans ever.

Moreover, I have the best band, ever; with our venue being canceled last minute, Ken stepped up and scored Revlis to host us.  Chris and I got the word out.  Jeff as always kept everything together, and Jess, Jeff, Kenny and Chris rocked it getting gear loaded, setup, broken down, and more, when I wasn’t able to.  We truly are a great team.

Thank you, one and all.

/brian

So, let it be said that we don’t really support any politician; but, we do support rocking out. And that we did.

As DJ Featherricci dropped some tracks, we loaded in (dressed to the nines, as we often are), set up shop, and after an intro by MC Max Friedenburg, we were rolling with our first song, “Everybody Down”. People were a bit put off, but by the time we were dropping our cover of “She bop”, they were grooving. Some folks were obviously confused; let’s face it, Santa Fe isn’t our scene. We don’t play there much, and it usually caters to a much different crowd. Jeff worked them over with his usual dry and razor sharp wit, Jesi blew their faces off with her keys, Chris and Kenny held it down, and I did my best to continue to beat the hell out of my drumkit. As people loosened up (likely thanks to liquor), things got better. By the time we closed with “Punk rock cheerleader”, they were electrified enough to even sing along! We destroyed things as we usually do with our closer; cymbals flying about, lots of noise from Chris and Ken.

We were called back for an encore, which is not something we’re used to getting to do, and so we dropped our cover of “Dancing by myself” by Billy Idol, got people dancing, and hopefully wanting more.

As we packed up our gear, MC Max stood on the stage and asked the Mayor to say a few words, the first of which was, “I love Vertigo Venus!”. You don’t get to hear that too much about a riotous synhpunk act playing to a crowd that’s used to blues or latin jazz on a friday night.

A good night in general, and well-attended; Corazon can definitely pack in the heads. We look forward to making our way up to Santa Fe more often, so look out Sfe-ans. We’re coming for you.

/brian