Team Shi Super Trip

The Mae Shi are going on tour.

The Mae Shi are five young men from Los Angeles. Over the past year, they’ve released a full-length album (Terrorbird, which they’re still very proud of), compiled a mix CD of their 1200 favorite songs, recorded two EPs, written music software, built an arsenal of instruments and amplifiers, and performed their interactive hyper gospel music in over 100 basements, pizza parlors, art spaces, living rooms and book stores, from San Francisco to Summerville, South Carolina while holding down tedious day jobs.

They’ve been told that “Mae Shi” roughly translates to “business card” in Japanese, although they didn’t know that when the band was named. It’s a fitting name, though, because that’s what the Mae Shi has become. Because what comes next? How do four people make a living making music with the painful awareness that today’s magazine hype is the future’s landfill bloat? Here’s how: Make your band a self improvement vehicle. Use it to learn about songwriting, web design, amp repair, guitar assembly, music production, soft synth programming, graphic design, public speaking and more. The Mae Shi are at their best when they are studying just as hard as they are partying, and they hope to match each ecstatic high-five with a few minutes behind a book or soldering gun. This summer, they even got to try their hand at acting, playing The Screamers in the upcoming Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret, coming out next year through Rhino Films.

Heartbeeps: the first bi-product of the plan. Ten home-recorded tracks that plumb the depths of their musical taste. It’s a record that would have made the 11-year-old versions of the Mae Shi very excited. As with Terrorbird, they recorded it themselves in their bedrooms and living rooms, making up recording techniques as they went along. And as with Terrorbird, anything goes: drum machines, cut-and-paste choruses, handclaps, recycled riffs, hoots, hollers, and lyrics pulled from neuroscience textbooks and Plato’s Republic. RIYL: Ex Models, Deerhoof, Brainiac, Grand Funk Railroad on 78.

Do Not Ignore the Potential: part two of the plan. A split with best friends Rapider Than Horsepower, and while it was recorded at the same time as Heartbeeps, it's very different. Heartbeeps moves fast, this one takes its time. What to call it, experimental pop music maybe? Drum machines, hand claps, overblown synths, spazzy guitars, 1-4-5's, Omnichords and Glockinspiels. Songs ripped from the headlines about train derailments, bad parties and the power of popular music. RIYL: The Unicorns, Joan of Arc, the Mountain Goats, Thin Lizzy.

MP3s:

From 2004's Terrorbird:
Vampire Beats
Revelation 3
Chop 2
Body 2

From 2003's THAC0:
You Can't Do That To An Axe</i>

From Heartbeeps:
Born for a Short Time</i>

From Do Not Ignore the Potential:
"Remarkably Dirty Animals" is streamable through their MySpace page here.



Tour dates are here:

10.15 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo (w/ Make Believe)
10.19 Phoenix, AZ - The Rhythm Room
10.20 Las Cruces, NM - The Bean (w/ Indian Jewelry)
10.21 Austin, TX - TBA (w/ Freezepop, Best Fwends)
10.22 Houston, TX - Mary Jane's Fat Cat (w/ Best Fwends, The Show Is The Rainbow)
10.23 Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves (w/ Best Fwends, The Show Is The Rainbow)
10.24 Oklahoma City, OK - The Conservatory (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
10.25 Little Rock, AR - Whitewater Tavern
10.26 Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light
10.27 Chalrottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom (w/ VCR, Measles Mumps Ruebella)
10.28 Middlebury, VT - Middlebury College
10.29 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom (w/ The Mountain Goats)
10.30 Boston, MA - Eagle's Nest @ Boston College (w/ Fat Day)
11.31 New York, NY - Tonic (Hween bash w/ Night Porter)
11.01 Middletown, CT - Eclectic Haus @ Weslyan University (w/ An Albatross)
11.02 Providence, RI - AS220 (w/ Fat Day)
11.03 Brooklyn, NY - North Six (w/ No Things, Parts & Labor)
11.04 Hamilton, NY - Colgate College
11.05 Annandale-On-Hudson, NY - Bard College
11.06 Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College (w/ Racebannon)
11.07 Gambier, OH - Horn Gallery @ Kenyon College (w/ Racebannon)
11.08 Bloomington, IN - Second Story (w/ Rapider Than Horsepower)
11.09 Urbana, IL - Canopy Club (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.10 Dekalb, IL - The House (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.11 Moline, IL - Laser Mansion (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.12 Chicago, IL - Beat Kitchen (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.13 St. Paul, MN - Big V's (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.14 Houghton, MI - Michigan Tech University (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.15 Madison, WI - Owl Sanctuary (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.16 Iowa City, IA - Gabe's Oasis (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow)
11.17 St. Louis, MO - Hi-Pointe (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow, So Many Dynamos)
11.18 Omaha, NE - Sokol Underground (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow, So Many Dynamos)
11.19 Lincoln, NE - TBA (venue soon.) (w/ The Show Is The Rainbow, So Many Dynamos)
11.20 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive (w/ Chin Up Chin Up, The Pope, Ultra Boys and Pretty Thigh)
11.21 Boise, ID - Yodada House (w/ The Pope)
11.22 Seattle, WA - Vera Project (w/ The Pope, Milemarker)
11.23 Bellingham, WA or Vancouver, BC (EMAIL US!)
11.24 Olympia, WA - YES YES (w/ The Pope, Freedom Feather, T-Giving Potluck)
11.25 Portland, OR - Food Hole (w/ The Pope)
11.26 San Francisco, CA - Elbo Room (w/ Numbers, The Pope)
11.27 Oakland, CA - Lobot Gallery (w/ The Pope, The Mall, Death of a Party)

Web site is here.