Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk’s West Coast Tour

Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk are starting a West Coast tour this Friday, May 15th. In preparation for the tour BBDDM are releasing four cassettes and a 7-inch in the coming month. Check out the tour details below along with one of the new tracks “Don’t Cry Tina” we’ve streamed just for you.

Listen to “Don’t Cry Tina” here

posted by: Harold Johns III

Thumbs to the Heavens Recap

Wayne Propst strikes a pose with his portrait at the Wonder Fair

Last Saturday The Rathaus stopped by Wonder Fair’s first anniversary show “Thumbs to the Heavens.” We brought back these photos for an online view of the show which runs through July 5th.

“Blue Drawings of Monster Heads” by Matt Furie

“Drop City House” by Christa Dalien

“Leek” by Mel Kadel

“Ride On” by Mel Kadel

“Cookie” by Travis Millard

photos by: Sara Rock
posted by: Harold Johns III

Fill:Refill Reception

The fifth year architectural design studio of the University of Kansas in conjunction with El Dorado Inc. presents “Fill:Refill,” an exhibition of 50 projects for Jarboe Pool. The reception/exhibition is Wednesday, May13th at Pachamama’s in Lawrence, KS beginning at 7:30 pm. Stop by to see the end product of a semester’s worth of hard work by these emerging architects and soon to be graduates, including The Rathaus’ own s.a.johnson.

Learn more about Fill:Refill here.

posted by: Brent Carter

The Slaves of Mary Jane!

Check out this funny video from our friends out of Lawrence, KS The Spook Lights. Young Billy is led astray by a pipe-toking sexpot in this classick educational short.

posted by: Tricia Rock

Artist Interview: Ponytail

Ponytail were straight off the road from their nationwide tour when they sat down with us on a street corner to talk about living in Baltimore,  playing without a bassist, their fantastic fun sounds, and the importance of laughter in their songwriting process. The conversation was easy and breezy like the spring evening, because lead singer Molly (MS), guitarists Ken (KS) and Dustin (DW), and drummer Jeremy (JS) are not only great musicians, but real nice folks. An hour later they were on stage, blasting the ears and shaking the asses of the Lawrence, KS crowd with their joyful, spastic sounds. To get to know these people behind the nasty tunes a bit better, check out our interview. And to really have the full Ponytail experience, be sure to see them if they come anywhere near your town.

Is this your first major tour across the country?
All: We’ve done it before.

So you guys are like pros?
KS: I would say we are intermediate.
MS: Wait, wait, wait. How many times have you done it Dustin?
DW: Uhhhh..I’ve done it like six times.
KS: That’s a pro.
MS: And he’s (KS) done it like…
KS: Like four and half or five times.
DW: A couple small tours too.
KS: A couple of European tours.

So if you only had one piece of equipment you could not do without what would that be?
KS: My guitar
DW: Yeah my guitar. (Laughs)
KS: You can’t do very much with a pedal or an amp without a guitar?
DW: Well you could but it would be all dissonance. Brrr, Crash, Chick, Bam, Crash! kind of stuff.
KS: Noise rock in other words.
JS: I don’t really need anything.
MS: The only thing that I don’t want to like lose is my mic, and I left it somewhere…but it is getting mailed to me. I left it in Bloomington. I like it because I got it used from this music shop in Baltimore called Atomic and it said “Sonny’s Mic” on it. And I don’t know, I guess he was this weird dude who a bunch of people knew. I just really like it.

Is most of your guys’ equipment vintage?
KS: The amps are.
DW: My amp is from the 80′s.
KS: Yeah mine too. I would have trouble parting with that because I just got it.

Where did you find that?
KS: I bought it off this dadly type figure.

Do you guys have the problem, like we do in Lawrence, of people around you wanting to move on or get out to go to a bigger city?
MS: Maybe a little bit.
DW: Some people leave that you don’t want to.
All: Yeah
MS: Then a lot of people come back.
KS: But if people want to leave then they should leave.
DW: They should be able to, have the freedom to.
KS: Baltimore isn’t for everybody and you can tell if they don’t like it. Sometimes it becomes like a  halfway house for some kids.

Did you guys all grow up in Baltimore?
JS: I did.
KS: No actually, I’m from Pennsylvania.
DW: I am from Japan.
MS: Phoenix, Arizona.

But you guys met in art school?
All: Yes.

How is composing and playing without a bass player?
KS: If you have never had it, do you know what you are missing? People in other countries that don’t have certain things, you know they are missing and they just kind of make it work.

Do you guys write all your stuff collectively as a group?
MS: Yeah, pretty much.
DW: Yes.

What’s that process like?
MS: Jamming.
DW: Jamming and talking a lot.
MS: We often record a jam and take a piece of it we like and then listen to it and then go off of that.
DW: Then sometimes during practice we will all get really excited so we follow that. You get really giddy, all like “Oh what does it sound like!?”
All: Laughs
KS: Typically laughter ensues and then we know we are onto something exciting.

Ken, Dustin, Jeremy, Molly

It does seem like your music comes from a very fun, natural place. Was that something that just comes from being yourself or influenced by the scene you are from?
DW: Sometimes it is really hard to be yourself in a scene.
KS: I think since all the members of our band are so different from one another we sort of formed like a checks and balances.
MS: We don’t let each other push us too far into any one direction.
KS: We try to find a good middle point or like a compromise between all our ideas.
MS: Also with the way our band was put together through a class and everything we had a lot of freedom and a lot of time compared to now. It was anything could happen and I think a lot of people start bands with a certain expectation of what it should sound like.

How long have you guys been a band?
MS: Four and a half years. Right?
KS: Four, four and a half years.

When you guys played that first show at the end of the year party, did people like your music?
MS: Yeah it was really fun.
DW: All the kids were dancing and were all pumped up on adrenaline.
KS: Yeah, we have always tried to fill our expectations for our band first even from the very beginning.
MS: Yeah. It was a lot of fun.

Molly, many will compare your vocals to Yoko Ono, was that something you thought about in your vocal approach?
MS: I wasn’t really thinking about anything in particular it was just sort of naturally came about.
KS: You were dancing like Mick Jagger though.
DW: Before practice she would like do this chicken dance. (Does a chicken dance)
All: Laughs
MS: I remember thinking I was interested in singing and mentioning that but I did not know if I could sing. I wasn’t real confident but I wanted to try. There are so many vocalists I am not into, I just knew that I would be different. It just came out while Dustin and I were jamming one day and it has sort of been evolving since then.

What musical experiences did you guys have before starting Ponytail?
KS: I have been playing bands since I was 14.
DW: Yeah I played guitar in other bands.
JS: I really like playing drums.
KS: Jeremy has been in some other good bands.
JS: I was in this political hardcore band in high school (pointing at his sweat shirt)…The Audio Rapists.

That is an awesome sweatshirt. One you’ll want to hold on to forever.
JS: It has some Taco Bell sauce on it now.
KS: (Laughs) I was hoping you would mention that. It is an awesome sweatshirt.

What did you have to leave behind on tour that you really care about?
KS: Uhh..My girlfriend.
DW: My girlfriend.

Is this fame thing getting strange yet?
DW: Toronto was surreal for me. I was pooping and I heard these dudes say, “Hey! Are you psyched for Ponytail?!”
All: Laughs
DW: And then I was like “Ohhh, No!”
All: Laughs
KS: There is always like a separation between what we experience and how others experience it. So I guess all of that is weird.

interview by: Meghan Bainum
illustration by: Scott Starrett
photos by: Tricia Rock and Brent Carter