Sunspot

A Holiday Greeting from Sunspot

2009-12-11T11:51:00.002-06:00

Sunspot wishes you a very happy Holiday Season this year!

And don't forget that you can find Sunspot gifts for your loved ones at store.sunspotmusic.com.

You can watch our message directly on YouTube or download the movie file here.

Madison Bands on The Run (including us!)

2009-12-10T11:54:00.005-06:00

Thanks to Brett Newski and the guys from Dane101 for posting this article that includes us on Madison bands hitting the road.

It also features some quotes from our man, Darwin, from The Frequency and one of the guys from "Steez", who I interviewed for Max Ink a few months back.

You can read it directly by visiting the link here: http://www.dane101.com/tour/2009/12/10/madison_bands_on_the_run

Old-School Sunspot Video "Prozac Girl" 2001

2009-12-01T23:29:00.003-06:00

That's right, friends, the hits just keep on coming. This is the third week in a row we've brought you "classic" (classic, ha, there's nothing classic about the peroxide blonde in this video and did I steal that bowling shirt from a Big Lebowski convention?) Sunspot songs that have been sitting on VHS for the past few years.

This one's a live performance of "Prozac Girl" from the James Madison Memorial High School Arts Week in 2001.

Next week, we'll be back with some newer material (maybe another pop-up video if we can work up enough jokes this weekend) but since we're reaching the end of the Aughts, I thought it would be fun to check in on where we were at the beginning of the decade. We have hours and hours of tape from Sunspot concerts, tours, and television appearances over the past few years so we'll be putting up videos from all throughout our history on the weeks in between podcasts. By the way, we'll be coming up on our 100th podcast soon and I promise we'll do it before the end of the year, we'll definitely be featuring the highlights from this year's Sunspot Christmas Party on the 19th!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 11/28/09 @ McAuliffe's Pub in Racine, WI

2009-11-29T19:25:00.003-06:00

2009 Thoughts for Food Fall Harvest Benefit... Thanks all for your generosity!

Old School Sunspot Video: Meat Market

2009-11-25T00:42:00.004-06:00

This one's even older than last week's, but just in time for the holiday, here's another one from the vaults. "Meat Market" is the first actual music video we ever released (thanks to our man, Steve Concotelli for putting it together!) from our first album, Radio Free Earth. Live, we usually dedicate it to Bullwinkle's (a wonderfully sleazy dance club in Madison that the aforementioned Steve introduced me to on underage night when I was still in high school), and we didn't know at the time that years later, Sunspot would host two CD release parties there and before it was full of butt-shaking, sweaty, oversexed young adults dancing to techno (and my favorite, 80's night!) it was a club called Headliners that hosted everyone from U2 to Sonic Youth to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

The footage from the club we're playing at in this video is the fondly remembered and long-lost O'Cayz Corral and funny enough, the studio we're recording in is Cactus Studios, which was in the basement of the building that now holds O'Cayz' successor, The High Noon Saloon.

This year I'm thankful that I no longer sport that goatee (or that wicked gut!) but I'm also thankful for the fact that we've had over a dozen excellent years of writing songs, playing shows, traveling, and generally carrying on in the most ridiculous fashion possible. And we're positively thankful that we've got a lot to be really excited about what we've got in store for 2010.

Change The World Old-School Video

2009-11-18T14:13:00.004-06:00

I almost forgot we had this one. Wendy's first video editing project was a mash-up of some of our live performances throughout the late 90's set to "Change The World" from our first album, Radio Free Earth. We sent this tape out to booking agents right around the turn of the century and I thought you guys might enjoy a trip down Memory Lane with us.

I just got a decent Elgato video capture card, so I'll be going through the VHS collection and putting up "classic" stuff as I find it!

I think I have at least 4 different hair colors in this video as well.

"My Own Worst Enemy" Live at The Annex

2009-11-11T13:17:00.004-06:00

Here's a live version of "My Own Worst Enemy" from the Maximum Ink Halloween Spooktacular at The Annex.

I had a wardrobe malfunction, so I guess my costume went from ROTJ Luke to the Rancor Keeper!

Thanks to Joe Guerilla for the great footage!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 10/31/09 @ The Annex in Madison, WI

2009-11-06T17:31:00.002-06:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 10/30/09 @ McAuliffe's on the Square in Racine, WI

2009-11-06T17:30:00.001-06:00

Pop-Up Videos for "Grand Guignol" and "More Than My Degree"

2009-11-06T00:48:00.004-06:00

For all the people that missed their World Premiere on the WYOU telethon awhile back, here's our versions of Pop-Up Videos for a couple of the videos off the Singularity album. Let us know if you enjoy them and we'll make some more soon!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T21:10:00.000-05:00

Live Madison Area Performance on the WYOU Telethon 10/21 9PM

2009-10-21T13:06:00.010-05:00

We're back to my old stomping grounds, WYOU, and that's the sweetness of community access television. We'll be on the telethon performing live tonight with our friends in Axiom. We'll be up right at 9pm with Axiom following at 10. Hosting will be our good friend, Rokker, from Maximum Ink. We'll be playing some live songs, showing some videos (including premiering a couple of Sunspot "Pop-Up" videos!), and hanging out on the air. You can call to talk to us or make a donation at 608-258-9644!

Here's some pictures from our very first performance on WYOU about a thousand years ago (excuse the web 0.1 quality graphics!)

Who doesn't miss Gwen Stefani shirts?

Hey Ben, Don Johnson called and wants his coat back. Actually, I think that one was mine.

Is that Ronald McDonald's evil goateed brother?

Find out more at the WYOU website and watch on Channel 95 on regular cable and Channel 991 on your digital dial!

Songs That Actually Terrify Me For Halloween

2009-10-13T17:26:00.007-05:00

Halloween is almost upon us and I absolutely love it. From the horror movies at the theater to slutty nurse costumes to bobbing for apples (the forerunner of the choking game?), as humans, it feels like we need to embrace our dark nature sometimes. And nobody does destruction like humans do destruction. We're awesome at being awesomely bad to each other, it's built in. For all the wonderful things that we can do, we're equally matched by the horrible. At Christmas, we celebrate our generosity and at Halloween we celebrate our ferocity. We mock our fears (dressing children up as tiny monsters!), weigh our mortality (ghost stories!), and (in Wisconsin at least) party like November 1st is the end of the world. We can rationalize the different reasons we celebrate the day, but let's face it, most of the time we do stuff because it's #1, everyone else is doing it, #2, it's tradition, or #3, we're too busy to consciously worry about what's going on around us, so as long as it doesn't hurt, let's do it.

I've thought about Halloween for you, though, and I've decided it owns. There's some songs that evoke a fear reaction in me so I can only listen to them every once in awhile. (There's only been one picture that's ever done that to me, which you can see right here.)

"Tomorrow, Wendy" by Concrete Blonde

Tragic and poetic and a reminder of mortality that makes me want to cry and flee at the same time.

"Only God says jump,

So I set the time,
'Cause if he ever saw her,
It was through these eyes of mine.
And if he ever suffered it was me who did his crying."

"Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer

When you want to find the right notes on the guitar to elicit a fear response, Slayer is your go-to band. And the spoken part with the child and Ed Gein is obvious, but it works.

Superheroes from Rocky Horror

The piano always gets me here for some reason. I love the part, but I can only handle it for a few seconds.

Dexter - Closing Theme

I turn the show off or hit mute before the end theme plays.

I'd love to hear what other songs people are actually scared of. Not just songs about scary themes, but songs they have a hard time listening to because they sound terrifying. Email me and I'll postthem too. Have a great Halloween! We'll be at The Annex in Madison to celebrate (with one of the guys from GWAR!)

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 10/10/09 @ Howie's in La Crosse, WI

2009-10-12T07:51:00.005-05:00

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 10/2/09 @ R & A Stoltz's in Mosinee, WI

2009-10-10T11:45:00.001-05:00

Radio Ad for Max Ink Halloween Spooktacular 2009

2009-10-09T15:35:00.004-05:00

Check out the radio ad for this year's Halloween party at The Annex! You might recognize the songs they use. ;)

No cover, free food, and FREE BEER! With us, The Skintones, Axiom, and Lords of Discipline. It's gonna be the most fun Halloween show we've had for a long time.

Thanks to Rokker and Paul Schluter from Megatone for putting together the ad!

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 99

2009-09-29T12:02:00.001-05:00

Some September snapshots with Sunspot stopping by Eau Claire, UW's Engineering Hall in Madison, and Cudahy - with some music by Velvet Dog from Milwaukee.

Download it here.

Wendy's DrummerCam: Tuesday 9/15/09 @ The Frequency in Madison, WI

2009-09-16T22:19:00.002-05:00

Thanks to each and every one of you who made it to the show Tuesday... I KISS YOU!

TONIGHT: Tuesday 9/15/09 at The Frequency with MARK MALLMAN!

2009-09-15T12:12:00.008-05:00

The day is finally here!

Tonight we will be putting on a rare TUESDAY night show in Madison, and for good reason: Minneapolis rocker Mark Mallman is in town!

If you haven't had the opportunity to see or hear Mallman, here's a sneak peek of one of his new singles:

and here's another one that I love:

If that's not enough to convince you, I have a personal testimonial. I saw Mallman perform in June at The Frequency on a Sunday night, and let's just say he gave new meaning to "giving 110 percent". His show was so full of energy, showmanship, and raw talent I was stunned.

In honor of Mallman's brand new CD entitled "Invincible Criminal", the night's theme will be VILLAINS AND SUPERHEROES. Dress up as your favorite superhero or villain and get your photo taken in our mugshot photo booth! We'll have some other surprises for you too.

Sunspot has prepared a special set list just for tonight, and we'll also be doing our *enhanced* multimedia show w/videos. It's been a while since we played in Madison and we are excited to see you again and show you what we've been working on!

The show is a bargain at just $5- you'll get more than your money's worth at this one, friends!

Join the Facebook Event here

DISCLAIMER: You don't have to worry about staying up too late on a school night. The show starts at 9 and we'll be done by 11 (you stay up to watch Conan or Dave anyway, stay up with us instead! We promise it will be worthwhile or we'll drive you to work the next day if you're too tired.)

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/12/09 @ Double Play Sports Bar in Antioch, IL

2009-09-15T12:10:00.002-05:00

Sorry about the poor quality. I forgot my camera last weekend and had to use my phone. :(

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 9/11/09 @ Champs in Lake Geneva, WI

2009-09-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

Sunspot featured in latest Film101 podcast

2009-09-11T13:00:00.002-05:00

Make sure you check out the latest Film101 podcast , they feature some tracks off our new CD and DVD, but it's also a fun listen if you love movies!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Sunday 9/6/09 @ On The Limiter in Cudahy, WI

2009-09-08T18:15:00.001-05:00

Awesome name for a band

2009-09-07T01:34:00.001-05:00

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 9/5/09 @ Siemer's Cruise In in Walworth, WI

2009-09-06T11:43:00.002-05:00