As you may or may not know, our beloved bass player extraordinaire Mr. Aaron Levinsky is tying the knot to his beautiful fiance Julia this Saturday. Aaron met Julia at Empty Bottle (I was there) in the Pre-Bully-Era (but not too far before the band). I've known Aaron since freshman year of high school and have played music with him for years. When Simon, Kennedy and Jannotta and I decided to start jamming Bully tunes it didn't take more than a second to know who to ask to help with the bass duties.
Here's a tribute to our man Aaron!
Aaron loves to dress nicely for gigs
Not all gigs though! Here he is dressed like a Pirate - Arrr
See Aaron fake-play his famous bass solo in our Steal The Wind It's Free Video! (dir. Victor Grigas)
Stream the song!
Here you can listen to "I've Been Meaning to Say" also off of Apples and Sunshine - this track features yet another great bass solo by the Master, Aaron.
Ok soooo you haven't heard from us in a while aside from shameless repetitive promotion, so here's the best attempt I can do at a recap.
Your friends in Bully in the Hallway just recently wrapped up the busiest and (basically) most productive 64 days in our nearly 3 year history. Just what do I mean by that and what have we done?
1. Recorded, Mixed and Mastered a brand new EP - the "Advice EP" + Merch
As a band, we have written 30+ songs over the years (and counting). Last summer's release of "Apples and Sunshine" was a long way in the making, topping off at just over a year from start to glorious finish including recording, mixing, mastering, artwork and kickass album release show at the Double Door. More info on that experience here: Behind the Apples and Album Release Show Photos.
After a fall and winter of playing local shows promoting the album, we wanted to do something different in early spring and also have a new record to promote. We had been having great response to our newer songs and knew we needed to get something online STAT. In the spirit of the 60's era 7" double-side single, we called up our good buddy Mike Lust at Phantom Manor to "spend a weekend recording a song or two" with the hopes of putting out something current to our sound, energetic and fast. The result was the "Advice EP" - two of our favorite stage-tested songs "Advice" and "Magnanimous Corpses," plus a new song "Famous Young Monsters," which was crafted just in the weeks before the sessions to add some color. See the photos.
And if you have $, now you can actually buy it and hold it in your hands -
That's right...while you've known for a while that this is available online, in the weeks following its completion we had it pressed by our good friends at Veoba. Many thanks to our buddy Jordan Snow for helping out with our artwork. And yes, we will be recording again soon.
Here is one of two colorways for our shirt. More designs to come!
Speaking of Veoba, we also designed and produced our first line of real merch - the beloved 't-shirt.' Thanks to our pal/frequent photographer Justin James for helping with the super fresh design, and Veoba for helping us print, produce and have our shirts on the table within a great turnaround time. Talk about service! In a completely biased opinion (based on experience)- we think Veoba is fantastic for bands.
2. SHOWS
Holy hell have we had some good shows.
On April 7th we had the privilege of playing with Titus Andronicus along with The Saps at the Bottom Lounge. To share the stage at a packed (and I mean packed) house with not only a fantastic band like Titus, but great people was a thrill for us. You can read more about the show here at the Consequence of Sound review. I'll post some pics of this show soon.
Fast forward to May 29th and we found ourselves opening for the Smoking Popes with Shot Baker at Lincoln Hall! Needless to say it was an unbelievable experience. With Lawrence Arms, the Broadways, The Falcon and the Smoking Popes being influences on us, sharing the stage with these Chicago legends was something we won't ever forget. Not to mention, Lincoln Hall is a top-notch venue in regard to sound quality, professionalism and experience for all.
Ok enough gushing - here are some pics!
Yes you will notice that at this particular show, the role of Aaron was played by our very talented and good friend Jon Reyes - a fantastic bassist!
The Blackhawks won game 1 during and after our show...
The Smoking Popes rocked!
Photos by Heather Kaplan (except the Smoking Popes pic by me)
3. Sports
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention - the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup!
4. What's next?
You'll find out soon enough! Haha. Enjoy the weather and celebrate this Blackhawk Victory!
