We’re Baaaaaack!

March 25, 2010

The wait is over. We have a brand spankin’ new drummer! We’d like you guys to meet the one, the only, Jeff Pennison.

Jeff in all his glory!

Not only are we going to show him off on the site, but we’ve cooked up a show for you guys so you all get to meet him in person!

Saturday, April 3rd, we’ll be playing our usual haunting grounds – Whiskey Dix on the Avenue with Lay Like Dogs. The show is FREE and it starts at 10pm! Get your asses down there! We may even resurrect an old one!

Also – another free tidbit from the last live show:

Here is the description from our SONG CHRONOLOGY page:

MOST OF THE TIME – Nick & Pete switch things up by passing each other their instruments on this one. After we played through it a few times I thought, “When did we get funky?” It’s about being able to fall in love with someone despite personal hang-ups & issues. I foresee babies being made to this one in the future. Like I said…WAY funky.

Hope you guys dig this one. Anyways, we’ll see you guys on the 3rd!

ST from CZ


Live Material!!!

March 17, 2010

SOMETHING YOU LOVE TO HATE – Rory brought in this awesomely methodical riff. The name of the song just kept popping into my head while we were working out the kinks. If you’ve ever beaten yourself up over useless crap till it changed you, then you’ll get it. The chorus of the song has a set of balls the size of honeydew melons. (You can see this description on our SONG CHRONOLOGY page.)

We’ve been digging on this song for a little while. In the last post, we thought you’d like to see a video of it. Now we want to give you guys a chance to have it in your ears. So we’re putting out a small EP of some live, unreleased material from our show on 2/27 for Rory’s birthday!

Play it, download it, and pass it on!

Rory says, “It’s the perfect marriage of a seven year old riff with seven minute old lyrics!” & when asked why they wrote the song, he replied, “Because the 90′s were awesome, that’s why.”

Nick concurs by stating, “It’s the song that says ‘bad motherfucker’ on it.”

You be the judge. Enjoy.



Somewhere in the Long & Winding Backyard of City Zoo

March 11, 2010

So there’s probably been a lot of you who’ve come on this site & been like, “WTF???” What happened to the posts?

We’ve all been doing some other things – Here’s how we’ve rolled:

Rory Callais

He's going out for the team...Seriously

Rory has been writing with The Green Genes, playing with Vox and the Hound, started his own underground fight club with his friend, Tyler, developed a cure for cancer but had to scrap it because the man wanted to charge for it, fighting terrorism (no, not with the Army. On his own, and with his bare hands.  Why?  Because he eats terrorism for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that’s freaking why), punching pedals, and convincing Christopher Nolan to do a third “Batman” film.

Sequel NOW, NOLAN!!!

With his leisure time Rory enjoys talking smack on Avatar (seriously, f**k James Cameron), writing a movie, preparing for grad school, breaking fingers (mostly his own), hunting wild elk in the smokey mountains, discerning the meaning of life from watching The Empire Strikes Back repeatedly, both schooling and punking bitches of all stripes, and spending time with his godchild, because everyone has a soft side.

Nicholas Hebert

Man of the City, Philanthropist, Gentleman, Fashionista

While finally pursuing his life-long dream of opening a school for kids “Who do calculus but can’t add good,” Nick’s world came to a screeching halt. While in the middle of inventing, “the perfect riff” – Nick’s beloved Ibanez (aka, Big Blue) gasped her last breath. Crushed, (both for the loss of the riff and the guitar) Nick organized and led an old fashioned jazz funeral through the streets of Old Gretna. Among the attendees were local prominent beer vendors & a few cats. A writer for a “certain” publication referred to the ceremony as “The most touching thing since the last time I was detained by airport security.”

You're my girl, Blue!

Generally pissed off as a result, Nick decided to seriously abuse every guitar that comes into his possession by beating the living shit out of it. Giving them the ol’ Pete Townsend, if you will. For questions – Google: “Death and Destruction”, or “Blowing Shit Up.”

Scott Theriot (yeah, me.)

It's hot, right?

After burning my tongue severely on a piece of French Quarter Pizza, I basically took a vow of silence. Thrusting my eyeballs into the likes of Tolstoy, Ibsen, Dickens, and Bill Simmons, this not only slightly  improved my vocabulary, it flat out pissed me off!

Adopting the long forgotten monicker of “Mush Mouth,” I proceeded to train as an MC and bodyguard. That way I can pay myself to take out the fools that step in my grill (e? no e? Hmm. Decisions.). These days were simply grueling as I began a lengthy study under Diddy/Daddy/Puffy/Pdiddy Combs and Shug (Only an “s” away from a hug!) Knight.

...and from heaven, Biggie smiled

To while away the hours between tongue healing and badass gangsta training, I managed to make attempts to rival Nick in terms of guitar destroying, but only came up with a new way to scream words clearly with a bandaged tongue. I am now currently writing this from rehab as I’m getting over my love of gauze. I am still silent. I am still in quiet, badass gangsta mode.

All together, the three of us are petitioning the New Orleans Hornets to sign us each to a 10 day contract right around the time we play the Lakers. One of our feet – kobe’s knee. You get the picture.

So I guess you’re all thinking the same thing by now: Where the hell is my Pete Cassagne fix? Don’t worry ladies, we saved this one for you:

Pete Cassagne

Dr. Grooveslayer

While on break in Barbados, Dr. Grooveslayer had an epiphany. What was this epiphany? This epiphany was simply a mission. The mission? To make a better, stronger groove-laying machine that will not only lay any groove imaginable, but the sheer touching of a single string on it’s neck will cause clothing to instantly be removed. Cutting his stay at Larry Flint’s summer home short, he returned to his laboratory to create the ultimate beast. Using spare parts from speakers, weapons of mass destruction, and a spare toaster oven, Pete poured the last month into creating not only the baddest ass bass ever played upon, but he also somehow invented a machine that not only instantly cured world hunger but solved the budget crisis as a happy residual effect.

A gift for the entire world!

Satisfied with his new creation, Dr. Grooveslayer returned to Larry Flynt’s summer home just in time to celebrate his monthly magazine launch.

So there’s just a smattering of the activities that all of us at City Zoo have been involved in. Yes, we are writing new stuff. Yes, we are trying to find a drummer. Whenever we have more info to give, we’ll attempt to pass it on to you. Or if we just feel the need to give away more stuff. Until then, here’s a vid we shot at our last show with The Green Genes at Whiskey Dix. We stole their drummer, Chad Clements for the night. (Again, thanks Chad!) It’s our newest song so far called Something You Love to Hate.

If you’re diggin’ on this stuff and want more, look over to the right side of this page and scroll back up for links to Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, FREE MUSIC, etc, etc, etc. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>/\/\/\/\/\/\

(P.S. if you take all this stuff seriously, then I have some property in Florida you might want to look at.)

(P.P.S. Except Rory. It’s all true. That’s how he rolls.)

(P.P.P.S. Seriously.)

‘Till whenever we damn well please -

ST, NH, RC, & PC from CZ



Christmas Extravaganza!

December 9, 2009

As we all know, we’re nearing that wonderful time where a fat man in a red jumpsuit breaks into our homes and leaves us stuff! Sometimes he even eats our cookies…

That's what you get for B&E.

But that really isn’t the reason we’re posting. Since we’ve been in the giving sprit – with sending out SOME DAYS I’M EVOLVING to you guys for free. We’re going to do one better. Yup, you guessed it. A FREE LIVE SHOW! On December 18th @ 9pm, we’re descending on Whiskey Dix once again to spread a little Christmas magic! We’re playing with another great local band – Rik Slave & the Phantoms!

For all we know at the moment, this is our last show of 2009! Therefore we plan on coming armed with a video camera to capture some of the insanity. We’ve got a set chock full of both covers and originals to rock your ass into the AM. So we hope all of you out there that reads this will come check it out, have some eggnog, makeout under mistletoe, and all the other things people do during Christmas time at a damn fine rock show! See you there!

ST from CZ


Post Game Report

November 9, 2009

8 – friggin’ 0: I have to say, I’m mighty proud to be a Saints fan right now!

8-friggin 0

Not as happy as this guy - but you get the idea.

Anyways, all of us in City Zoo are mighty glad the game wasn’t until 3pm. The reason being, our batshit crazy show the night before at Whiskey Dix w/ Jak Locke & The War Office.

I have to say, I’m damn glad Whiskey Dix has that big honkin projector at their place because now all the bands that play there have some extra dimensions to play with in their sets. Both The War Office & Jak Locke played to the backdrop of the Mel Brooks film “Blazing Saddles”

blazing-saddles1

How the west was truly won...

So after many beers and the return of our pre-show shot, we decided to slap on a little video show of our own. Here’s a couple of the images we used.

The gubbonator

The Gubbonator (Always said w/ Austrian Accent)

Fire

You can't go wrong with fire @ a rock show!

Anyway, we had a blast Saturday night & we hope everyone who was there had as much fun as we did. Considering some parts of the show were a little hazy, then it may have been a good one. I’ve recently been told I was making rather odd noises b/t songs. If you’re around this fall, and you haven’t seen us yet, you probably should! More show dates to come! See you around.

ST from CZ


Calling all Saints & Sinners!!!

November 2, 2009

Sorry we haven’t posted anything in a while. With Halloween parties, Hornets starting their season, putting together a badass slide-show (catch us this weekend & you’ll see.) and the Saints being bad-ass juggernauts, it’s been hard to find the time.

Of course as most of us all know, the mighty Saints are playing the Falcons tonight on Monday Night Football. If you have cable – you should be watching it. If you don’t – you should be at someone’s house who does. Unless of course you’re in The Dome screaming your damn head off!!!

The Mighty Breesus!

WWDBD? Kick Atlanta's Ass!

Now that we’ve declared our allegiance to the Saints, we have a show to declare and scream about this week!

It’s Saturday @ Whiskey Dix w/ Jak Locke & The War Office here’s a flyer!

nov 7

Look, we all know Voodoo left you broke, busted, and bleeding, but hey, there’s no charge for this one! Yep. It’s FREE!!!! We’ll try to keep the bloodshed to a minimum…emphasis on TRY. The whole shindig starts around 9. We should be hitting the stage around 11/11:30. Come drink with us and watch Jak Locke and The War Office before!

Now some recording news – With W & Personal basically done, we’ve moved on to laying tracks for Eventually. All that’s left are some guitars and backing vocals. Things have been sounding awesome so far, so we promise, when this thing comes out, your faces will melt!

Indy Face-Melt

Yes, like this...Seriously

So now that we’ve ruined your lunch and have your attention, come down November 7th to Whiskey Dix and get the face-melting treatment 1st hand!


New things…New things…

September 23, 2009

So what’s up Zoo-readers? In terms of City Zoo, there’s a few things we have going on:

1. We’re RECORDING! Yep. That’s correct. One song down & 3 to go for a digital EP that will be showing up hopefully within the next month. We’re celebrating this recording process by releasing some early versions of the songs we’re recording.

2. We’ve posted Infants, a set of demo tracks to get you guys started on your City Zoo Discography. Like I said, these songs are early versions of the ones we’re currently recording. Don’t worry about repeats, because it’s F-R-E-E, FREE! We just want your email so we can let you know about new blog posts, shows, events, etc. As we go through the recording process, we’ll fill you in on song histories, plots, & other odds & ends as we see fit.

3. We’re currently rehearsing for a show @ the Allways Lounge on St. Claude. It’s an after party for a play produced by The NOLA Project, Finer Noble Gases. Thanks to a partnership with The NOLA Project and the NOLA Indie Rock Collective, every night of the play showcases a different local band. White Bitch, The Generationals, and The Green Genes are up the 1st week of the show. Loren Murell, Wolves,Where?, and US! CITY ZOO perform the second week! Our official date is Oct. 18th @9:30. A night of rock goodness…what could be better?

4. We still have more vids from the Whiskey Dix show to post. So look for those soon. Also, for whenever the next time we play there – we’re trying to come up with our own ideas for vids to show on the back screen during the show. You never know what you might see there…

Till next time you wonderful Zoo Animals…

ST from CZ


Another piece of rock goodness…

September 18, 2009

This week we’re bringing you an updated version of our song W. Watch the earlier version from the rooftop & compare…

Look for a recording of this one soon…


Last Weekend…

September 16, 2009

So we managed to pull off both shows this weekend. 9/10 @ Howlin’ Wolf & 9/12 @ Whiskey Dix. And even in the midst of it all some of us got out to see The Green Genes celebrate the release of their EP “Maybe It’s Just Me” at the Hi Ho Lounge on Friday.

For more info on The Green Genes & their EP CLICK HERE!

While we don’t have any pics of the Howlin’ Wolf show, here’s a vid from the Saturday show @ Whiskey Dix. It’s a newer song called Hot Pursuit.

Now on to pushing out some free tunes in the months to come! We also have another show to announce…but we’ll wait till the time is right! See you around!

ST from CZ


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