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The Optionals Are Dead; Long Live The Optionals
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Wednesday 10/6/2004 |
Sorry for the Camper Van Beethoven reference there, I couldn't help myself. Anyway, The Optionals put the last finishing touches on their album last week, and with that, breathed their last.
Where are they now?
Brian now lives in San Francisco, Nick still resides in New York, and Taku and Mike both live in Japan. Alex and Bill both still live in Michigan, and surprisingly ended up in the same town - East Lansing.
We achieved our goal, which was to finish the album, if only for ourselves. All that is left to do is mix it, and if anyone still checks this site, keep coming back from time to time and you just may find the new tracks available for download.
We had some GREAT times as a band, and I know that I will always have some great memories - fuzzy though they may be!
Poet Jim Carroll once said "There ain't much time left, you're born out of this insane abyss and you're going to fall back into it, so while you're alive you might as well show your bare ass."
- I'd like to think that The Optionals did that. At least for a little while.
Peace Kids, -The Optionals |
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Holy Shit!!
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Thursday 5/13/2004 |
Wow! Last night was incredible! Our last show was PERFECT!!! Things could not possibly have gone any better. EVERYBODY came out to see us, including several people we haven't seen in years.
The big surprise of the night came when former Optional Nick Bruneau showed up. It was the first time any of us have seen him since he moved to New York almost a year ago. He joined us on stage for a couple of songs and it was grand!
Highlights of the night included:
-Taku THROWING his guitar 20 ft. through the air back to the stage from his perch atop the crowd where he was being passed around. It's a wonder the thing stayed in one piece.
-Alex diving backwards into the drumkit Cobain-style at the end of the night, sending the drums, Brian, and Bill all sprawling and scattering across the stage.
-And last, but not least, during the last two songs when the crowd became the performers as nearly everyone in attendence joined us on stage to sing along to Breakdown and TV World.
It was anarchy to say the least, and it was the perfect way to say goodbye. THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who came out. The chaos was captured on video, and perhaps we'll be able to put it up online for everyone to see.
ROCK AND ROLL!!!! -The Optionals |
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The Optionals Last Show!
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Tuesday 5/11/2004 |
Hey, just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow night will be our last show. So come on out!
The show is at the Blind Pig, and we will be headlining. We're playing with Seahorse Napkin Force, Fith, and Spira. It should be a great show! The Optionals go on last, but doors open at 9:30, with lots of great music throughout the night. Come rock out with us!
Cheers! -The Optionals
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Farewell and Goodbye; The Optionals, Last Time Around.
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Monday 4/26/2004 |
Well, The Optionals will be playing our very last show on Wednesday, May 12 at the Blind Pig. We'll be sharing the bill with Spira, one of our absolute favorite bands to play with. We've recieved confirmation that we'll be going on late in the night with a whole hour to play. For the occasion, we plan to pull out some old material that we haven't played since our early days.
The reason for this departure is that Taku will be moving to Japan indefinitely on May 22 to be with his family. He's rapping up his final semester of college, and moving on.
We've had a great run. We've played some great shows over the past two years (May 12 will be our 40th), and we had some good times and made some good friends along the way.
We'd like to give A HUGE THANKYOU to everyone who came to a show, booked us, bought a cd, sent us an email, wore one of our T shirts, checked out our website, partied with us, or supported us in any way over the last two years.
Some great bands we had the pleasure to play with include:
-Not Quite Kate, Spira, The Submarines, Stumpspeaker, Oblivion, Yellow Snow, Jenny Choi, Kris Racer, and surely some others that I'm forgetting.
So is this the end for The Optionals?
-Well, sort of....
Live shows are definitely done - at least for the time being. The good news, however, is that we are now about 2/3 of the way done with the recording and production of our full length release.
We plan to proceed with this project, and it should be completed by the end of summer. Taku has worked hard to complete his guitar parts before leaving, and the five of us agree that what we have so far truly portrays the best of The Optionals, and we stand by every one of the 10 cuts. We are making the cd our final legacy, and we plan to put it up on the web, available for free download. We have the website registered for the remainder of the year, and we plan to keep updating it. We also plan to use it as a medium to showcase solo work from the various band members, which has been slowly accumulating since Brian bought his recording gear.
So anyone who wants to say goodbye to Taku, or to the band, please drop us a line by email or by our forum. We love you guys. Keep in touch.
-And, we'd love to see you all at The Pig on May 12! We're glad that our last show will be at the legendary Ann Arbor rock club that we were finally able to get into with the help of Dustin, our Thinline Exclusive manager.This will be the last chance to see us play live, and we want to make the show a memorable one. Come watch us rock out, and then hang out with us afterwards.
Thanks again, it's been real.
See you at the Pig, -The Optionals.
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Blind Pig Revisited
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Monday 4/12/2004 |
Once again The Optionals will be RaWking the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, and the show shall be grand!
We're playing along with Oblivion, Red Edison, and Colic. These are all great bands, and we're anticipating a big turnout.
It will most likely be our last show of the semester, and we would LOVE to see you all there!
We plan to make this one for the record books, so come on out, have some drinks, and listen to some Rock and Roll!
19 and up, doors open at 9 pm.
-The Optionals |
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Cleveland Rocks!
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Monday 3/22/2004 |
Wow! -It was a great weekend for The Optionals. 3 shows in 3 days! Thanks a lot to everyone who came out to M.S.U., U of M, or Case Western to see us play.
Kris Racer, Jenny Choi, and her drummer Philip are all AMAZING musicians, in addition to being super nice and cool people.
We all had a great time, and we'll try to get some pictures up for you all soon.
In other news, we'll playing playing the Blind Pig again on Thursday, April 15 with Oblivion, Red Edison, and some other great bands, so be sure to come check it out!
Take it easy! -The Optionals. |
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New Goodies!
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Thursday 3/11/2004 |
As promised, new content is starting to roll in!
We've added a new photo album, including a bunch of random photos from a bunch of shows. We've still got a huge pile of photos left to upload, but they're coming soon (we promise)!
Also, there's a new 4 song live EP available for download in the music section, called Premium Cuts. We've even got a nifty album cover you can download and print out... |
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Website Madness
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Monday 3/8/2004 |
Howdy Optionals fans!
After a long period of nothing working, we've decided to take a different approach. The change from what's been up lately is obvious...
More importantly though, we've done a lot of "behind the scenes" work on the site to make it easier for us to rock you, so you can expect a lot of new pictures and music available for download REALLY soon!
Peace out,
Webmonkey |
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Sweet!!!
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Saturday 3/6/2004 |
Good new for The Optionals today!
We recieved an email from Ona Records asking us to hop onto 3 dates of the college leg of the Asians in Rock (AIR) tour, rather than just the one.
So we will now be opening for Seam on March 19 at M.S.U. in East Lansing, March 20 at U of M in Ann Arbor, and March 21 at Case Western in Cleveland, Ohio.
We promise we will bring the Rock, so be sure to catch us at one of these 3 dates.
Till next time, -The Optionals. |
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Seam, pics, and more!
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Monday 3/1/2004 |
All is well in the land of The Optionals. Our show Saturday at the Heidelberg was Hottt!
Next up, we'll be playing the Michigan League on March 20 -opening for Seam!
We're all really excited, as Seam is the most established band we'll have ever played with. They were important at a time when popular music was good - the mid 1990s. Therefore, they're extra important today, since they're helping carry the torch which represents the pure legacy of the 90's alternative rock movement. We salute them, and we can't wait to give them a warm welcome to Ann Arbor with our opening set!
In other news, we've begun archiving our massive collection of Optionals pictures. The first batch is up! Just click on "Media."
This is the first installment of a broader plan to seriously get going on the website in the next few weeks.
Our last few shows have been recorded, and we plan to put up a live collection from these shows available for download as soon as we can - Perhaps with a printable album cover and everything. Did someone say double live album? -More likely a 5 or 6 song e.p., but hey, it will still rawk!
Also, pictures from the party we played a few weeks back can be seen at www.geocities.com/fukrns/naomisparty/
Since we plan to add many more pictures to our website in the near future - If anybody out there has any that they feel like sending us, please do so. We'll get them posted for sure!
Well that's it for now. Take care, and drop us a line!
-The Optionals |
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