Brett Lyda: News

Here it is! a lo-res sneak preview of the first YouTube video from "Everlovin". It will go live once our stuff clears for launch on iTunes in the next few weeks. Special thanks to Jain and Eliot for the sweet camerawork & support. Enjoy!

Alright. New Album. New Art. New Tour. Indie 103.1. Universal Summer Block Party. New Record Label? It's all happening in September. Get ready. The album totally rocks and can also sing you gently to sleep. George Bernardo, you are a great drummer and an even better friend. Thanks for making this album with me. Today we're picking up the first 100 copies which we'll sell (out) at Universal. It's a free show with plenty of eager visitors from out of state just DYING to find ways to spend their $$$$. It's also gonna be the biggest show yet for us. Word is it's gonna be thousands. And here's the really freaky part. Apparently they really like autographs(!).

Hello Friends & Familia. We just flew back from The Island a few
ago and want to share with you all the best moments via our Flickr
Photo Album .

http://flickr.com/photos/brettlyda/collections/72157601301546583/
But first, for the story to be told completely, we have to take you
all the way back to Monday April 2nd on Wanni's Birthday when I asked my baby what she'd like to do on this special day and she hollered..."Casino!". So as part of her gift, I bought her $40 in chips to play at the "little kids" poker table. Well, imagine my surprise when four hours later, Wanni had amassed a stack of no less than $1200 in chips! And I wasn't doing so bad either. I had turned my $40 into $200 and just when I thought it couldn't get any better, on my last hand I get four aces and beat somebody's full house and win $700 in a jackpot! So what do you do when you've got an extra $2000 lying about?

August 26th. Wanni and I flew into Kauai at 9PM and literally camped on the side of the road just a few feet from the ocean. I'll admit that was a rocky night riddled with zero sleep and endless bug bites
but, by morning Paradise was a knockin' loud and clear. We skirted
down the one and only highway to Kapa'a and discovered quickly that this was our favorite town for eats. We totally fell in love with
Small Town Coffeehouse

(http://web.mac.com/smalltownkauai/iWeb/Small%20Town%20Coffee/Welcome.html).

It was here that we also accidentally bumped into local resident Vern who happens to be the honest-to-goodness twin brother of our hometown pal Mitch which, for me, was a wonderful, positive sign of things to come but also pretty surreal nonetheless.

That day, we camped on the beach with the bum locals until morning and waited for a tan rugged Australian named Burt to boat up about 50 feet from shore. We were instructed in advance to pack all of our belongings in plastic trash bags and, upon his arrival, swim out with our gear onto his rinky-dink little fisherman's boat so that he could motor us onward to the breathtakingly remote Napali Coast where there are no roads or coffeehouses and only the heartbreaking, glorious, virtually untouched, tropical landscape of heaven on Earth. Reaching our destination, we had to swim another 50 feet to shore. This was pretty scary stuff as the riptide is very rough in these parts. It's so tough, in fact, that there are signs posted on the beaches strongly recommending that visitors NOT swim in the ocean at all. This probably explains why Burt's near extinct profession is thoroughly illegal, though often overlooked.

We camped rough and rugged for three nights and hiked about 20 miles during our stay on the Napali Coast. If you know me, you know I'm no exercise guru, but when every single friggin' twist and turn of the landscape is as exciting and awe-inspiring as this, you can't help but put one foot in front of the other, childlike and eager for what comes next and never once being disappointed. In the beach cliffs, we discovered a massive hidden sand floor sea-cave the size of a football field. An equally large emerald green swimming pool of sea water extended from its mouth, tongue-like, out into the sunlight and sand, almost bridging itself to the ocean. Wanni and I swam into the cave and spotted a shadowy figure resting on a sand bank. As we approached, we realized it was an obese naked woman in her 50's (did I mention the Napali Coast is loaded with naked women and men?) The old lady was nice, thank god, and soon left, leaving Wanni and I to enjoy this undeniable slice of heaven all to ourselves. We camped HARD in this area for four days. Early Saturday morning, Burt arrived and we stuffed our trash bags and swam out to the boat for our return to civilization. Hats off to Wanni for flawlessly planning such a wonderful trip to the Napali Coast.

Our friend Jeff Mann is working on the new Ben Stiller/Jack Black
movie "Tropic Thunder" in Kauai. He, his wife Stacey, and daughter
Emery invited us to stay for a week with them at their beautiful rental house near Princeville. While Jeff was super busy making Ben Stiller & JB look awesome, Stacey & Emery were amazing hosts who
showed us around the island and hooked us up with some great old and new friends (Rachel, Joel, Noah, Sean). Emery is just about the sweetest little girl I've ever met. Stacey took us to the set of
Tropic Thunder and made sure that we got some "elbow time" with
Stiller and Jack and some great pix of the big napalm explosion scene. Wanni was especially stoked cuz she got to surprize Jack and another friend, producer Stewart Cornfeld. Stuart is about as big as
they come in The Biz but you wouldn't know it as he also happens to be an exceptionally nice guy. With the Manns, it was great company, a nice bed, outdoor showers in the jungle & french toast and bacon every other day! We will never forget their kindness and hospitality. Thank you Jeff, Stacey & Emery.

Along the highway, we visited the ruins of the famous Coco Palms Hotel Resort in which all 46 acres were destroyed by hurricane back
in the early 1990's. It was here that Elvis Presley filmed many of those beach flicks like "Blue Hawaii" and it was also where they filmed the popular TV show "Fantasy Island". It was fenced off just like any abandoned property might be, with "No Trespassing" signs everywhere but, strangely enough, the parking lot was unlocked and, adjacent to the lot, was a truck-size opening in the fence. We couldn't resist. As it turns out, we bumped into the groundskeeper, Dwayne, who has been with the hotel since the early 60's. He was such a nice man and Wanni is such a charmer that it wasn't long before he offered to give us an unrestricted VIP tour. What a beautiful mess. We even visited Elvis' humble cottage which had long since been raped of its charm. I'll let the photos speak on my behalf.

And so it just kept on flowing endlessly - secret summer beaches, rainbow canyons, air-conditioned hotels, more giant caves, snorkeling with exotic fishes, giant turtles, cracking coconuts, fresh mangos and guava from the trees, picturesque log cabins, gourmet vegan food, awesome ahi tuna & khalua pork regional dishes, and LOTS of ice
cream.

Enjoy!

Brett & Wanni

p.s. is your picture on my website? www.brettlyda.com has tons of new pics and lots of new media. check it out! And if I don't have your picture, send me one and I'll get it up asap!

That's me behind the wheel. It may not look like it now, but I was so incompetent that I literally had the boat riding in circles until someone gave me a tutorial. Check out these other fun ocean photos.

http://www.brettlyda.com/photos.html

Courtesy of bandmates Juli Crockett & Patrick Ian:

My Own Public Coachella (in Old Town Pasadena) - April 25, 2007
The Evangenitals are playing a show this Saturday Night!!!

I know what you're thinking... we must be CRAZY to play a show the
same weekend as Coachella.

Well, if you're anything like me, the idea of a bunch of sweaty people out in the desert listening to a zillion bands (awesome though
some may be) in a row is kind of horrific... unless you're one of the
bands and/or have some sort of backstage pass, unlimited cold waters, and some "personal space" in your contract.

If, however, the shin dig going down at Coachella this weekend is
your earthly version of Paradise, then I hope you have tickets and
have a ball. Heck, if you didn't have tickets and I had some, I'd
send 'em your way! Seriously, I would.

Now, if you're looking for a much more reasonably-priced music fest
INDOORS (with an outdoor patio option) then I would highly suggest
coming to the Old Towne Pub in Old Towne Pasadena for the Evangenitals show this Saturday night, April 28th.

We have assembled the Unofficial Highland Park All Stars to take your
mind off of all that Coachella madness, and to give it to you big and lovely, right in the eardrums.

The Balloon Bass-driven duo UNPOPABLE will kick off the evenings offerings at 9pm, followed by Cat Hair Ensemble (9:30), the
Evangenitals (10:30), and the breakups (11:30).

(Don't let the lower-case letters fool you... the breakups will eat
your hearts out with a musical spoon, and then sew it up with sonic rose petals and put it back in your chest with a skip in its beat
box)

It's a damn fine evening, and it's just $5.

There are rumors of Evangenitals playing other Evangenitals'
instruments, Brett on the mic, Julio on the Bass, Lisa on a
Tambourine, Georgie out of his Mind, NEW SONGS, and some dude from the LA Weekly being there who used to be in the Jim Carrol Band. NO KIDDING!!!

Remember, at the Old Towne Pub, the band you come to see gets to keep ALL the door money your bring, so be sure to give credit to the door man, and you can feel good about the fact that EVERY Evangenitals show at the Old Towne Pub is a bonafide fundraiser.

Just think, if you come to enough Old Towne Pub shows, we'll probably give you a credit on the new album!

So please come, and rock those Coachello/desert envy blues away.
We've got you covered.

To Review:

This Saturday, April 28th
9pm - 12am (Evangenitals at 10:30ish)
Old Towne Pub
66 N Fair Oaks Ave
Pasadena, CA 91103

**

For those who can't be with us, we would like to offer the following
treats and suggestions for some simple things you can do to support
your Genitals:

Evangenitals Radio Interview!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK-YQVaRZMc
Bring the Evangenitals to your town!
http://www.eventful.com/evangenitals
Be our Myspace Friend!
http://www.myspace.com/evangenitals
Review our Album on CD Baby!
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/evangenitals
We Love You, Always and Already.
Juli, Lisa, Brettsky, Georgie, Chesney, and all those who came before
and keep coming back.
The Evangenitals

Holy Moly! Tony Gower is BACK!

Just look at this friggin' swank-ass club we are playing at on Wednesday March 14th!!

This is The Bordello, and it is owned by Tony Gower, former owner of the Derby in Los Feliz. In other words, this is the *new* supreme swank locale in Los Angeles, and were going to christen the stage with Evangenital sweat on Wednesday March 14th at 10pm!

The Bordello is lush, sexy, beautiful... a must-see joint. It's also about to become our new home base in LA... so let's have ourselves a housewarming/welcome home Tony party!

The Evangenitals will be playing with the Sundowners and Vermouth, who both sound like swank ass bands, so check 'em out and come on down.

That's a lot of funk for $5.

Click here to RSVP for the show on Myspace!

Come and look pretty for the video cameras. This one is sure to be YouTube GOLD!

Just for the record, I am an Evangenital and always will be.

And so... let me say how weirdly enjoyable it was being in the audience as a civilian Genital. I had wondered for days what would it be like if I could get off work early and catch the show. As it turned out, I managed to catch the full performance and I really enjoyed myself. The running gag in the band, I've been told, is that I'm now referred to as "coach" during rehearsal and that the goal was to make coach proud. Funny thing is, that's not the first time I've been called that (here's hoping it's a term of endearment this time).

The full band (minus me) appeared onstage with part-timers Dave Salardino (mandolin) and Jason Chesney on guitar. Everyone was standing, including Juli and Lisa (w/ guitars) and I must say they all looked great. Juli started up with some jokes and banter about me gettin' fired and opened with the Ween cover "Cold Blows The Wind" followed by "Lisa's Song" and "Never Again". Three interesting choices. My first thought was it seemed overly ambitious given the limits of rehearsal time available to the band pre-show (especially Ween) but I also knew The Girls were eager to revisit a few old chestnuts we hadn't championed in a long awhile. Ultimately, I gave in to the performances, thanks mostly to the fine vocal performances. Next up was, I think, "Quee Queg". This full band version definitely had legs and it was good to hear after all these months (drums!). "Hello" featured some nice guitarwork from Chesney. I missed my own presence most on "Drunk That Way" but when the set segued into "Irene" the band unexpectedly reclaimed what I thought was my own brand of special mountain magick. "Diggin It" was still good times though even sloppier than ever. The second heavyweight moment was "Fuck Em All". The band really finessed that song and I was definitely taking notes. George and Salad get extra points on FEA for the tasty flavors. "Sun Is Shining" (a song that we've always struggled with live) communicated, especially during the verses and managed to muster a healthy dose of applause. Last up was "Gasoline" (surprise!). This song was pretty faithful to the original and still carried plenty of energy. It was the right song to close with.

All in all, it was a good night. The band, of course, still had plenty of charisma and delivered an inspired performance. I had a blast. It was great fun and enlightening to hear the songs shimmy and sway, to hear which licks and ideas stayed and which were either reinterpreted or discarded entirely. In the end, I'm pleased to report that I loved it all and I still missed me very much.

Forget L.A.M.B! All sorts of crazy Brett Lyda merch from the folks over at Cafe Press! Check It!


http://www.cafepress.com/brettlyda

TWO BIG RELEASES FOR 2007!!

Here's the artwork for the Evangenitals Deeluxe Remastered debut LP! Everybody seems to be releasing big "deluxe" album reissues nowadays so we thought we'd jump on the bandwagon too!

We've expanded the album to include 4 KILLER NEW RECORDINGS plus 8 BONUS TRACKS for all you collectors. Plus every song has been REMIXED and REFURBISHED. In some places, we've even added additional instruments and changed around the arrangements a bit. Can you tell the dif?

This should serve as an awesome companion to the 2007 release of the Genitals sophomore LP "SUN IS SHINING" (recording commences in early January).

There's a lot of cool new crud here- check out the tentative tracklist for the Deeluxe LP!

Work Song
Hey Y'all (Studio Version)
Sergio (Unreleased)
So Tired
Quee Queg
Gasoline
Drunk That Way (Unreleased)
Beautiful Boy
Home (Unreleased)
Never Again

Quee Queg (Beatbox 3000 version)
Cinderella (Bonus Track)
Drunken Sailor (Hidden Track)
Lisa's Song (Live) (Bonus Track)
Hey Y'all (Live) (Bonus Track)
Jump Sturdy (Bonus Track)
Gasoline (Clean Radio)
Never Again (Clean Radio)
Derby Promo Spot (Radio)

WE LOVE YOU ALREADY!!

Do you know who Marina Kappos is? If not, you will soon enough. She's pretty hot shit on the gallery scene right now and I expect her reputation will keep on growing. Marina and Terri Phillips had a sweet viewing today and everyone was really impressed with their artwork and the nice friendly vibe they attracted. The picture is of me and Marina behind my new favorite painting of hers.

Meanwhile, Terri had a drum kit on display which was covered in glitter. At the last minute, I was asked to bang the skins for the audience and make a big mess and scatter glitter everywhere. That was a blast! Terri was so nice. Afterward, she handed me $50 and a bottle of hooch, which was totally unexpected. Thanks Terri & Marina!

History was made Thursday November 9th at the "Tenacious D: Pick of Destiny" movie premiere as Brett Lyda agreed to meet with the original pioneer of heavy metal, Black Sabbath's very own Ronnie James Dio! There was no shortage of star power on hand for the D's triumphant night at Mann's Chinese Theatre: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Ben Stiller, Dave Grohl, Eve, John C. Reilly, Jeremy Priven, to name a few.

Why Dio didn't settle for a photo-op with any of these flavor-of-the-month phonies is but a riddle. Yet, at the finely catered afterparty in The Roosevelt Hotel, Dio approached Lyda's people and respectfully asked if the Holy Diver himself could please, please have but a moment of Brett's time for one little photograph. Of course, like any gracious celebrity, he agreed, and the rest is history.

Brett Lyda, Wanni, Einstein (our kitty) and the The Evangenitals wish you a very Merry Happy Halloween!

Some friends and I went to see Robin Reiser perform at the world famous Ice House comedy club in Pasadena yesterday and I have to say that little Robin totally killed. I had a great time as did everyone. It was my first time at the Ice House and I was taken by how cool the staff and the owner were. My girl Wanni used to work there so our table received the royal treatment which made me feel like a celebrity of sorts. Apparently Wednesdays are only $5 (along with a 2 drink minimum) but I'll tell you , the talent on display is worth the pricey drinks. Best of all, Robin was SO good that the owner greeted her right after her performance and asked her to return. I'm so happy for her.

Keep an eye out for the new deluxe reissue of indie darlings Pavement's third record "Wowee Zowee". Hat's off to Matador records for rekindling my interest in a band that truly deserves another look. For those interested, I've supplied a link to the track listing for this 2-disc set:

NEW WOWEE ZOWEE TRACKLIST!.

Welcome to the GRAND OPENING of BRETTSKY'S spankin' new website!

To celebrate, we're doling out FREE downloads of his infectious new single "You're The Shit 2 Me" before it breaks on iTunes in its kinder gentler PG-13 format.

Who knows? Maybe it'll be a huge smash on the "O.C." and you can burn bootleg cds of your "super rare dirrrty version" and sell it on eBay for $5 bucks a pop and build an EMPIRE! Just click the RAD MUZAK LINK!, and let the riches come pouring in!

And while you're here why not sign our guest book and say HI and tell us what's going on in your neck of the woods and offer up some slick suggestions or criticisms or whatever. We're brand new so we're open to suggestions!

p.s. we love dirty jokes!!