Saturday November 7th we went downtown to the studio with the cinematographer, Brian Tasker for the video that will be shot in a few hours for our upcoming single Never Be The Same.
We toured the sets at Studio 100 and had a moment to goof around on set as well.
Our drummer André will be the cameraman for the entire shoot. As we write this, he is in the other room testing out the Arri SR3 that he will be lugging around for the next 5 days of shooting.
We will be updating our Facebook and Twitter pages throughout tomorrow’s shoot. Join us for the fun and good times as we try to help out and also stay the hell out of the way as well.
Dave's pretty beat up from mixing 'Never Be The Same' all night.
SF's own Frank Chu is excited about the band's new release.
October proved to be a very productive time for the band. Although we didn’t play any shows and have any new songs to promote, we did finish tracking and Dave started mixing our new single.
In October we also laid down basic tracks for 3 other songs and started writing 3 new songs as well. For a month that was supposed to be relaxing for us, it turned out to be one of the most productive months we’ve had in a while.
On top of all of the behind the scenes work there is the strong chance of a Socialized show this month as well. Please stay tuned to this station for more information and showtimes very soon.
Also this month, Sunday the 8th to be exact, André and Brian Tasker will start shooting the video for the new single Never Be The Same. It’s an ambitious project with a 5 day shooting schedule and around 160 scenes. We will post behind the scenes news from the set as the shoot progresses.
In the meantime, for all of our fans and friends who are not in San Francisco you might not recognize the gentleman in the picture. This is Frank Chu. He is San Francisco’s Emperor Norton for the 21st century.
Like the Wiki page states he is one of San Francisco’s “best-known eccentrics” and is beloved by all of us in San Francisco. You might come to San Francisco for the cable cars and the sourdough, but we strongly recommend spending a minute talking with Frank when you are downtown. He is friendly and kind and has a message for the ages that we all can learn from.
Screw the cable cars. Buy Frank a Budweiser and learn a thing or two.
While we continue to work on the next batch of new songs we wanted to thank you for your support and release a couple of musical curios.
The Karaoke version of Tricycle is for those of you who have burned out on The Beatles Rock Band and have lost that loving feeling around midnight in your local bar. Download and burn your own copy of Tricycle. Print out the lyrics and walk proudly down to your local/bar/pub knowing that you are one of a kind. Stick your chin out and hand your CD to the Karaoke Matron and Trike out to the amazement of the other patrons. You. A True Original.
(Depending on the demand we might post the air guitar chords for you as well.)
The second bonus song is the evil twin of the Karaoke version. That’s right kids, it’s the A Cappella version of Tricycle.
Thrill to the 4-part harmonies, the oohh la las, the jungle gyms, the colored chalk, & the vocal stylings of The 3rd Ave. Mens Chorus.
TO LISTEN:
If you want to listen to any of the songs, just click on the song title.
TO DOWNLOAD:
Right-click on the link above of the song that you want (Karaoke or A Cappella versions). A menu will appear. Choose either ‘Save Target As…” or “Save Link As…” and save the song to your computer. Remember where you saved it!
Next up: Tricycle: Flogging A Dead Horse Dance Mix.
We wanted to drop a quick thank you note to everyone who came out on Saturday night for our debut show. We had a blast and hope you did as well. Special thanks to Lex & Juice for their help at the start of the night.
We also want to thank André’s family for driving up from San Diego to see the debut of his new band.
See you on Friday, November 20th for our next show at the Rockit Room. Until then, we’re going to lay low for October and start mixing and working on a new video for our next single Never Be The Same.
Socialized will be playing on Saturday, September 26th at the Rockit Room on Clement St in San Francisco! We’re starting around 9 PM and are possibly playing two sets. Come by and rock with the band while marinating your liver. Your ears and kidneys will thank you.
Title: Rockit Room Location: 406 Clement St San Francisco, CA 94118-2318 Description: Downstairs, 9 PM Start Time: 21:00 Date: 2009-09-26 End Time: 23:30
Because of the incessant hounding and harassment that the Birthers have inflicted on us here at Studio B, we have decided to finally release Socialized’s Kenyan birth certificate to finally put this issue to rest.
We hope that by releasing this information to the public that this will be the last time that we have to address this issue.
The last couple of months André has been feeding his passion for film by editing together the Tricycle video and creating short films. He has been shooting mostly on 8mm and has two shorts completely shot. He was in telecine yesterday working on footage for a second short. Here is his first 8mm opus: “Slowly But Surely”
My knee was stiff and sore from my bagel fall the previous morning and I felt pretty close to useless. I hobbled to that back of the house to survey the damage from yesterday’s work to find André in the back with his drums completely torn apart and washing every single piece with a damp rag. Actually, a lot of damp rags. There was a thick layer of dirt over everything from the day before and his drums seemed to take the worst of it.
I was almost starting to feel bad about not helping him when I realized that the night before I had told the director, Jared that I would mix up a batch of napalm for today’s final shoot.
“Napalm?”
When I was a kid I found out how to thicken a quart of gasoline so that it would form a sort of gelatin that you could then apply with a paint brush. The jellied gasoline would burn for a very long time. We (and people that know what I’m talking about) called it ‘napalm’ even though the DuPont corporation would most likely disagree with us.
“Why…do you…need…napalm…to shoot a…music video?”
Simple. We planned on burning a tricycle.
A man and his tricycle
The final shot, and the one that the band had insisted on was of a tricycle burning. Preferably at the end of the video, but we were flexible on that point.
“Why a burning tricycle?”
The song Tricycle is a reflection on youth. The fun, silly, & not-so-smart things that one does growing up. The song spends all of it’s time reminiscing about the past. However, we as a band do not put a lot of stock in the past and are far more interested in the future. Our lives point towards the future. The past helps define who we are, but it is not the entirety of who we are. The burning of the tricycle is our statement that the viewer has had a chance to reminisce and now they should grow up and move on. Destroy the past and create a bright future for yourself.
“Umm, OK, so why use napalm?”
We needed the tricycle to burn for a while. Straight gasoline or other flammable liquid would probably burn out quicker than we needed for the shot. The napalm mixture would also burn better in the high winds at the beach.
Jared added the beach part of this story. I loved it. Still do. Burn the tricycle at the beach. At dusk. Makes me smile just writing it.
OK, before we burn the tricycle at the beach we need to make the napalm. I really didn’t want to make it after all but I knew someone who did, so I called on our friend Rex.
Rex had provided a stellar job as the set electrician on Saturday. He wired up two separate 20 amp circuits exclusively for the production to use for lights and all of the amazing power-sucking tools that are required for a film shoot. He had offered the night before to help make the napalm. We love the guy and I loved him even more for taking the napalm job off of my plate. Awesome. I’m going to go inside and take a couple of more Advil and Rex is now the Production Pyro.
I get Dave the ingredients for the mix and he starts in on the redneck chemistry. Jared is fascinated at first but soon realizes that Rex is mixing the napalm up with a cigarette in his mouth. Jared gets on his tricycle and moves to a safe place to watch from a distance.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, we were planning on lighting a tricycle on fire on the beach. A city beach. There is no such thing as a permit for this. This will land your ass in jail. Period. We decided weeks before that this part of the shoot will be only essential personnel. DP, AC, Director, Pyro, & performer. No other people to slow us down, no other people to have to bail out of jail.
And speaking of jail; I checked my wallet before we headed out to ensure that we had a healthy portion of bail money and that the right people knew to be ready to come get us if we had to be bailed out.
Once Rex has his napalm slurry ready, he poured it into a container and we grabbed our equipment and props and headed to the beach.
Our next location
Once we get there we realize that the wind is monstrous. However, we’re convinced once we set Rex’s napalm alight that the people still out at the beach are in for a hell of a show.
We get one establishing shot of me walking up to the camera with the tricycle, setting it down on the ground and pouring lighter fluid on it. After that shot we set up for the burn.
Marinading a tricycle
Rex covers the trike with napalm using a paint brush. Brian and Nick set up the camera and get ready for the big boom. I can’t help but laugh thinking that the people at the beach tonight are in for a hell of a show. I also can’t help looking around nervously for police or anyone who might force me to sleep in a holding cell that night.
Everything is set, the coast is clear (literally), and we are ready. Rex lights a match and…the wind instantly blows it out.
We form a wind block behind him. Nothing. The napalm catches sightly, but the wind blows it out before it can get going. And this continues to play out over and over again. Rex lights a match, wind blows it out. Rex lights a book of matches, napalm goes out.
After 15 minutes and a full box of matches we finally concede defeat. Rex tries his best to wash off the napalm from the tricycle, but it behaves almost like grease and there is no washing it off at this point. As I am being a sore loser at that moment, I take the napalm-covered tricycle and stick it in the trunk of my new car with no regard to the fact that it is covered in seawater and gasoline grease. We head to pick up more gasoline and to a new location to make sure that this trike burns. Tonight.
Rex quickly mixes up a new batch of burn-goo while I pull the napalm-covered tricycle out of my trunk. Holy crap! The entire trunk is now covered in napalm. Matted into the new carpet from the tricycle rolling around in my trunk. I try to half-heartedly clean my trunk but I gag on the gasoline smell that smelled nothing of victory at that moment. We drag the tricycle to it’s new spot and start the burn.
We tried one more time with just napalm on the trike but the results were so weak that we started over again with a half-gallon of gasoline just to help push it along. That did the trick! Instead of describing what happened watch the video below for a behind the scenes video of the final burn:
After three attempts we finally were able to light a tricycle of fire. It turns out that it’s not that easy to burn a child’s toy these days. Not as easy as one would think.
With the burn out of the way, the video shoot was over. 39 hours later we had all of the footage needed in the can. All 3,200 feet of 16mm film. Everyone worked very hard and long hours and no one probably expected it to take as long as it did, but we’re all proud of the work that was put in and the stories that we have from the shoot. Now the band has to finish mixing the song and the footage has to get to the editor. All 3,200 feet of it.
While we continue to work on the next batch of new songs we wanted to thank you for your support and release a couple of musical curios.
The second bonus song is the evil twin of the Karaoke version. That’s right kids, it’s the 
We wanted to drop a quick thank you note to everyone who came out on Saturday night for our debut show. We had a blast and hope you did as well. Special thanks to Lex & Juice for their help at the start of the night.
Socialized will be playing on Saturday, September 26th at the Rockit Room on Clement St in San Francisco! We’re starting around 9 PM and are 
I woke up the next morning shattered.
After 15 minutes and a full box of matches we finally concede defeat. Rex tries his best to wash off the napalm from the tricycle, but it behaves almost like grease and there is no washing it off at this point. As I am being a sore loser at that moment, I take the napalm-covered tricycle and stick it in the trunk of my new car with no regard to the fact that it is covered in seawater and gasoline grease. We head to pick up more gasoline and to a new location to make sure that this trike burns. Tonight.
