This week was an interesting one in the world of Evan Brown (your favorite world, admit it). Last night, Shaimus played our last show with Dave Middleton, our other guitarist, and the band will never be the same again. No live playing for a little while as we try to find the perfect replacement. Auditions are officially open for those about to rock.

Also, for three days this week I had the pleasure of being on the set of the Sony Screen Gems film The Roommate, a thriller starring Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl). Two of our songs are going to be featured in the movie, and we got to “perform” them for the film. Phil unfortunately couldn’t make it one of the days, so Cam pretended to be the lead singer/keyboardist with the help of a little movie magic (i.e. lip syncing). Hilarious. He and I even got lines, but I expect mine will end up on the cutting room floor.

Leaving the set was sad, I felt like I was going home from summer camp. But I don’t exactly have the desire to be a movie star, so I can’t say I wanted to stay forever. Although they DID make my hair look cool and force me to wear clothes that “hip” people wear. So at least I was cool for three days of my life. I think the movie is scheduled to be released next year, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Below is a picture of Cam, Johannes and I with director Christian Christiansen. He, like everybody else on the set, was a really nice guy. More photos from our time on the set, including glimpses of our prison cell-like trailers and my skin-tight jeans, can be seen here.

And finally this week, I accomplished the lifelong dream of appearing in an online video with Tay Zonday, AKA the “Chocolate Rain” guy! I present to you, Totally Sketch’s True Internet Story of Keyboard Cat:

I recently came across a blog called “Not Always Right,” which details people’s run-ins with moronic customers while working retail jobs.  It’s pretty addictive to read the accounts of jaw-dropping stupidity, and as someone who has worked retail in the past, I sadly relate to many of the stories.

I hated retail with a passion.  Customers tend to believe that since you’re trying to make them happy, they can walk all over you and treat you like shit because it’s their right.  Of course, not all customers are assholes; I met a lot of really cool, nice people while working in the accessories department of Guitar Center.  But the fact is, I have story upon story of arrogant douchebags and how they attempted to equate me with something roughly the value of the dog crap residue that was lodged in their shoe soles.

One of the reasons I left my Sunset Blvd sales post was that I just don’t have the right attitude for customer service.  When people prod me, I tend to prod back.  When someone tries to put me down, my initial response is generally to put them in their place with an acerbic remark of some sort.  I just wasn’t made for retail, it would seem.

One of my favorite stories from working at Guitar Center has to do with a very common occurrence of idiocy that happened every day in that store—people trying to haggle down prices on small items that they are not planning on buying in bulk. A guy came up to the counter and said, “What’s the best deal you can give me on those D’Addario strings?”

My first response when people asked me that was to simply turn my head, look at the price, and repeat it right back to them. “$3.50 a pack, sir.” His response: “Is that the best you can do?”

At this point I’m already irritated with the guy. He makes no attempt to work up a rapport with the employee who has the power to give him a discount. He is trying to haggle down one of the lowest-priced products of one of the lowest-priced items in the store, guitar strings. But I was usually happy to accommodate such requests if they were looking to buy 10 or 15 packs at a time. So the rest of the conversation went as follows:

Me - “Well, how many do you want to get today?”
Him - “Oh, just one.”
Me - “Is that the best you can do?”
Him - *grumbling* “OK, OK, I get it.”

He proceeded to buy it at—gasp—full price. From then on, a co-worker of mine referred to me as Evan “Is That The Best You Can Do” Brown.

A couple weeks ago, I played with Shaimus at the CD release party for our new album, The Sad Thing Is, We Like It Here. The show was great fun—sold out crowd, solid performance, giveaways, videos, and plenty of other good stuff. But above all, it was a celebration marking the culmination of well over a year of hard work.

When all is said and done, this album was about three years in the making. The earliest songs were written and honed during our 2006 summer West Coast tour, including “Turn the Other Way,” “Interview,” and embryonic versions of “Don’t Want the Story” and “While We’re Young.” “Heads or Tails” was written during a time when Phil, Johannes and I were playing acoustic shows in L.A. while Dave and Cam finished up school on the other side of the country. “Tie You Down” was a last second addition that practically didn’t even make it on the album, and recording was pushed back a couple weeks just so we could finish it; good thing, too, as that turned out to be one of the best and most popular songs on the record.

That was around late October/early November of 2007. We tracked all of Cam’s drums in our old Van Nuys rehearsal space that December; imagine his impatience having recorded almost all of his parts over a year before the album would even come out. We followed this with laying down roughly finished versions of five of the strongest tracks which would be used for our demo. Our demo was sorely in need of an update, since the band’s sound had developed so much from our first album that it didn’t accurately represent us anymore. These new songs were far more illustrative of the “Shaimus sound” as it had come to be over the past couple years—a more cohesive, collaborative band effort with more energy and focus than Paper Sun (not to say there isn’t good material on that CD).

We took a brief break from recording after that. Trying to throw high-quality recordings together at a breakneck pace while contending with often-miserable day jobs was very taxing on all of us. During this break, we made a music video for “Turn the Other Way” with Adam Kerpelman. Not only did we feel like the song was a good choice for a single, but its theme of 9 to 5 frustration resonated with all of us. Oh, and of course it gave us an awesome excuse to smash the shit out of some office equipment.

Once summer 2008 rolled around we were antsy to finish what we’d started. We finished up guitars for the remaining five songs in our new West L.A. rehearsal space, recorded real piano in some recording studios to replace the samples that were used on the demo, and got final takes of all vocals, auxiliary percussion, and other odds and ends (mostly recorded in bedroom closets). Finally, Johannes busted his ass mixing the entire thing after it was all edited properly, Phil put the final touches on the artwork, we sent it off to get mastered and replicated, and then sat back and breathed a giant, collective sigh of relief. Oh, and Phil made a music video with a Powershot camera in his underwear.

This album represents a lot of blood, sweat, tears and calluses, and I think it turned out great. It’s certainly the best thing I’ve been a part of musically, and I put so much of myself into it that I can’t help but be nothing but proud. So, get more of a sense of the process of making this record with the next video, take a listen to the samples below and consider buying it. Now is the time for us to spread the word about all our hard work, and you can help!

Available from www.shaimus.com

Also available on

I was talking to a friend recently about artists that you just wish would stop releasing albums, if only to preserve their legacy. The conversation started while listening to “You Better You Bet” on the radio; while it’s by no means the worst song in the world, any time I hear it I just wish the Who had stopped recording new music after Keith Moon died. They already had a massive catalog of classic hits, and fans always want to hear their favorite bands go out on top. A large element of this desire is most certainly selfish—I have no place to decide when a band should or should not stop making music, of course (unless maybe I’m in that band). But it’s not that I want the members of the Who to cease all music making, I just don’t want any more Who albums that don’t feel like Who albums.

But of course artists soldier on, often outstaying their welcome for the simple fact that they can still sell records. Bands like U2 and Aerosmith just keep adding faceless releases that do nothing to their discography other than increase its number, often obscuring the fact that, at some point, they were on top of their game and making top-notch music (for me personally this is illustrated much better with Aerosmith as I’m a sort of middle-of-the-road guy with U2, but you get the point). Or, perhaps more frustratingly, bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard who have rightfully called it quits that come back for more when no one really wanted them to in the first place. It’s not that these bands shouldn’t get back together and tour again, but the new albums are almost always a huge let down and lack the energy and electricity of their earlier material.

There are exceptions to every rule, of course, and there are some great artists who continue to release quality music for decades. But this happens so often, I had to ask myself why. Do artists naturally lose their edge with age? Is the rebellious “fuck you” attitude of younger rock-n-rollers inescapably softened as they grow older, wiser, and more successful? Both of these are legitimate possibilities. But what it really seems to come down to is a brand of lethargy that is inevitably allowed after an artist has become established. Emerging artists work against an intimidating tide of opposition: control freak A&R people, seasoned career advisors, and executives with dollar signs in their eyes. The amount of times a young musician is told he can’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t, or won’t do something is about as frequent as Jaleel White is asked to say “Did I do that” in the Urkel voice by strangers on the street.

Conversely, the more success a band has, the more freedom they gain. At first this is extremely liberating, allowing artists to break out of the mold and make some of their best work. But at some point, the pendulum seems destined to start swinging back. You know why Paul McCartney has released a number of terrible albums despite the fact that he spent years establishing himself as one of the finest songwriters in history? Because nobody would ever dare say “no” to Macca. He has almost no choice but to be constantly surrounded by sycophantic well-wishers who just think it’s a great honor to be in the control room when he lays down a track with his viola bass. U2 releases “Get On Your Boots” because nobody is going to tell them it’s a stupid song. Why? “Because they’re fucking U2, man!”

But back to Paul McCartney for my conclusion, because he sums up the point so nicely. A few years ago, he released what was easily one of the best albums he’s ever done as a solo artist, Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. What had come over him when he did it? He had hired producer Nigel Goodrich, who started telling him to make a bunch of changes and drop any songs he didn’t like from the recording. I even read an interview when Paul said he was taken aback by Goodrich’s attitude at first, thinking he didn’t have to take it and could just as easily get rid of him. But he came to realize that attitude was exactly what he needed to make a great record. And it worked.

Now flash back to Paul’s old band, The Beatles. (You’ve heard of them, right?) An extraordinary career to say the least, and they closed it out with Abbey Road, an album that one can make a compelling argument for being their best (or at least pretty damn close). One might wonder what we might have missed out on if they just kept going a few more records, but it wasn’t too long after that when we heard some not-so-par-for-the-course songs from at least one of the principal songwriters of the group. How happy would folks be to add a bad Beatles album to their collection? It sticks out like a sore thumb.

I always have some misgivings when I hear Radiohead is going to release a new album for fear that their creative juices are running low. But with the fact that In Rainbows was so great, I can’t help but wonder: should they go out on top while they still can, or am I at risk of missing out on some incredible music if they stop too early? Maybe a bad album or two isn’t such a bad thing, after all.

Ouch. That one packed much more of a punch than I ever expected. Maybe it was the incredible comeback that was all for nothing (both in the game and the season). Maybe it was losing to the Cardinals, a bird that no creature other than an earthworm fears in the NFL or otherwise. Maybe it was losing our 4th NFC Championship game in 8 years. Maybe it was a lot of things, but I didn’t expect it to hurt quite so bad.

In a season full of ups and downs, with a team I had left for dead a number of times, that I ignored briefly to bask in the glory of the World Series, the high points that kept coming at the end of the run had apparently gotten to me more than I thought. It’s true that I was ecstatic after the miracle playoff berth and didn’t even expect them to make too much of a dent in the post season to be honest. But the playoffs sucked me in again with a rush of adrenaline that came crashing to a halt just when it all seemed to finally be going our way.

I can’t even think about football for a few months now, though I’ll probably root casually for the Steelers in the Super Bowl. I remember having to take a break from the game for most of the season after we lost the Big Game in ‘05. It just completely took it out of me. But in the spirit of positivity (something I’ve gotten a little more of sports-wise since October), I’m going to try to look at some of the upsides:

1) It was a complete miracle that we were even in the playoffs to begin with thanks to a freak occurrence of wins and losses on the last day of the season.
2) We knocked BOTH the Cowboys and Giants out of contention, which felt oh so very good.
3) I know a win’s a win, and nobody would have complained, but winning it all after that somewhat hellish 9-6-1 season may not have been quite as satisfying as if we felt like we really deserved it all year long (that’s what I’m telling myself, at least).
4) We can stop talking about all this William Penn curse crap for good. I know I talked about it a mere few posts below this one, but it’s never been something I actually believed in. And a Super Bowl win would have just been fucking weird in context with the “breaking of the curse.”
5) I was actually afraid I wouldn’t appreciate a championship as much after the glory that was the World Series, the greatness of which is still fresh in my mind. Although I definitely proved myself wrong tonight after this loss, maybe a little more absence will make my broken heart grow slightly fonder…

And so I close this post with a phrase so many sports fans in so many cities know all too well: maybe next year.

Go Phillies!

How is this even possible?  I never thought Dane Cook was very funny, but with his increasing fame he is apparently deciding that “not too funny” just wasn’t enough.  Last Sunday, Comedy Central debuted his new stand up special, “Rough Around the Edges,” in which he saunters around center stage in Madison Square Garden, telling “jokes” to an enraptured crowd consisting of no doubt very many frat boys and “Family Guy” watchers (OK, OK, Family Guy did used to be pretty funny, but it’s like the Dane Cook to South Park’s George Carlin).

I couldn’t possibly use the word “jokes” in looser terms than I did in that previous sentence.  I actually forced myself to watch this shit for a solid half hour to give this guy another chance to prove why he is so unbelievably popular.  I didn’t crack a smile.  Not once.  There was nothing even slightly amusing or original or witty or clever or unique or entertaining or…  I couldn’t even understand what I just watched.

Madison Square freaking Garden.  That’s an astronomically huge deal for a comedian to sell that place out.  Somebody please explain Dane Cook to me so I don’t feel like such an idiot for being one of the few people in the universe that thinks he sucks.  I dare you to find one thing funny in this clip:

I will leave you with this “hilarious punchline” from the previous clip that he busts out right before going into an amazingly “original” bit on how people didn’t smile in old photos:

“Those pictures are all old and sepia toned!” *Inexplicable crowd laughter*

…Sigh…

When did this football season turn from a total nightmarish disaster into something totally, ass-kickingly awesome? Knocking off the Cowboys AND the Giants and now a win away from the Super Bowl? Somebody pinch me, because this can’t possibly be happening…

Naming a song “Interview” might lead people to believe that the upcoming Shaimus album kicks off with a band interview.  Boy would that be boring.  Talk about all-time album missteps, I think most people would find us supremely lame if we actually put an interview as the first track of our CD.  Or any track, really.

But no.  Lo and behold, “Interview” is actually music.  Prove it, you say?  Fine.  Phil proves it in the video below, underwear and all.  The video is for anyone who’s ever gotten new editing software and decided to freak out their friendly neighborhood epileptic.  The underwear part is for the ladies.  Everyone wins!

I will be very happy when this album is in my hands.  Incidentally, you can pre-order the album from www.shaimus.com now and save two bucks off the normal $10 price tag that will accompany it in a couple weeks.  And while you’re waiting for it to come in the mail, autographs and all, watch this video.

The spirit of William Penn seems to be appeased, at least for now.  Since the little figurine was placed at the top of the Comcast building to restore Penn’s rightful perch at the tallest point in the city, it would appear that his wrath no longer curses the Philly sports scene.  I need not remind anyone that the Phillies won the World Series, and even the Philly Soul won the Arena Football Championship.  And while it hasn’t been the prettiest or easiest of seasons, the Eagles are officially in the playoffs by some stroke of incredible luck combined with one of the best moments in the history of the Eagles-Cowboys rivalry this past Sunday (that is, as long as you’re not a Cowboys fan).

After a rocky start, it looked as though the Birds were gonna pull off a miracle playoff run until having our hopes crushed a week ago by the Washington Redskins.  The season closer against Dallas appeared to be futile for our own season, but we could at least play spoiler and knock them out of the postseason picture, too.  Who’da thought both the Raiders and the Texans would upset to put us in a “win and in” position?

And oh how we won.  It was embarrassingly wonderful. One of the worst drubbings we’ve ever dished out against our loathed rival. And now we’re still in the hunt, still alive in the battle for the Super Bowl. I can’t even tell you how many times I thought the season was over. To be in this position now is almost as denial-inducing as the pile of World Series Champion merchandise in my closet. But a long and difficult road lies ahead; only time will tell if the Eagles have what it takes to go all the way… Or just how generous old Billy Penn is feeling these days.

On a side note, I’d like to point out that T.O., who tends to see himself as a savior of sorts for whatever team he’s playing for, has not actually won a playoff game since he played for the 49ers all those years ago. Think about it: because of his broken leg in 2004, the only playoff game he was actually in that win-filled year was the Super Bowl. I don’t have to remind Philly fans who didn’t win that game. Better luck next time…

Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year.  I’m agnostic and not religious, but Christmas has a simple message that I can appreciate.  When it comes down to it, the point of Christmas is peace and goodwill.  How can you go wrong with that?  Yes, it is celebrating the birth of Jesus, but too many non-religious people interpret celebrating Jesus’ birth as a representation of Christians believing everyone else is going to burn in hell.  The holiday, to me anyway, is much less about celebrating the birth of a man than it is about celebrating the simple message the man represented: that we should strive to be good people and care about others.  That’s all.  Forget all that fire and brimstone crap, everyone should be on board with that sentiment.

And then there’s the nostalgia factor.  Remember how exciting and magical Christmas was as a child?  Sleepless nights thinking about Santa Claus, wondering whether or not it would snow (it did every once in a while for me growing up), listening to holiday music (the John Denver and the Muppets Christmas album was a staple in my household).  Family, friends, parties full of cheer and trees decked out with multicolored lights and clever ornaments.

Some of my most vivid memories are waking up early on Christmas morning while it was still dark and tiptoeing downstairs to see if Santa had come.  Then I’d grab my stocking and wait very impatiently for my parents to get out of bed.

I hope you create some lasting memories yourself this year and for years to come.

Merry Christmas!