We're Gonna Get You Back To Tyson and Your Cozy Tiger Bed

This is what me and Joe do in the mornings...don't judge us. If you have seen the movie The Hangover, this is for you. If you haven't, then you're not a true American.

Cheers!

Kyle

SUMMER UPDATE! yeehaw!

Hey Michael Alvarado friends, family, and fans!

We hope all of your summers are going well!  What have you been up to?  Trips to the beach? Waiting tables at your local Outback Steakhouse?  Babysitting?  Trying to tan but getting burnt instead?  Summer school?   Whatever it is, we hope it's been a great summer for you so far.

You may be wondering what Michael Alvarado music has been up to this summer.  Well, school is out, and our current HQ of Boone, NC is vacated of her normal 14,000 college students.  What to do, what to do?

Well, this is such a cool time in the life of Michael Alvarado music.   I feel like we should start with a little background.

Last school year we were able to establish a strong and devoted fan-base in Boone, playing shows in local and regional venues and pulling solid numbers out (thank you to our fans and especially those working behind the scenes to get people out to our shows!)   From there we were able to play great shows in Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Greensboro, and other cities around North Carolina.  In December, we were even able to do a mini-tour in New York City.  What an experience and a blessing!  This was a pivotal time for the members of the band, as we realized that our dreams that seemed so out of reach really were (and ARE) truly attainable.  And we had to start contemplating what it would take from us to make our dreams come true. Michael Alvarado has officially caught NC by storm and, like a rock thrown into a still body of water, we're rippling out to the ears of people all over the US.  And they like it!

Mike has used his 4-song EP "Waste the Day" (available on iTunes) to kind of jump-start our long string of live shows and has used it as the actual physical "product" of who we are and what we sound like.  If you're more familiar with the band, you know that Mike recorded this EP in early 2008, so we've been riding out the huge waves of that project for quite some time, and with success!  This is a true testament to the raw talent Mike has as a songwriter, vocalist, pianist, and front-man.  Through the shows, we have been able to fine-tune our individual crafts, to unify as a band, and to experiment with our sounds.  We have been expounding from the easy-listening pop tunes on the EP to edgier rock, hip-hop, and R&B sounds and pop fusions.  We've been able to see how the audience reacts, what works, and what we can improve on.  I believe that practicing for and playing shows consistently is the best way to sharpen any group's sound and make them more fit, individually and as a unit, for getting into the studio and creating a new product that is true to their current sound, a product which can in turn be used for another long string of live shows and successes.  

So with all that said, although we haven't been playing the amount of shows this summer that we're accustomed to playing during the school year, we have been in an intense and wonderful period of planning, creating, preparing, and praying.  This is the point of any band's life that they either let it fizzle out and die as they try to ride out the waves of their past successes for too long, 

or 

they make the appropriate investments, commitments, sacrifices, and plans to achieve optimal future success!  

And the latter is what we have been doing!  Holla!

I can't even begin to express the whirlwind that the seven integral players of Michael Alvarado Music ... who are...

Mike- writer, singer, front-man, and piano-player extraordinaire 

Katie- background vocalist

Sam- background vocalist

Dayton - electric guitar

Kyle- drums and percussion

Joe- lover on the low end (bass)

Adam- band manager

...I can't begin to express the whirlwind we have gone through in the past few months preparing for the future.  While we've had to go through the sticky and icky parts of addressing and discussing practical matters (are we all in? how long are we in it?  is it worth it?  are we in it together? but aren't you guys in college? are you even getting paid? are you just a band or are you THE band? wait... you've graduated from college?  what about a real job???) ... and yes, they are both sticky and icky things to address...  if they're never addressed we won't go anywhere!  Like any family, it is imperative to communicate communicate communicate.  Communicate till you get sick from the amount of details that are being discussed.  And then when you think you are SO sick of each other because this person doesn't understand this thing and that person doesn't want to understand that thing, you realize, wow, these people know me better than most people and care about me, and we are a family that is in it to win it together.  Difficult times will inevitably ensue, because that's just the way it goes, but we're troubleshooting as much as we can from this end, and we will be prepared to cross certain bridges when we get there.  As Vanessa so eloquently put it on last week's episode of Run's House, great successes take great risks.

Although we're all kind of spread out this summer (Dayton's in Chapel Hill, Joe, Adam, and Kyle are in Charlotte, and Mike, Katie and I are in Boone... but really all over the place...) we're communicating and working hard as a unit to achieve HUGE SUCCESSES in the near future!

All the boys have been working like crazy to book shows as much as humanly possible for our schedule next school year.  As it stands, we have shows booked and in-the-works until the end of summer next year (yes!  one whole year of plans!)  We can't wait to share these dates with you.

Mike and Adam have been planning and discussing for months which route to take to get back into the studio, so another EP is absolutely in the works and we hope to get it into your hands this fall!  Mike is currently writing and this is, in my opinion, one of the most important things going on in our band right now.  He is building up our identity, our very sound, from the sounds the Lord gives him in his head and heart.  He has to smoothly transition from the sounds of Waste the Day to the slightly different sounds we're currently playing as a group.  And let me tell you, what he has so far is definitely going to keep you listening!  Just dare us to entertain you!  Because we will!!

Other than Michael Alvarado stuff, we've been doing a plethora of things including, but not limited to:

searching for jobs 

working at jobs

internships

getting ripped doing P90X

taking music lessons

traveling

putting together masterful pedal boards

playing in orchestras

summer school

going on mini-vacays 

being awesome

We're definitely having a great summer!  And we hope you are, too.

Stay tuned, you guys.  This is gonna be good.

This is Sam, reporting from... my couch, in my pajamas. :)

Pedal Mania!!

I have never met a guitarist that is completely satisfied with their tone...and I am one of them. Guitarists spend years and thousands of dollars trying to mimic the silky smooth lead tone of Eric Johnson, the face-melting fuzz of Jimi Hendrix, or the funky rhythm tone of John Frusciante. After countless hours of extraneous research I have started to put together a decent pedal board that will blow listeners out of the water. Armed with a laptop computer and a dwindling bank account, I have been slowly sculpting and perfecting an orgasmic, mouth-watering tone of sonic deliciousness. I'm no where near the finish, but I will be updating you with photos and game-breaking analysis throughout the summer. Stay tuned!

(pedals from top left: Wampler Analog Echo, Ibanez Chorus/Flanger, Ibanez Delay/Echo, Boss DS-1, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, BB Preamp, Fulltone Fatboost, Boss Noise Suppressor, Vox Wah)

-DC

If Anyone Else Can Do This, I Will Give You 5 Dollars

Ok, I stumbled upon this video on the blogs of one of my favorite composers, Eric Whitacre...and I had to share it with everyone.

I don't know what training this guy does to be able to do the things he does in this video, but it's nothing short of amazing...check it out! This should be the next Olympic sport!

KW

Contest #1...(Global Warming Sucks!)

Ok, so since summer has officially started (except for all of the rain that has been happening everywhere), that means there will be a plethora of summer camps going on for children of all ages...and that brings us to the first Alvarado Band contest on our blog!

You're probably thinking, "Kyle, what does the Alvarado Band have to do with any summer camps going on?" Well, we have nothing to do with them, but I was approached by someone who is working for the N.C. State Junior High Engineering Camp over in New Bern to answer a specific question that the entire summer camp has to rely on for the kids to go (Lady) Ga-Ga over...and here is where YOU come into the picture as well.

I want the fans of the Alvarado Band to do one thing and that is try to come up with an over all theme for this camp. The theme has to do with energy somehow. Yes, I know what you're thinking, and the theme of "Global Warming Sucks" is already out of the question, because that is the first thing I thought of and it got shot down on the spot...I was pretty depressed for a total of 3 seconds. The winner of this contest will get two free tickets to an Alvarado Band show of their choice!

Also, in addition to the theme contest, if you can come up with a cheer or a song about energy use for the kids to sing or chant at the camp, then you will also be in the running for free entry into the next Alvarado show of your choice. Simple enough? I think so!

So here's the contest recap/areas of competition:

1.) Create an overall theme for the camp that has to deal with energy
2.) Create a song about energy
3.)Create a cheer about energy

Send your entries to michaelalvaradoband@gmail.com with the subject heading "Energy Contest...Global Warming Sucks!"

All these little intellectual middle school kids are counting on you to make their summer the best ever and if you don't follow through, then they'll probably cry about it for a good while...well, maybe not that much, but you would be helping out and contributing to the molding of young minds that will probably be leading the country one day since they are actually gonna spend part of their summer at an engineering camp instead of doing something active!

Be on the look out for more contests coming up within the next week or so and stay dry!

KW

P.S. Here's a live performance of "Not The Usual Type" from the Pour House show in Raleigh on May 8th...enjoy!

First One...Here It Goes!

Welcome to the Michael Alvarado and the Band's blog!

This is the place to continuously keep up with what is going on with the band and all of its members. We will keep updating this thing every day or so with thoughts going on in our world whether it would be music, life, food, TV, sports, or any other thing you could think of. Stay tuned and be sure to checkout www.myspace.com/michaelalvaradomusic for all of the upcoming shows!

More to come...

KW