8leggedmonster.com » Updates

Ray Charles is back…

8 Legged Monster Admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:38:18 +0000

We’re doing round 2 of the newly formed “Rayband” at Coda on Friday, July 23rd. The show starts at 10pm and it’s $10. Tickets available at the door and online here: (TICKETS)

If you made it to the first show then you’ll know that we’re giving the music everything we got. The lovely and talented Raelettes (Allegra Bandy, Audio Angel and Karen Fremont) absolutely stole the show last month and I imagine they will again.

We’ve got the full 14 piece band again and the dance floor will be open for anyone who cares to use it…except for the girl who almost broke her face last time….she should maybe just listen this go-around.

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Rayband, the music of Ray Charles

8 Legged Monster Admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:20:17 +0000

I listened Ray Charles when I was a kid and I knew that it was great music back then. But about 4 years ago I heard “Hallelujah, I Just Love Her So” and I was completely blown away. It occurred to me recently that the music Ray made on Atlantic Records may be the most honest music he ever laid down; no one was telling him what to play, he was just doing his thing.

After listening to pretty much everything Ray ever recorded I started to put my pen to some work. I picked 20 of my favorite tunes, some hits and some lesser known songs, and I started arranging them for a small big band and 3 Raelettes. When I started telling people what I was doing I got the same reaction every time “Can I be in the band?”… so at least I’m not alone in my obsession.

The hardest part of putting the band together was finding the right singers. I’ve always loved the way Lech from the California Honeydrops sings and he was thrilled at the idea of doing a Ray-band. As for the Raelettes, I had just about every female singer west of Mississippi interested in singing. I ended up with 3 awesome ladies, Allegra Bandy, Rashida Calendening & Karen Fremont.

We’ll be kicking things off at Coda on Thursday, June 3rd at 9:30pm, tickets are $7.

The complete lineup is as follows:

Mike Irwin Johnson – Bass/Arrangements,
Lech Wierzynski – Lead Vocals,
Allegra Bandy – Vocals,
Rashida Calendening – Vocals,
Karen Fremont – Vocals,
Niel Levonius – Lead Trumpet,
Joel Behrman – Trumpet,
Scott Larson – Trombone,
Gabe Eaton – Alto Sax,
Rob Barics – Tenor Sax,
Marcus Stephens – Tenor Sax,
Fil Lorenz – Bari Sax,
Jay Standards – Piano,
Elizabeth Goodfellow – Drums

Jaz Sawyer’s B-day Bash

8 Legged Monster Admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:33:34 +0000

Yup, he’s getting older and ….wiser? Come to Club Deluxe on Friday, May 14th at 9:30. 8 Legged Monster will be kicking off an all-night celebration of the day Jaz gets older, according to all printed records.

Visit our Schedule page for more information.

Club Deluxe 4/30 9:30pm

8 Legged Monster Admin — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:42:18 +0000

There is no better place in SF to go hear straight-up jazz music… fact! If God came down from heaven and started a jazz club his only competition would be Club Deluxe.

This Friday (April 30th) we’ll be cranking out some gut-bucket bebop at around 9:30. Anyone in the mood to hear folks having fun and getting paid to do it is welcomed and encouraged to also have a good time. The show is $5 and it’ll be the best damn $5 you ever spent.

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SF Jazz, Sun Ra & the Baytaper

8 Legged Monster Admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:43:34 +0000

We recently played a Sun Ra tribute for the SF Jazz Hotplate Series. Below is an interview with Mike and clips from the show:

SF JAZZ Hotplate – Sun Ra:

Also check out a recent clip from a show at Coda, done by none other than the Baytaper himself:

Copy and paste into your browser:

http://www.baytaper.com/2010/02/19/8-legged-monster-live-at-coda/

Have a drink…we’ll sound brilliant

8 Legged Monster Admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:08:45 +0000

This Friday (Feb 19) at 10pm we’ll set out to attack another round of unsuspecting listeners at Coda. We might pull out some Sun Ra, we might pull out some NOLA revival…you never really know…I never really even know.

The first 5 people that request a good song get a free CD… request a bad song and we’ll make you feel weird about it.

Here’s a flier (click to enlarge):

Our Makeout Room residency, help us start a revolution! March 8th

8 Legged Monster Admin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:57:40 +0000

Hello again folks,

In March we’ll be starting a small residency at the Makeout Room (every 2nd Sunday of the month beginning March 8th). In addition to our lovely selves, we will be featuring larger sized bands that focus on arrangements and working out a distinctive group-sound; all in the bebop/modern jazz vein.

The first band to join us for an evening of music is local genius Graham Connah and his group “Admiral Ted Brinkley”: http://www.myspace.com/tedbrinkleysjazzargosy. This evening they will be performing an entire set of Tadd Dameron’s music arranged by Graham for a 10 piece band!

We hope to see you there.

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Also, earlier this day our beloved Jaz Sawyer will be giving a workshop at the Jazz School. Any young drummers looking for an insight into Jaz or Jazz should definitely attend:

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A gang of shows… and an Admiral

8 Legged Monster Admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:39:34 +0000

Hi Folks,

There are a cluster of performances coming up featuring some of our friends and of course featuring the Monster. We hope to see some rain soaked bodies in the crowd, so get your Galoshes and stomp down to some of these shows.

8 Legged Monster:

Tonight!! (Feb 25th, 9:30pm) at Club Deluxe, featuring the great vocalist Karina Denike.
March 6th, 8pm at Socha Cafe. We are playing with Spaceheater, a great band led by Evan Francis featuring all original compositions.
March 8th, 8pm at the Makeout Room. DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!!! We’re playing with Graham Connah’s “Admiral Ted Brinkley; semi ret.” They are amazing; definitely one of our favorite bands in town and they always blow you away.

Jaz Sawyer All Stars:

March 4th at Club Deluxe (9:30pm) featuring a sharp cast of the SF jazz scene. Who will be playing? You’ll have to show up to find out, but you won’t be disappointed.

Eaton Barics Quintet:

March 7th at Club Deluxe (9:30). These guys made a huge dent in the local jazz scene during their residency at Bruno’s. Now they’re picking up where they left off and ruining anyone that gets in their way.

I’ll have the Deluxe Monster please…

8 Legged Monster Admin — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:57:45 +0000

We’re back at Club Deluxe folks. This time with more steam and firepower… bring the extinguishers!

New and improved flier approved by Jaz Sawyer.

Fantasy Studio & New Recording in Sept.

8 Legged Monster Admin — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:56:59 +0000

We’re going in to Fantasy Studios to record our second album in September. We’re sounding so much more solid as a band these days and our hopes are high for this next recording… plus it’s at Fantasy Studios!

….more to follow