We're As Good As Gold: a Ferris Wheel Blog

Halloween show at Emerson, free EP download, studio time!

2009-10-29T12:50:00.004-04:00

This past week has been jam-packed (literally and figuratively) with Ferris Wheel goodness.

Tuesday night, we were invited to play at Wax On Felt's first-ever Halloween show with our friends The Grownup Noise and new friends Atoms & Eyes (big ups to those guys for sharing their bass amp and drum kit). We had a pretty awesome shark attack theme for our costumes; we'll probably post pictures soon.

Anyway, we debuted some new stuff to a small audience but a very enthusiastic response, and we also announced that our Goody Twos EP would be released digitally for free download! Click here to get it!

Yesterday, we spent all day at The Bridge Sound & Stage in Cambridge, MA - it's a cool spot; it used to be called Fort Apache, where Weezer demoed Pinkerton and Radiohead and the Pixies also did tracking for their early albums. With some help from engineer Owen Curtin and two studio recording classes from Emerson College, we started demoing some material for the new album, due out next year. We're really excited with what we've got so far and we absolutely can't wait to share it with you...maybe we'll even post some of the preproduction demos for a bit. We're gonna kick out some more jams tonight at Josh's apartment, so things are on the move!

Happy September!

2009-09-14T12:25:00.000-04:00

Excuse us while we blow the dust off of our blog...it's been a while, but don't worry - there have been some big things in the works in the meantime.

Photo: Sam Ejnes

First off, the WECB showcase was a great time - another packed house at Tommy Doyle's in Cambridge, and many thanks to the folks at WECB for having us! We didn't end up playing Tufts' Earthfest, but it was for the best. Trust us.

After that show, however, a whole bunch of things happened at once - finals started, school ended, Sawyer moved home to Pennsylvania for the summer to play with his other band, Justine went to Miami AND Paris, I went to a space shuttle launch on Cape Canaveral (awesome)...it was madness. But sometime amidst all the chaos, we parted ways with Joe Solof, guitar/banjo extraordinaire. The split was amicable and our friendships all remain as normal.

So we've found a new guitarist by the name of Dave Eisenberg, who's musically worked with all of us in some capacity before - Winter Coat, At Best, etc. Most importantly, he's another Emerson student, so the Tufts dominance (Justine, Sawyer, Shaheen and sometimes Amanda) ends here!!!!!!!!! Anyway, he's already contributed some original material in the form of a few new songs, which leads me to my next point...

Over the summer, we've been writing and demoing feverishly, and now we're planning to record our follow-up to Goody Twos: a full-length that we're expecting to release in early 2010. We're hammering out finalized arrangements and choosing a tracklist later, but the foundation of the record is there, and once the rest of it follow suit...well, I guess you can just surrender your airwaves then. 2010 will be the year of Ferris Wheel.

In the meantime, we're going to try and book some shows in the local area and play out for you lovely people again. If things go as swimmingly as I hope they do, we're going to think about taking this show on the road next year where possible.

Cool stuff about the WECB Presents Showcase

2009-04-12T23:14:00.003-04:00

1. There are only three bands, so we get to play for like 45 MINUTES or something crazy like that.
2. It's FREE for Emerson students plus up to two non-Emerson guests.
2. There's going to be FREE FOOD.
3. WECB will be doing a live web stream of the event so people from faraway destinations will be able to watch us fumble around onstage in real time!

By the way, it's this Sunday at 7. If you can get to Tommy Doyle's (96 Winthrop St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 02138), you totally should. If you can't, we'll be sure to hook you up with the address of the live stream of the show!

Tufts Battle of the Bands + more

2009-04-08T17:17:00.006-04:00

So we didn't win Tufts' Battle of the Bands. We weren't really expecting to; that band The Ride was AWESOME. I knew they had it all along. The show was weird anyway though. It got started about half an hour late due to soundchecks of exorbitant length. Our set was only 20 minutes and the venue was set up kind of funny...we were playing on the floor in the middle of the room, so there were some people behind us, on each side of us, in front of us as well as on the balcony above us and to the sides. Moral of the story: it's hard to get people revved up in a panopticon. Not that there were a lot of people there anyway.
We debuted and closed with a new song though, and for what it's worth, the response was pretty positive. It's called "I Would Hide" and chances are you're going to be hearing it at our shows in the future, because we have fun playing it and apparently people have fun listening to it. In fact, I just cut a drum track for a new demo of it in the studio at WERS, so we'll probably start chipping away at that soon and maybe you'll eventually get to hear it soon.
Our next show is on April 18th back at Tufts, playing outside on the Residential Quad for Earthfest 2009. It's going to be from noon to four and if it rains it'll be the next day, but either way Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) is going to come speak about the environment.
The next night, we'll be returning to Tommy Doyle's in Harvard Square for WECB Presents: an event hosted by Emerson College's underground radio station. It's free for Emerson students and they can bring one guest, so start hounding your Emerson friends!

Upcoming Tufts shows!

2009-04-02T22:08:00.002-04:00

Goodness gracious!

2009-03-30T13:12:00.005-04:00

We haven't posted in so long! Sorry about that. We've been really busy with both Ferris Wheel- and non-Ferris Wheel-related activities. To recap the last 2 months:

- We released Goody Twos to some highly flattering reviews (see the About Me section on our MySpace); it was subsequently leaked. Wow!
- We unfortunately did not advance in the Rockus battle of the bands and it was pretty much the upset of the century. Congratulations to the Hollow Sound though.
- We started on preproduction for a new record and did some tracking in the studio at WERS - props to Nicole, Brendan and Dave!
- We've implemented a new auxiliary member - Amanda Cavanaugh will be joining us on the fiddle as much as she can/wants, starting with the show this weekend.

That's the other thing - we're playing 3, maybe 4 FREE shows very soon!

- The first is this Saturday, April 4th at Tufts' Hotung Café (44 Professors Row, Medford, MA - in the Campus Center) for the Concert Board's Battle Of The Bands. The winner plays Tufts' Spring Fling later in April, opening for LUDACRIS. SHIT, SON.
- Next is Saturday, April 18th at Tufts' Res. Quad for Earthfest 2009 - it's going to be an outdoor event with a positive, ecological message, featuring Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) speaking on the environment.
- Still in the works is Sunday, April 19th at Tommy Doyle's in Cambridge, the site of our last show. The event is WECB Presents, sponsored by Emerson College's closed-circuit/online radio station, and will be free to Emerson students. More details to come when we confirm (or don't).

Look out for us! EVERYWHERE YOU GO, WE'LL BE THERE.

GOODY TWOS COMPLETE/STREAMING

2009-02-11T17:00:00.001-05:00

http://myspace.com/ferriswheelsongs
http://myspace.com/ferriswheelsongs
http://myspace.com/ferriswheelsongs
http://myspace.com/ferriswheelsongs
http://myspace.com/ferriswheelsongs

YES WE ARE

2009-02-08T15:09:00.002-05:00

Today, we were featured on You Ain't No Picasso, which is Josh's favorite music blog, so we're all REALLY EXCITED.

Other than that, we have that show Friday - almost sold out - and until then, we're going to mix down and start streaming the entire Goody Twos EP.

YAAAAAY

Impending EP release/new shows!

2009-02-03T18:57:00.006-05:00

Long time, no update! (That's okay if there's nobody reading anyway.)
Pardon the silence, but we've been hard at work, and we've officially finished tracking the Goody Twos EP! Over the next few days, I'll be mixing it down and throwin' some D's on it, and we'll have it ready to release unto the world by next weekend! We have some really unique, handmade packaging planned for it, so you'll definitely want to get your hands on one.
Speaking of next weekend, our next show is happening at The Loft @ Tommy Doyle's (96 Winthrop St., Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA 02139). We're playing with some of the same bands as last time - Reel Karma, The Blue Rhonda and The Hollow Sound - so if you had fun then, you'll have fun this time! Doors open at 8:30 and the music starts at 9, ending at 11:15 (followed by a DJ so you can get yo' groove on). Tickets are available here and they're $6 each (including service charge).
Here's the flyer. Share it if you love us!

The best part is that this show is part of an ongoing battle of the bands sponsored by Rolling Stone Collection and Veritas Records (Harvard University), and the winner of this round will advance to a final show April 12th at the Paradise in Boston (!!!!!!!!) so come out and support your favorite boys and girl!

In addition, we're also confirming another show the following weekend (February 21st) at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, MA. We'll get you more details and probably a flyer as we receive them, but until then, we're way excited.

Webstore/other updates

2009-01-19T20:02:00.003-05:00

So a week or so ago, we opened Ye Olde Ferris Wheel Shoppe, at which you can preorder tickets to our next show, February 13th at Tommy Doyle's in Cambridge, MA.
You'll also see that the upcoming Goody Twos EP is posted as "coming soon," and we can excitedly say this is true. Shaheen and Sawyer are finishing their respective cello and trumpet tracks as I type this, and then I'll be mixing everything over the coming weeks. With any luck, we should have copies of the EP to sell at the show, and from that point on they'll be available in our webstore. We've been working on Goody Twos since July, hard as it may be to believe. Now that's nearing completion, we're getting really anxious and can't wait for everyone to hear it.

Video Post #1!

2009-01-07T01:58:00.008-05:00

So the real reason we even made this blog was that Mike, our bassist, suggested to me that we start a videoblog - my old band had one and it seemed like a good enough idea. I decided to go with an old-fashioned blog because writing is faster, but we finally got around to making a video!

Speaking of all that, we got some serious progress done on recording tonight, and it'll take just a few more sessions plus some serious mixing, but Goody Twos should be available at our next show on February 13th:

Goofy shit we say #5:

2009-01-05T00:34:00.002-05:00

"I bet your mom has the funniest farts!"

- Josh to Mike

Goofy shit we say #4:

2009-01-05T00:28:00.003-05:00

"That's what sucks, because Joan of Arc? Not so hot nowadays."

- Joe Solof, guitarist of Ferris Wheel

Goofy shit we say #3:

2008-12-31T00:44:00.004-05:00

From : Justine

If they were real you would have the cat plates dolores umbridge has on her wall

- Justine Bowe, vocalist/pianist of Ferris Wheel

New stuff!

2008-12-26T00:30:00.004-05:00

There is new music on our MySpace right now! We posted a song called "Whistle" from our upcoming demo, but it will only be streaming for a week, so make sure you get a chance to check it out!

Over the past few days, we've been shaking the cobwebs out and writing together again. Some of the new songs we have are coming together really nicely, and we've even started demoing and doing preproduction for the studio EP we'll be tracking soon. Overall, there are just lots of good ideas floating around which makes for exciting times (whether or not anyone cares yet). Either way, count on this: 2009 will be the year of the Ferris Wheel!

e-songs

2008-12-20T02:03:00.004-05:00

Today, New England was bombarded with probably 5-6 inches of snow (though I'm not positive, because I haven't even so much as looked outside). We had made very tentative plans to practice and were forced to postpone them, but that didn't stop us from being productive - via the wonders of technology, we have 2 or 3 new songs in development and leads on a few shows for the spring!

Just thought you guys might want to know that we do in fact have more songs than "Lay Down" and "Baseball" (and "Geneseo" for you OurStage users).

Goofy shit we say #2

2008-12-19T14:24:00.004-05:00

MIKE MOSH is sXe: what are you going to do with your life anyway

fourmonthsatsea: i dunno

fourmonthsatsea: im genuinely expecting to get run over or something

fourmonthsatsea: so i dont give it too much thought

- Josh Bolduc, vocalist/guitarist of Ferris Wheel

Goofy shit we say #1:

2008-12-14T19:45:00.004-05:00

mikedaylie: we need a real promo of everyone

mikedaylie: i've been working on my poses

- Mike Wolfenden, bassist of Ferris Wheel

FIRST POST WOOOOOO

2008-12-14T19:12:00.006-05:00

We are now officially part of the BLOGOSPHERE. WEB 2.0 FTW YEEAAAAHH

By now, you've hopefully heard the songs we've posted on MySpace and OurStage, and perhaps you're even wondering what will become of them (other than the chart-busting radio hits of 2009).

They, among others, were recorded at our home/project studios from July to August. Unfortunately, by the time we were getting ready to head back to college, most of them remained unfinished or otherwise unsatisfactory. Then, about a month later, we decided that select tracks could be salvaged, remixed and released as Goody Twos, our inaugural CDEP of these home recordings.

So now that an eventful and productive semester has passed, we will reconvene in our basements and bedrooms to put the finishing touches on Goody Twos and have it out by February 2009. In addition, we're setting aside further recording time in the spring with intent to release a proper studio album...I'll save details on that for another blog entry. :]

Tentative Goody Twos tracklist:

1. The All-Time Train Dodge

2. Whistle

3. Paper Cranes

4. Lay Down

5. The Wrigley Field Faithful

Upcoming shows:

Sat. 28 Feb. 2009 @ T.T. The Bear's Place (10 Brookline St., Cambridge, MA) - TBC

Yours,

Mike M./Ferris Wheel