Noise For The Needy with A Gun That Shoots Knives, The Hoot Hoots and The Fabulous Downey Brothers

A Gun That Shoots Knives

A Gun That Shoots Knives is an ever-evolving aesthetically-experimental music-band based in Seattle, WA. AGTSK has drawn comparisons to Ween, Flaming Lips, early David Bowie, Prince, Parliament-Funkadelic, The Mighty Boosh, and even The Muppets. Our convergence of disparate musical influences, poignantly nonsensical lyrics and antic-driven, costume-laden insanity has lent us the opportunity to perform hundreds of live shows with an immense variety of performers in a comically diverse range of settings, and has blessed us with a special niche amongst the kind of heart and weird of mind.

Although Wish you were here... XOXO marks AGTSK's third self-released full-length album, it is our first in over four years, as well as our first on vinyl. This collection of recordings has served as both catalyst and catharsis for a close-knit group that has endured much heartbreak in the past few years, including the passing of our "friendtographer" and tour-mate, the departure of our drummer (again), and a subsequent rearrangement of lineup. Wish you were here... XOXO benefits from a clarity of style and purpose much refined in comparison to previous AGTSK efforts, while retaining the wry lyrical juxtapositions and pastiche of "popular" music styles that are our signature. With the addition of a time-synched video performance by a ragtag band of local puppets, the newest incarnation of the AGTSK live experience promises to be more spectacular than ever. 

Thank you for the nice visit, and be sure to google our blog for impending releases/performances. Forever are we dedicated to overwhelming the world with love, laughter, and indescribably fun music!

The Hoot Hoots

Bunny suits and super heroes. Rainbow cloaks and Vader onesies. Fuzz, synths, sing-a-longs, and yes more fuzz! Seattle power pop quartet The Hoot Hoots bring all that and more as they pledge allegiance to the United States of Have-A-Good-Time, and its obvious in both their live shows and in their two 2011 full length releases, Silly Lecture Series and Appetite for Distraction.

In reviews of their live shows and albums, the Seattle Weekly has compared them favorably to the Shins, the Deli Seattle Magazine has praised them for their "flashy, out-of-control pop sensibilities," and countless audiences from venues across Seattle can bear witness to their dedication to creating a fun, energetic performance. Think vintage Flaming Lips with a splash of NES and a dash of the Unicorns.

Lead vocalist/guitarist Adam Prairie grew up with his brother/drummer Chris in the middle of Midwestern corn fields in Clifton, IL. The two played whiffle ball and Nintendo, watched the original Star Wars trilogy obsessively, and learned to play guitars and Casio keyboards in the bedroom they shared for most of their formative years. They wrote a few songs in high school, but they mostly tinkered with sounds until Adam left home to study at Knox College in western Illinois followed by Chris a few years later.

"The Hoot Hoots really took shape at the end of my stay at Knox," Adam said. "Chris and I wrote and performed music for a psychedelic 60's production of Shakespeare's As You Like It, and we were kind of overwhelmed how much people were into it. That was the first time we both thought, 'Maybe we should give this band thing a shot.' "

It was at Knox that the Prairie brothers first met keyboardist Christina Ellis and bassist Geoff Brown, but the current Hoot Hoot foursome never played a note together until they all reunited in Seattle late in 2008.

Since then they've released one demo album, one EP, and in the spring of 2010 they released their first full length, Silly Lecture Series, which PopMatters.com described as "brimming with the confidence of a group that's ready to break through the big leagues."

7 months later, they released Appetite for Distraction, and it inspired similar praise from Seattle Weekly: "While the group's fun-loving, reverential spirit keeps them orbiting their influences, their high-energy songbook, full of stories about ghosts and robots and brain eating dinosaurs, captures the essence of goof-pop with upbeat, irrepressible glee."

Perhaps audience member Tim Mendonsa sums it up best: "The Hoot Hoots are the band Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes would have made when he got older; incredibly imaginative, funny, energetic, and quite poignant at times, too."

The Fabulous Downey Brothers