Tigers and Flies + New Released Four Song EP = Unexpected/Brilliant Fun! - Music

Meet the (newer, bigger) band!

A new EP is more than just a single. It's a promise. "More music is on it's way, enjoy this sample for now." There's a collector's quality to EP's. I own some from punk bands that were friends of mine back in the 90's which haven't even been pulled out of their plastic wrap. Any small collection of songs from a skilled, inspired musical group is precious, like a diamond from a mine.

Tigers and Flies have five people in their post punk, slightly funk, entirely original band and you can hear it. There is more sheer sonic energy in the performance. A brass section replete with trumpets and trombones does that. People like me don't use the term "ska" lightly...the band isn't confined to that genre...and the ska-type sound gives them more options, leading to fresher, more entertaining audio fare without the slightly limited onus of, well, you know, being a ska band.

Tigers and Flies kicking ass (acoustically) with brass!

Something to be aware of while enjoying these new tracks is that the group released the EP themselves. This means everything you hear on the splendid new creation Tigers and Flies composed is exactly what they wanted, free from corporate control or unnecessary, profit obsessed interference. They are proud of their punk rock Manchester, UK roots, including the creative freedom that city's music scene espouses.

"Adaptive Release" is the first song. The band could certainly start a show with this one. The opening has an adventurous quality leading to a punk beat and riotous vocals. Listen for the little touches background instruments bring to this piece. They are easy to miss. Detailed musical flourishes like that reveal some real composing genius.

Following is "Margate Itch." This took three good listening sessions before I could describe the song. The brass wails as the beat keeps the pace nicely. An inventive bassline holds it all together. Solid guitarwork and confident drums keep you interested throughout. The vocals are particularly cool, too. It's surprising to find a rock singer who understands variation, making the third song as smart as it is energetic.

A band so damn happy it's infectious in a fun, not medical way.

The next track, named "Compact Risk," is different than the others in many ways, including vocalizations that jump from conversational to serenading. The POV of the songwriting makes it stand out, as well as an opening that avoids the usual drum or guitar playing for something more original that ends up being a satisfying leitmotiv. It's not just a few minutes of music...the song's a journey for your ears.

The finale from the EP is "Walk in a Straight Line." This song is complicated in a fun way. Expect an audio odyssey with this one. It's hard in places, progressive in others, riotous by the end, with a punk party atmosphere worth hearing many times. The new brass instrumentals propel the piece after a strong start thanks to a jaunty beat complimented by soaring lyrics and clever guitarwork. Don't let the funky bassline distract you. It's a deep song, with poetic power.

My humble advice is to get your ears acquainted with the EP Tigers and Flies created for experienced fans and new listeners thanks to Nervous Entertainment ASAP. Good, honest music is as rare as a red emerald in these chaotic times. Your ears deserve the best. Without them, what would you listen to? Nothing. Give them the kind of songs collector's covet. The new EP by Tigers and Flies qualifies. The release date is 05/04/2024. Don't forget it.

Behold, the new EP in all it's glory!

Here is their facebook page...you can find out more about Tigers and Flies if you peruse it. 

Follow them on Instagram. It's more fun that not following them, which can lead to boredom. 

They are also active on X. Check the band out there, too.

Their last album, Among Everything Else, can be found at this site if you follow this wonderful link.

By the way...

...my website doesn't have annoying pop up ads or anything else that might bother you...just PayPal and my wonderful, fun supporters. 

If you like my writing please go check out Pasadena Vintage and Recycled Rock and Roll. Or you can donate to me at this link. Thank you!

THE VEIN - Art

The critics agree, THE VEIN is for thee!

Hello everyone. I hope you are happy! Welcome to the world(s) of THE VEIN.

Here is the hyperlink to our website. We paid good money for it. Enjoy: www.theveincomic.com.

Our Kickstarter is now officially live! Now you can help good win by donating to a cause greater all of us, get free swag, and receive a copy of THE VEIN with alternative art nobody else has ever seen. Oh, what a wonderful world! Check it out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/davidlecomptecomics/the-vein

T getting frisky with the enemy.

What is THE VEIN about? It's a science fiction, body horror comic book about a young man named "T" who merges with an extraterrestrial, outer dimensional entity (known as "The Tentacles") due to an unfortunate scientific accident outside his control thanks to advanced technologies beyond his understanding. 

T gains powers, including the ability to travel to other planets and dimensions, and learns about worlds far more technologically advanced than Earth while fighting demonic entities, dealing with alien intelligences, or just learning to live with The Tentacles while trying to return home. They spit acid! They can kill at will! Plus, more importantly, The Tentacles really enjoy old skool American theater showtunes. Who can blame them?

T uses his powers. 

THE VEIN is more than just the story of T, a young man with body dysmorphia possessed by an alien entity granting him powers that go beyond mere mortals, it's also about his friends!

APRIL AYERS is T's best female friend, helping him out when others won't. She studies quantum physics with an occult twist.

FABIO is T's best male frenemy, a real knee biter who'd bully our hero in a polite social setting forever, if it wasn't for April.

A comic for you, freaks and me too!

UNCLE BOB is T's mean uncle, teasing him unmercifully with his gargantuan vocabulary (even spelling bee champions can be jerks) and antagonizing attitude. Can't a kid going to community college get a little respect?

BLUE BALL is a severed head in a jar that speaks. Good times!

Buy the comic book and take a better look. 

LOXXANA is a scientist on another planet a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (spacetime is funky like that) pulling the strings, and the biological dendritic connections, to make people do what she wants. What is this mentally superior, technologically terrifying, matriarchal mastermind really up to?

THE GREAT MUTATO is a hovercycle enthusiast with a penchant for egomania, kidnapping, violence, weapons, vehicular manslaughter, any kind of manslaughter, antisocial tendencies, and telling you on Friday that your paycheck isn't going to be ready until next Monday...yes, he's THAT evil.

T and his fun, happy, brutal friends. 

THE TENTACLES...Peter Parker had his spider. Venom had his symbiote. VAMPIRE HUNTER D had his talking hand. I had acne in high school (it totally sucked phalluses). D'Artagnan had THE THREE MUSKETEERS. THE THING had The Thing. THE BLOB had The Blob. What if amazing mutant superpowers came with a price, three heads, and a penchant for singing showtunes? You'll find out!

Now that you've learned about the comic book, meet the rest of the team behind THE VEIN!

The Main Man, the Head Honcho, and creator of THE VEIN!

DAVID LE COMPTE started getting into comics at a young age, THE X-MEN and BATMAN cartoons from the 90's were his doorway into comics. His family couldn’t really afford buying them though, so for a long time he only had three: A Chris Clairemont / Jim Lee issue of THE X-MEN, A Barry Windsor Smith WEAPON X, and an issue of 2001 by Jack Kirby. 

Eventually he got old enough to work and he spent most of his money on comics, and most of his free time trying to figure out how to draw comics. After high-school, he attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art. 

He eventually found his way to San Diego, California, where he began a career as a graphic designer which turned into a career in front-end software development. He has published 4 comics independently: MISPLACED EYED, ELECTRO BEETLE, PLAN R, and ROWS OF LIGHTS. 

Hans Fink. Creative Editor. Humorist and Artist.

HANS FINK was either born or hatched some time ago when he was young. His parents are giant big-brained nerds with large personal libraries. Hans learned art from his maternal grandmother, and hilarity from his paternal grandfather. He spent some of his formative years growing up in a family owned graphics shop, where he discovered his love of comics books. 

The mind of Hans Fink is better than geniuses think.

As a young child, he could not stop reading comics and drawing his own. Somehow Hans went from this to becoming Editor-in-Chief of SKINNIE ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE. During his career in entertainment journalism, Hans also contributed articles and images to various publications such as CULTURE MAGAZINE, MUSIC CONNECTION, PASADENA WEEKLY, IE WEEKLY, and others. 

 
Hans eventually met a wild artist and horror-enthusiast named David Le Compte, who promptly hired him to color THE VEIN and provide additional art & design as needed. To this day, Hans is a big fat fucking nerd who makes comics, does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (not the Japanese version), pets cats, and smokes all the weed.

When genius meets advertising results ensue.

That's it on THE VEIN for now. If you are interested in contributing art, ideas, and even writing for our comic book, contact us! This comic isn't just for the entire world to enjoy...it's also for you!

Finally...please give to our Kickstarter. You'll get incredible swag, enjoy a storyline not endorsed by a sold-out, corporatist Hollywood industry, and support independent writers/artists who think like you do. One day, if we are all successful, you'll see THE VEIN on streaming services like INVINCIBLE or TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES too!

                           

THIRTEEN - Comedy

WHY THIRTEEN?

There are hundreds of stand up comedy shows in L.A. Netflix shoots dozens of one hour comedy specials a month. The big clubs like The Comedy Store, Laugh Factory and The Ice House are full every weekend. Comedians are obviously on those stages getting noticed, getting paid, and moving up in Hollywood, right?

Not exactly.

For more than a dozen years I've interviewed dozens of stand up comics. Although they are all different people with unique imaginations and their own style of comedy, stories they tell about the evils of Hollywood are often copies of each other when it comes to the abuses they suffer to get stage time. Extortion is common. Working for free is the norm. 

For female comedians it's worse. They often are asked to exchange sex for stage time and/or payment. Sexual harassment doesn't even describe it. Dating the host of a comedy show to get stage time can be mandatory for most women. To even be a part of "the scene" in stand up comedy if you are young usually means hooking up with other comics, if you want to move up.

Steven Marcus Releford, the headliner for THIRTEEN

Human greed is also a factor. In real life you work a job, get paid for it, and with more education and experience you move up and get paid more. Some people might work internships in college. Others work for free to get experience before a new career. At one point you will get paid for working a job, that's the logic. Not in Hollywood.

Stand up comics often pay for stage time. Gasoline, parking, and traffic tickets all take a chunk of money. After that they might buy two drinks to put their name in a raffle to go up or even pay $5 to perform for five minutes. Some clubs are generous. Any comedian going up only buys two drinks for the privilege. They cost $10 each of course. 

The worst are bringers. The producer/host demands each comic bring ten people to perform. Out of the $200 the comedian brings in they might get $20, while the bringer host happily brings in their friends to perform, too, without the burden of bringing anyone. It also does the beginning stand up comic no favors with their peers, who will despise the performer for performing in a bringer, even if they were paid. 

It's time to celebrate Halloween early...

If a comedian sees any money from their work early on, it will probably be out of a bucket or hat the producer of the show passes around the audience to pay the performers. Here's your paycheck...$3.72, plus dryer lint. This is after all the hours comedians spent driving to the event, before they get a parking ticket because L.A. screwed up the signs again.

Breaking into stand up comedy in Hollywood also means joining social cliques. Remember the cool kids in high school that looked down upon you and could ruin your social status with a word or lie? They are alive and well, producing and hosting comedy shows. Make friends and you might move up. Make someone jealous and you've made an enemy to your career. Refuse to date the wrong person and they'll make sure you never work in any show they are on. Nobody will defend you if that person is a producer or host known for abusing others...they need the stage time.

Holding a flyer for the show.

If you don't fit in because don't have the exact, specific, perfect personality to get along with the covert egotistical narcissists that infect any healthy social scene, you don't move up and you don't get stage time. Open mic nights can be miserable for anyone new, even if they are damn good. Every comedian in the audience is a potential rival, waiting to hold back laughter to hurt their competition.

Comedians MUST get stage time. Theater gives any actor hours upon hours of experience thanks to rehearsals, technical blocking and performance. Film repeats scenes and shots endlessly. An actor may say the same lines fifty times in one day. Stand up comedy only has the stage plus the audience. They have to get up there to get a measly 3-5 minutes, after hours of waiting. At the end of the month an amateur stand up comic might only perform for an hour, and they are often paying to do it. 

Releford on the mic, entertaining the audience.

THIRTEEN is a safe haven from all that useless chaos stand up comics usually deal with. Comedians get to work in a professional environment where they are respected, paid for their work, and not exploited. There will also be diversity, so that everyone is equally represented. While this might be common sense to the reader, it's brand new facts to some people running stand up comedy shows throughout California.

Guests at the THIRTEEN will notice the improvement in the performance of the comedians entertaining them. Great money means greater morale. Happy people are funnier to be around, and get bigger laughs from the audience because of their attitude. Paying stand up comics also means the audience gets the best performance for their buck because our show hired a person worth paying. They are, after all, professional comedians, not amateurs. 

Enter if you dare.

Another big influence is theater, specifically The Grand Guignol Theatre of Paris, France, more than a hundred years ago. Normally a stand up comedy show is just a comedian doing comedy until they bring up more comedians to do the same. There is nothing wrong with this. A variety show featuring comedians along with other artists using music, magic, improvisational comedy and even dancing is an experience worth paying to see, especially one like ours with a gothic, macabre sensibility. 

A prop from the comedy horror show THIRTEEN.

Theater has a resounding importance across time and space because of humanity. Plays written hundreds and thousands of years ago are still performed today, and still matter. When the electricity stops and it's just fire and humans, theater will be there, as it has always been. Stand up comedy is theater. It's also speech, film acting technique and properly done, like a funny conversation with somebody entertaining at a bar. It doesn't need CGI to succeed. Fake blood helps. 

Some posters for The Grand Guignol Theatre of Paris, France, from more than a century ago.

The Grand Guignol was simply a theater in France, and a style of drama, that was innovative, bloody and violent. Gore isn't new to the stage, just watch Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus or Macbeth. Then watch The Little Shop of Horrors and Sweeney Todd. Add elements of horror and science fiction, like Dracula, Frankenstein plus The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and you have the essence of Grand Guignol Theatre.

Audiences in the early 1900's saw shocking displays of blood, severed heads, scientific experiments gone wrong, tyrannical government tortures, executions, vampires, murder, madness, maniacs, werewolves and other dark subject matter worthy of modern Netflix Halloween specials, slasher flicks and Twilight Zone episodes. They were shocking senses and pushing boundaries, paving the way for horror and sci-fi films decades later. It is no mystery why Grand Guignol persists to this day, with troupes like The Molotov Theatre Group espousing it's gory glory. 

Stand up comedy vernacular fits right in with the ghoulish visualizations and horrific concepts The Grand Guignol Theatre espoused. Comedians "die" on stage, or they "kill." They "bomb" onstage, or they "slay" the audience, who were "dying of laughter." They "murder" the crowd. Even the end of joke is violent...a "punch line." Bomb too many times in Hollywood, if you are famous, and your career is "dead."

Our show is a theater production including horror and humor, with comedians appearing throughout to keep us all laughing. As THIRTEEN goes on we can add new acts, live music, belly dancers breathing fire, horror improv comedy and whatever it takes to give an audience their money's worth in an original way through a traditional method...live theater, which never dies. Please donate at our gofundme, if you can. We plan to expand, hiring more people, different acts and innovating our live show as time goes on. 

So please join us at THIRTEEN. We've chosen the perfect lineup for your entertainment. The price is right and parking is free. Halloween is right around the corner, and our show is the perfect place to turn up to celebrate such a tenebrous season. Sure, The Host of the show is a little crazy, and by the end of the evening there will be blood. Our comedians are complete killers. You'll never forget the humor, as long as you live! After all, there is no slaughter without laughter.

YOU CAN BUY TICKETS FOR THIRTEEN HERE AT EVENTBRITE

YOU CAN DONATE TO ESTABLISH A VENUE FOR THIRTEEN HERE AT GOFUNDME