The Tender Few Web Log

Welcome New TFEW Club Members

2008-06-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

The Tender Few has added a couple of crucial club members to the line up. Bradford Parker has agreed to an 8 month contract to play drums and Peter Dominguez has agreed to an open-ended contract to play lead rock guitar, however, he is on a 6 month probationary period. We all hope he makes it and, at this point it looks pretty good. Our main criteria for the open lead GTR position was that he or she must coordinate their sweat bands with their t-shirts. And as you can clearly see, Peter is a Viking at coordinating.

In other less important news, the TFEW record entitled “SEE ME SIGH, SEE ME CRY” has been remixed and is in the process of getting mastered. We had a few mixing issues regarding a pesky floor tom, but everything is sounding in order now so we’re good to go. My prediction for release date: Tuesday, September 2, 2008. I can hear you laughing, but seriously, I think this just might happen.

We are also looking to play our first show with the new line up (it’s risky, I know, with one club member still on probation) in august at a local bay area venue – someplace like the HP Pavilion or that place in Concord.

Two of The Tender Few (Nicole and Chip) will be sitting in with our other project, The Size Queens, to record a few tracks for the SQ masterpiece, Magic Dollar Shoppe. We will keep you posted on all the amazing studio goodness and magic that happens when Adam Klein and Michael Mullen get together. It is quite a treat for Nicole and I to witness such an event.

Love to you all.

The Tender Few

Pagen Valentine - New Song Posted

2008-02-19T22:33:00.001-08:00

Good Day Dear Reader,

A new song, PAGAN VALENTINE, has been brought to the digital surface for your scrutiny. Now, you may be asking, "what is PAGAN VALENTINE about and shouldn't you have have released it, oh, about two weeks ago, to ride the pink holiday's coat tails"? uhmm.. yeah. we probably should have.

Did you ever watch ONE DAY AT A TIME? Well, this song kind of sums up what a lot of us were feeling around the time that show was made.
PV will be coming out on the full length LP - SEE ME SIGH - in April on Almost Died Records and Tapes. Like Rob mentioned before, we are postponing our release to allow plenty of room for REM's new effort coming out in March. Peter Buck and the TFEW have an agreement about overlapping releases within 3 tuesdays of one another. He also tried to pull that with the Minus Three, but ultimately he knew better.

Tfew BACK in the Studio!?

2008-02-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

NEW SESSION VIDEO
While the TFew's first CD See Me Sigh is a couple months from release -- the date has been pushed to April so as not to collide with the release of REM's new album in March -- the three-standing TFew members hit the four-track studios of San Francisco's EastCha district, near SoCha (South of Caesar Chavez), to begin work on a new conceptual track, "San Francisco Sensation."

"It's nearly done," says bassist Nicole Brodsky, who filmed the video session shown below. "It's loose and organic -- something we feel good about." The lyrical concept is a merger of Patty Hearst and the ill will generated with the forcible removal of former TFew keyboardist Rich Trott, who now leads rival band Palace Family Steakhouse. Brodsky replaced Trott.

Enjoy video footage of session:

TFew schedules Video Shoot

2008-01-18T18:25:00.000-08:00

After huge and enormous positive feedback following the Tender Few's first video -- the controversial 'Charmed & Dangerous' (see YouTube.com) -- another shoot is planned for January 29.

Bass player Nicole B, who is considering a new hairstyle for the video (modeled), will decide which track will be featured.

Pumped for Grass Valley Talent Show

2007-11-06T23:37:00.000-08:00

We've been invited to attend a talent show in Grass Valley, California. We have lots and lots of talent; however, we sometimes don't know how to show it. So, Nicole and I have been burning the midnight candles (all three of them) to get ready for the show. Guitars, samples, loops and hot vox will be used to create an experience so wholesome and enjoyable we just might place in the top 10 of the competition. Here's a sneak peek at our future award winning set list.

1. Sculler Rally (Conference Committee Version)

2. I'm Not Brian Ferry, or Roxy Music

3. What's Your State Bird?

4. Laughing at Billboards

5. Another Cold Shoulder Around the Corner

Tfew NEWSLOG VI

2007-10-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK IN TFEW NEWS

Two of the three surviving members of the Tender Few have discussed an idea of a 'bonus track' for the upcoming CD See Me Sigh that will 'up the ante' on Radiohead's free download concept. 'It's a hidden track like no other -- NO ONE has ever done anything like this on an album,' said bassist Nicole Brodsky in a prepared statement. 'And certainly it's not something that the Palace Family Steakhouse have ever mustered, even in brainstorming sessions.'

In other news, the album is being mastered this weekend.

Tfew NEWSLOG V

2007-10-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

TFEW RELEASES 'SOFT' ALTERNATE SONG

Before the dozen-tracked See Me Sigh -- Tfew's long-awaited debut record -- comes out soon, you can download an otherwise-unavailable B-side 'You Can't Kill Love Softly', an alternate version of the album-closing 'You Can't Kill Love.'

Tfew has no comment on the potentially ambiguous meaning of the song title. 'It's just something we feel good about,' explained bass player Nicole Brodsky in a prepared statement.

Click the link below:

YOU CAN'T KILL LOVE SOFTLY

TFew NEWSLOG IV

2007-10-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

THE RECORD, SEE ME SIGH, HAS BEEN MIXED. Which leaves only mastering left to be done to our humble masterpiece. So, while the record is being mastered, we thought we should recharge our batteries by reading in bed in a Los Alamos, NM Best Western with dos tecates. Now this is living.

Tfew NEWSLOG III

2007-10-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK IN TFEW NEWS
After three years of dedicated devotion to Tender Few, drummer/vocalist/prop-designer Rich Turgeon has sadly left the band. His Tfew legacy is insured by his beats and backs on the upcoming record SEE ME SIGH. Good luck Rich!

Meanwhile Chip is working on cover art for the album whilst on a working trip to New Mexico.

Tfew NEWSLOG II

2007-09-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK IN TFEW NEWS

Rich Trott called the Tfew self-declared 'rival band' Palace Family Steak House's show at Bottom of the Hill last Wednesday night "transcendent."

Tfew began actively setting up dates for its NO-CAL EXOTIC TOUR of late October. Potential dates include Modesto, Vasalia, Nevada City and San Francisco.

The first take at the "Charmed & Dangerous" video has been attempted: and we would like to present a short-time available sneak peek at the 'CHIPPED NAILS' version of the video. Two more versions are coming in the near future.

Tfew NEWSLOG I

2007-09-18T10:31:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEK IN Tfew NEWS

--> Rival San Francisco band PALACE FAMILY STEAKHOUSE, led by Rich Trott, kicked out Tfew from a video recording session in a West Bay rehearsal space. "We got to practice for our Wednesday gig," he explained setting up his keyboard. Three members of Tfew -- Chip D, Nicole B and occasional member Robert R -- were asked to leave.

--> Shortly before, Robert R sustained one of the Tfew's biggest injuries, Telecaster-drop on a toe that's left it the hue of a bloody birthmark. (Palace Family Steakhouse is not implicated in the injury -- a studded guitar-strap is more to blame.)

--> The aborted video session is part of the Tfew's first-ever video shoot. Borrowing the philosophy of Yes' "Leave It," there will be alternate takes on the video for "Charmed & Dangerous," which will not be the first single on the album. Enough video footage was made for the video.

--> Meanwhile, Tfew has finished mixing the upcoming record See Me Sigh and is finishing up its song-order sequence by ordering songs to parallel the "structure and mood" of the Rolling Stones' Tattoo You. "Charmed & Dangerous" -- at track two -- is the "Hang Fire" of the album, not the lead-off single, but video-worthy.

--> Palace Family Steakhouse plays San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill on Wednesday.

SEE THE FEW SIGH!

2007-08-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

A decision is here. The upcoming Tender Few record will be named SEE ME SIGH, following the stirring -- and slurred -- testimonial from a certain 'Nikki Buttons.'

She wins a photo of this shirt.

The record will be released in mid September. Stay tuned for details on the first-ever Tender Few CD-release Festival.

--> Re-read Nikki's case, with joy:

I’m a little drunk. This is my argument, my thesis, for “See Me Sigh” as the title of this album. I understand that you can, in a way, SEE someone sigh, watch his/her chest inflate, deflate, watch his/her eyes widen, relax. But it is more likely that we are hearing or feeling someone sigh, and so this phrase—see me sigh—is really a synesthetic, which is both a neuroanatomical and literary term meaning “together/joined sensation.”

A very small number of people are synesthetes—people who, when stimulated in one sensory area, translate it into another. He/she might literally see a color when they hear F#, or taste chocolate when he/she sees a full moon. This is not explained by experiential association, but rather by an involuntary crossing in the brain. Nabokov was affected by synesthesia, and that is probably why he was such an incredible writer—he experienced the word exponentially, his 5 senses constantly rearranging themselves, letters becoming colors. And so when he writes, he translates these moments to us, and our worlds double, triple, deepen.

So wouldn’t The Tender Few fans appreciate a title with so much sense, literally? Maybe not? Maybe it’s too soft? Maybe Skittles brand candy took all of the feeling out of synesthesia when they whispered, “Taste the Rainbow.” But I like it, the way I am drawn to Nobokov’s colored letters, to the smell of Perkins-Gilman’s yellow wallpaper, and, yes, even to candy-coated Skittles.

Or we could just name the album Californication to see if we move more units that way just by confusing people and getting sued.

Friends, lovers! What should we name the Tender Few Album?

2007-08-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Usually bands have names and covers of their first shrink-wrapped albums in mind before they write the songs. We don't. And we could use your help. With feedback soaring on the Tender Few fanclub name... the verdict is still pending... we thought we'd turn it over to the fan-base and blog-readership to get some INPUT on what the upcoming Tender Few RECORD should be named.

--> A few ideas include:

a) SEE ME SIGH
At the Rickshaw show a year ago, we made some Tenderchandise -- crafted items like stickers and shirts with press-on letters. One shirt, gifted to Ms Sasha of Central California, was a turquoise shirt with red letters that read 'See Me Sigh.' Can't help but wonder if that shirt -- worn, shown neck to belt, couldn't make a good album cover.

b) THE PAVEMENT BETWEEN OUR HEARTS
Yes! Careful readers, yes! It IS indeed the name of a new song composed after the recordings for the upcoming record. So it won't be on the album. You wonder how you can name an album for a song on another album? Haven't you heard of a little outfit called Ray Manzarek's DOORS? 'Waiting for the Sun' was the name of an album, but the song came out later. Or perhaps you know of the English bar band LED ZEPPELIN? Their 'Houses of the Holy' album didn't include the 'title track' which appeared on the follow-up, 'Physical Graffiti.' So we CAN do this.

c) ATTACKING ALL THE BULLSH*T
My bet is that Rich Turgeoni, drummer and prophet of the band, might like this one the most. There are two possible album covers to go with this. One would be roughly the same as Rod Stewart's first album (The Rod Stewart Album), a full-beige cover with cursive 'Beggar's Banquet' font; instead ours would say 'Tender Few' then have the horizontal photo of the bunny above, and 'Attacking all the bullsh*t' (possibly censored) below... Another possibility, and a good one, is the cover would be a standard 2006/7 alt-rock cover with pre-WWII fonts and imagery (see Neutral Milk Hotel or Arcade Fire or Beirut), but with the super-imposed blurry images of band members rushing 'into frame.' Give it a thought.

d) CAN YOU KILL LOVE?
Call-and-response works so well in some songs, why not with album titles AND songs on the albums? (One of the album songs -- potentially the album-ender, but we'll save sequencing for another discussion -- is 'You Can't Kill Love'). An alternate version of the title could include:

d.1) TRYING TO KILL LOVE
d.2) TRYING TO DECAPITATE LOVE
d.3) LOVE DECAPITATORS

e) SLAY THE BUNNY
I made a bad song one time that occassionally cracks me up with the line... 'time in a mind like mine is like a pagan that stops to slay... THE BUNNY.' It didn't work, but we ended up making 'Pagan Valentine' with that in mind.

f) THE CITY
The song -- sometimes called 'Sunny Plan' -- will be on the album. It's broad name can open up many album-cover deals. And it's a riff on CENSORED's* only shrink-wrapped release, the 1986 cassette 'Fist City'.

--> SO! That's six or so possibilities. Note we have some variations on the ol' tradition: title track, a song on a future album, themes from a song, abstract absurd notions involving the death of small animals. That pretty much covers the possibilities of naming a rock album, I'd say.

Any of these work? Any other ideas?

Thanks for your time,

The Tender Few, Brooklyn HQ

* CENSORED was a Tulsa/Little Rock-based band, and a prequel to the Tender Few; hit songs included 'Blow Up Kurt'

Why band that plays at wedding is superior

2007-07-28T22:03:00.000-07:00

Hi TFEW Land -
Please, if you at all slightly care for the tender few, please vote on a fan club name - Michael Mullen did, and for that, we love him to the "core" as yoga instructors would say. Anyway...i'm currently at a wedding near Yosemite, CA and i have email access - which, is fucked to begin with. But, here I am, being a terrible guest, checking email and uploading to a blog. good fucking god. However, there is a band playing and they're getting people to dance, and i'm a bit awed by the event. I think this cover/wedding band is much better than the tender few and it saddens me. but, i think it's true. their name is "Downtown Xpress".

They played a STEVE MILLER song - it just KILLED. you know the song - early, classic miller about being a picker, joker and a midnight toker, or something like that... and the crowd ate it up like free jalapeno poppers samples at costco. it made me think that maybe the tender few should be a wedding band. we certainly would get more gigs and we would get paid much better. If only we knew the chord progression to the "shake it like a polaroid picture" song.

TRUE STORY - I went to get some whites wines at the reception and, well, the wine poorer was not at his station. he was out in front of the band jumping and singing to some CURE song that i can't remember the name of, but i'm sure you'd like it. Now, in all of the countless TFEW live shows, have we ever stirred a bartender so much that they abandoned their posts to rock out to Emperor of Rain? According to our research, that has never happened. Fuck. What conclusion can we draw from this? probably not good ones.

Also, the guitar player is so good that he can easily go from "let's get it started" to "honky tonk woman" to "you can't touch this" to a cheap trick classic to "brick house". their versatility is amazing.

a bit drunk and perplexed.

we love you.

the tender few or as the french would say l'offre peu.

T-Few Fan Club Needs a Name

2007-07-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

In these days of post-independence day ennui, and waiting (from afar) for the next Tender Few performance, it may be time to put up to a virtual suggestion box for NAMES FOR THE TENDER FEW FANCLUB. The group is growing -- soon 'dozens' will apply -- and a name is needed. We need help here.

Possible suggestions include:

* Wren Seed
* Magic Cabin Dwellers
* Fewrifics
* T-Few Fans
* Sir Isaac Fewtons
* Like a Turgeon (Club)

Note that 'Silver Bullet Gang' is taken for Seger already.

A Blog All Band Members Can Enjoy

2007-07-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Let's just say that we're loving every minute of it. Thanks to all that made it out to the HEMLOCK to see us unplug our electric guitars in the middles of songs. This is the stage that we played on for the lovelies in the audience. See how nice the stage is? Remember, this is before Rich threw-up because he was so nervous.

Sarah is not in the tender few, although we would love to have her as a front-woman. She plays drums for the always stunning The Ebb and Flow.

welcome to the tender few official and semi-official web log

2007-07-01T16:12:00.000-07:00