Emerging From Seclusion: Satch Tour & Aristocrats New Album/Tour Coming Up
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Just a short note to acknowledge the fact that I was literally hiding for most of April, recovering from months of touring…and also attending to my duties as the manager of The Aristocrats as we finished our new album “Culture Clash”. That album is now DONE, I am happy to report, and will be released on July 16.
Right now, I’m rehearsing with Joe Satriani for his “Unstoppable Momentum” Europe tour, which starts May 18 in Istanbul, Turkey. I’m having a blast with fellow bandmates Mike Keneally and Marco Minnemann, and it’s going to be too much fun hitting the road with Team Satch, who are just an absolutely lovely group of people.
So even though I’m still in the basement building a mighty Aristocratic promo bomb (which will be unleashed soon enough), I just wanted to peek my head up and say hi, I’m here, I’m rested, and I’m ready for five straight months of touring without a break.
More info alarmingly soon,
BB
Keneally UK/Europe Tour Done. Next Up: Tours With Joe Satriani, The Aristocrats
Saturday, April 6, 2013
It was a wild and woolly three weeks, but the first-ever official Mike Keneally Band tour of the UK and Europe is now in the books. I’m beyond exhausted (as is everyone) but we’re all so, so grateful to everyone who came out and supported this long overdue maiden voyage for the MKB Over There. Special thanks to the unholy support from Godsticks, without whom this tour would never, ever have happened.
Here’s a final tour shot taken in a beautiful square in Nancy, France:
L to R: Joe Travers, Rick Musallam, Keneally, me…and for Godsticks, gtr/vox/bandleader/profanity expert Darran Charles, drummer/bionic driver Steve Roberts, excellent bassist Dan Nelson, and best-tour-PA ever Rhiannon Jenkins.
Today: Fly home from London. Then: Finish the new Aristocrats album “Culture Clash” and prepare for tours with Joe Satriani and The Aristocrats. See the Calendar page for details.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to pass out.
BB
Mike Keneally Band UK/Europe Tour – Starts March 20!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Kira and I just drove from San Diego to Texas, and we are fried. But does that stop us? Noooooooo…check out this weekend’s activities:
* Thurs 3/7 – Beller Bass Clinic, The Guitar Sanctuary (clinic at Zin Zen Wine Bar), McKinney, TX, 7pm (sponsored by Mike Lull Custom Guitars and D’Addario Strings!)
* Fri 3/8 – Kira/Bryan at Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse, Dallas, TX, 8pm
* Sat 3/9 – Kira/Bryan House Concert, Austin, TX (seats still available, e-mail me back to request an invitation)
* Sun 3/10 – Kira/Bryan at KHON’s Wine.Darts.Coffee.Art, Houston, TX, 7-10
* Tues 3/12 – Beller Bass Clinic, Martin Music, Memphis, TN, 6pm (sponsored by D’Addario Strings!)
But that’s not even what this post is supposed to be about. (Remember, I’m fried.) It’s supposed to be about The Mike Keneally Band’s first-ever UK/Europe tour with the “Guitar Therapy” lineup of Keneally, myself, Rick Musallam on guitar and Joe Travers on drums. Just like it says in this pretty picture:
It’s only taken 20 years for this to come together. So, if you’re a longtime or even short-time Mike Keneally fan living in the UK or Northern Europe, should you miss this opportunity to see us live? Well, should you? Signs point to…no.
Full Keneally tour date details await you right here.
Now, there’s a hotel jacuzzi calling my name…
BB
THIS WEEK: WesFest 8 Featuring Brendon Small’s GALAKTIKON
Monday, February 25, 2013
It’s WesFest 8 week!
Which means I’m fueling the final push to hit our fundraising goal of $25,000 for The Wes Wehmiller Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music. Right now we’re sitting at about $20K. That’s great, but we’ve got a bit to go to hit the magic number.
It’s going to be a ridiculous show. All of the details are here, including how to buy tickets. And if you can’t come, and just want to donate to help the cause, you can do that here by selecting “Additional Non-Ticket Donation”.
My final plea for donations and ticket sales can be read here, in the latest BellerBytes. Please check it out, and if you’re moved and inspired to buy a ticket or donate to the cause, angels will flock to your doorstep tomorrow morning and whistle your favorite song.
OK, maybe not, but you never know.
Please join us!
-BB
Joe Satriani U.K./Europe Tour, Followed By Aristocrats 2nd Album Release & U.S. Summer Tour
Friday, February 22, 2013
This is one of those times where I just look at my life and go, huh? Me? Uh, OK. Really, I’m not kidding about that. Because when I spell out what I’m about to spell out, it’s hard to put into words just how grateful I am for it all.
Here are the big headlines:
* Joe Satriani has invited me to join him for his tour of the U.K. and Europe this May/June/July. Also in the band are Marco Minnemann and Mike Keneally (!!);
* The Aristocrats’ second studio album, tentatively titled Culture Clash, is targeted for a July 16 release;
* The Aristocrats will tour the U.S. this summer (July/August) in support of the new album.
Yeah. Whoa.
I’ll list the tour dates for both at the end of this missive, but first I wanted to at least get my thoughts down for the record on all of this. And I hope you’ll forgive me for not including a bunch of links in this blast – it just takes more time and I want to get this up as soon as possible.
********
ABOUT SATRIANI
First, the Satriani thing came as a total surprise. His camp reached out to me on the last day of the Aristocrats second album sessions, a week-long 14-hours-a-day affair, so the surreality of it was magnified by my exhaustion. There were some difficult scheduling issues to work out, and they were gracious enough to make it all work somehow. Then, once we firmed it all up – and not until then – I found out that Marco Minnemann was going to be the drummer! Add in Mike Keneally on keys, and for those in the know, it’s Joe Satriani with the KMB lineup as his backing band. Hard to believe, but there you go.
Needless to say, I am extremely honored and grateful to Joe Satriani for thinking of me for this tour, and I really, really look forward to rocking stages across Europe and the U.K. on his Unstoppable Momentum tour. Man, it’s going to be fun.
ABOUT THE ARISTOCRATS
The Satriani news is amazing for both Marco and I (and let’s not forget about Guthrie Govan touring with Steven Wilson this spring and summer as well!), but believe you me, that does NOT mean The Aristocrats are slowing down any. To the contrary, it’s made us more determined to get our second album done and get on the road to promote it with a U.S. Summer Tour. We’re working furiously on mixing and tweaking the record to make it sound all nice and special, plus artwork, bonus content, etc.
The way the scheduling worked out, which was a minor miracle, it looks like this: The Satriani UK/Europe tour runs from May 15 to July 14. Then, The Aristocrats U.S. Tour starts immediately afterwards, running from July 17 to August 28.
Looking at all that, we’re shooting to release The Aristocrats’ second album – probably called Culture Clash – on July 16.
So it looks like I’d better make sure my suitcase is packed, because, you know, this:
5/18 KucukCiftlik Park Istanbul, TR
5/20 Sala Palatului Bucharest, RO
5/22 Tvornica Kulture Zagreb, HR
5/24 Sava Centar Belgrade, SRB
5/25 Cvetlicarna Ljubljana, SI
5/26 Velvet Rock Club Rimini, IT
5/28 Palapartenope Napoli, IT
5/29 Atlantico Live Roma, IT
5/30 Live Club Milano, IT
5/31 Obihall Firenze, IT
6/1 Gran Teatro Geox Padova, IT
6/3 Grand Rex Paris, FR
6/4 Cirque Royal Brussels, BE
6/5 O13 Tilburg, NL
6/6 De Ooosterpoort Groningen, NL
6/8 02 Apollo Manchester, England GB
6/9 Royal Concert Hall Glasgow, Scotland GB
6/10 City Hall Newcastle, England GB
6/11 Philharmonic Hall Liverpool, England GB
6/12 Colston Hall Bristol, England GB
6/13 Civic Hall Wolverhampton, England GB
6/15 City Hall Sheffield, England GB
6/16 Guildhall Portsmouth, England GB
6/17 O2 Shepherds Bush Empire London, England GB
6/18 indogO2 London, England GB
6/20 Capitol Hannover, DE
6/21 Jovel Music Hall Münster, DE
6/22 Fabrik Hamburg, DE
6/23 Columbiahalle Berlin, DE
6/24 Haus Auensee Leipzig, DE
6/26 Serenadenhof Nürnberg, DE
6/27 E Werk Köln Cologne, DE
6/28 Phönix-Halle Mainz Mainz, DE
6/29 Theaterhaus Stuttgart, DE
6/30 Tonhalle Munich, DE
7/2 Big Box Kempton, DE
7/3 Gasometer Vienna, AT
7/4 Loket Amphitheatre Loket, CZ
7/6 Stodola Warsaw, PL
7/9 A2 St. Petersburg, RU
7/10 Moscow Arena Moscow, RU
7/12 KSK Express Rostov-on-Don, RU
7/13 Arena Hall Krasnodar, RU
and then this, with the caveat that this tour is still in the process of being booked…but I thought it was worth it anyway to share with you what we know right now. Needless to say, some of this could change!
The Aristocrats “Culture Clash”
Summer 2013 U.S. Tour
(booking in progress)
7/17 – Nashville TN – Douglas Corner
7/19 – Tampa FL – Brass Mug
7/20 – Orlando FL – TBA
7/21 – Jacksonville FL – 1904 Music Hall
7/23 – Atlanta GA – Atlanta Institute of Music (clinic/performance)
7/24 – Atlanta GA – (venue) TBA
7/25 – Charlotte NC – Tremont Music Hall
7/26 – Norfolk VA – TBA
7/27 – Washington DC – TBA
7/29 – Boston MA – Berklee College of Music (clinic)
7/30 – Boston MA – Berklee Performance Center (concert)
7/31 – Wilkes-Barre PA – TBA
8/1 – New York City NY – TBA
8/2 – Philadelphia PA – North Star Bar
8/3 – Dunellen NJ – New Jersey Proghouse
8/6 – Pittsburgh PA – TBA
8/7 – Cleveland OH – Beachland Tavern
8/8 – Columbus OH - Rumba Café
8/9 – Cincinnati OH – Southgate House Revival
8/10 – Charleston WV – Empty Glass
8/12 – Indianapolis IN – TBA (clinic)
8/13 – Indianapolis IN – Birdy’s
8/14 – Chicago IL – Reggie’s
8/15 – Madison WI – Brink Lounge
8/16 – Minneapolis MN – TBA
8/17 – Omaha NE – TBA
8/19 – St. Louis MO – 2720 Cherokee
8/20 – Lawrence KS – TBA
8/21 – Tulsa OK – TBA|
8/23 – Denton TX – Dan’s Silverleaf
8/24 – San Antonio TX – TBA
8/25 – Houston TX – TBA
I really don’t know what else to say about all this, other than, apparently it is my destiny to play with really good guitarists. That’s more than fine with me.
Finally, I know this is WesFest week, and there’s the Mike Keneally UK/Europe tour coming right up. I don’t want anyone to forget about that, and I’ll get back to that next week. But seeing as how the news about Satriani was tearing across the interwebs, I thought I should weigh in officially. And now I have.
See you…somewhere?
BB
BREAKING: I’m Touring With Joe Satriani This Spring…And The Aristocrats This Summer…And…And…
Friday, February 22, 2013
It’s not often that news gets ahead of me, but today it happened, so in lieu of an official post (which is coming soon), here’s the official news:
* Joe Satriani has invited me to join him for his tour of the U.K. and Europe this May/June/July. I’m honored and grateful to Joe for the amazing opportunity;
* The Aristocrats’ second studio album, tentatively titled “Culture Clash”, is targeted for a 7/16 release;
* The Aristocrats will tour the U.S. this summer (July/August) in support of the new album.
I drove 1200 miles in the past two days, so I’m too whipped to write more. Go here for a more complete update in the meantime. I’ll be back with more soon.
Just, uh, wow.
BB
February BellerBytes: BellerBytes February: WesFest 8 Gear Giveaway, Kira/Bryan X-Country Tour & More
Saturday, February 9, 2013
This is the time of year where I usually start to panic that nobody’s going to come to WesFest, so I really ramp up the promo-whoring into FULL URBAN POST-NUCLEAR ASSAULT MODE.
As you surely know, WesFest 8 will be on Sunday, March 3 at The Roxy in Los Angeles, and the headliner is the live debut of Brendon Small’s GALAKTIKON. You know, Brendon Small, the guy who created Dethklok and Metalocalypse and that whole thing. That guy. His solo project. It rules. And the band will be 11 insanely talented people featuring…aw hell, just click here and read more about it.
So we shouldn’t need to bribe you to come to support this worthy cause (the Wes Wehmiller Scholarship at Berklee College Of Music) but we’re going to do it anyway. Those who buy tickets and come to the show will be eligible to win an EPIPHONE THUNDERHORSE EXPLORER GUITAR or a GALLIEN-KRUEGER MB 500 SUPER LIGHTWEIGHT BASS AMP! Full details on the giveaway items are right here, at your clickable convenience.
So you’re coming, right? And I can stop with the panicking now?
That’s good, because I need to get there somehow, and so Kira Small and I have decided to do one of our patented cross-country tours where we do house concerts, small venue shows, and I do some bass clinics along the way. That will run from February 16 to March 12.
You know, I said all of this much more eloquently in the latest BellerBytes. That’s why I wrote this blog post in the first place, to point you in that direction. I just forgot. But now I unforgot. See?
Anyway, in addition to WesFest in L.A., we’ll be in Kansas City, Denver, Reno, the SF Bay Area, North San Diego county, and a few spots in Texas. Feel free to paint “honky lips” on the side of our family truckster as we roll by (and if you know that reference, you’ve just dated yourself, as I surely have.)
BB
Brendon Small’s Galaktikon To Headline WesFest 8 – Sunday 3/3/13 At The Roxy In Los Angeles
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
(BUMPED BACK TO TOP, because…just, because. -BB)
Now you know what I was working on since the new year. Well, that and a bunch of other things, and we’ll get to that in the coming days.
But first, how about the live debut of Brendon Small’s Galaktikon as a killer headliner for the 8th annual WesFest benefit concert?
It’s going to be a massive show. The band will be an 11-piece monstrosity with four guitarists, five vocalists, and lots of names you may know. I have a feeling it might sell out. You might want to get tickets now.
Want more info than I feel like typing in this lazy blog post? You can check the calendar page for a lot more details, or you can just read the full Wes List e-mail that describes everything in detail.
That calendar page has more on it than just WesFest, by the way. Check it out, and pray for me.
BB
The Aristocrats Tour California This Week!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
This is another one of those lazy blog posts where the subject pretty much says it all.
OK, I can do better: Did you know that Marco, Guthrie and I (a.k.a. The Aristocrats) recorded a whole new album in seven 13-hour days in Nashville last week? We sure did. And we’re debuting that material on the road in California all this week. If you’re a fan of all things Aristocratic, I advise you to check it out:
And right after that, it’s a big old Kira Small/Bryan Beller R&B/soul cross-country house concert/intimate venue/clinic tour, followed by WesFest 8 featuring the live debut of Brendon Small’s Galaktikon. The post below has a lot of info about that ridiculously awesome show.
Or you can just check out the Calendar page. There’s lots of pretty pictures there.
BB
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
I just got back from a one-day trip to Chicago to see my awesome wife Kira Small sing with Martina McBride for the final show of her sold-out holiday tour. A tour-ending bus party ensued.
This was just a couple of days after a 4 day trip to Vladivostok, Russia with The Aristocrats. And that was just two days after my last show of the Dethklok tour in Atlanta, where an already-legendary post-show hang occurred.
And now I am all vodka’d out. I mean, really and truly, I’m toast. So this very brief holiday greeting is all I can muster, I’m afraid:
Thanks to EVERYONE who supported what I was up to this year. Whether it was a bass clinic, or my instructional DVD, or a duo show with Kira, or a show (or the new live album!) for The Aristocrats, or a Dethklok show…thank you. I can’t do what I do without your support. You literally make it possible. THANK YOU.
***passes out on laptop, iPhone timer set for 10:00am, 1/1/13***
BB