It’s really exciting that response to our strange little project has been mostly positive in almost all aspects. All except for one, really. More often than not, people do not care for our name.
Fortunately, we do not care, because we’re badass artistic types like that. That said, I’ve been meaning to write a little back story to our naming, because we think it’s amusing.
Essentially, Mrs. Butterworth named our band.
After we had written our first couple of songs (neither of which would last long enough to be recorded or performed live), we started brainstorming band names. Ideas were slow to come; we’re an instrumental band, verboseness is not a necessary strong suit.
Ian had the idea to look through texts he had saved on his phone because they amused him. One that particularly tickled him was a text from his grandmother trying to get contact information on his old drum teacher for a friend of hers.
She’s a sharp lady, and an experienced and talented actress whose credits include spending time voicing the anthropomorphic Mrs. Butterworth’s bottle on television commercials. However, like most people over the age of 35, texting was relatively new hat for her, and from the media she had consumed (cell phone commercials), she was under the impression that everything in text messages was supposed to be abbreviated. So the message she sent to her grandson, our drummer was:
“Cmn ineed yr hp. Lov Gma”
Ian suggested that part of that text might make for a decent band name. Mark, in all his brilliance, said “Yes! ‘Love Gma’!” There was an uncomfortable pause while the other two tried to figure out if he was serious (he was), then Ian responded “Actually, I was thinking ‘Cmn ineed yr hp’.” After a moment of thought, Mark agreed that was probably better, and Jose made it unanimous.
We decided to add an “l” in “hlp” to make it clear exactly what of yrs we needed. And with that, our band was christened “Cmn ineed yr hlp”.
Cool little story right? Of course, not historically unprecedented: “…only you would spell it with an ‘e-a’ so it’s ‘beat’ like the ‘beat of a rhythm’…”
Okay, so once again I’ve allowed this website to fall into neglect. Incredibly irresponsible digital media promotion on my part. It will not happen again. (It might happen again.)
But I am breathing new life into this thing for a great cause, we have a crazy good show coming down the pipes this coming Friday, at our home base, the always lovely Quenchers Saloon.
The reviews for this record are amazing, here’s what Terapija had to say about it: Iako sviraju već preko deset godina, američki Canyons of Static, objavili su tek dva albuma, no uz to i pregršt ep-ova i singlova. Sudeći po novom “Farewell Shadows”, spremni su vinuti se do prve lige ovakvih bendova…
For you freaky people who don’t speak Croatian here’s some glowing words from post-rock standard bearer The Silent Ballet: The band has persisted in the post-rock trade for over a half-decade now, and its second album, Farewell Shadows, isn’t afraid to put forth its best effort at becoming the new king of the genre. Strong melodies are front and center on the album, and from the beginning it is pretty clear that the band intends to work within the standard frame of the genre – and that’s fine. The Disappearance, the band’s debut album, was a bit heavier on the fuzz and distortion than previous works had been, which indicated a shoegaze inspiration might begin to overtake the band’s work. Farewell Shadows quells that idea, for better or worse, although certain elements still remain. For example, Canyons of Static’s climaxes aren’t nearly as powerful as one might expect. Generally, we’ll see a dominance of guitar and pedal effects during the climax, signifying the great cathartic point in the track, but Farewell Shadows turns it down just a notch and lets all the instruments shine together. I have no doubt that this is completely a studio effect and that the live show would tell a much different story; nonetheless, it gives the music a less barbaric, more sophisticated air. Across the board, the production on this album is much better than we’ve previously heard from Canyons, and we’re beginning to really hear the band sound as good as it probably always has been.
Damn. Well that’s all fine and good, but shouldn’t there be at least one music video ahead of this release to provide a discriminating listener with some sort of preview? No. There’s two:
Yeah, so the opportunity to buy this record will be worth the price of admission in and of itself. But wait, there’s more!
Rounding out this bill will be one of our local favorites, the lovely Whales. This will be their first appearance of the new year, and we’re excited that they decided for it to be part of this show.
Here’s what Loud Loop Press has to say: Chicago’s own noise rockers Whales are what I imagine Sonic Youth would sound like if it actively tried to mimic whale sounds. The song “Salt” from Whales self-titled album certainly emits that vibe of glorious creatures communicating through the water. Maybe it’s the antibiotics talking, but the low, echoy guitars and bass notes mixed with Maigin Black’s [sic] more thoughtful and lost-in-the-atmosphere vocal style (that is really akin to Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead than Kim Gordon) feels perfect for a relaxation tape. Either way you look at it, the band is doing something pretty special.
Show ‘em how you do it guys (and gal):
For our own part, we will be playing our unnamed upcoming EP in its entirety for the first time, which we are very excited and anxious about. Pre-production will start on that thing next week. There will be more news to follow on that than you could ever desire.
Some nerdy fun with statistics: This will be our 19th show, our sixth with Canyons of Static, our fourth with Whales, and our sixth at Quenchers. While this is the second time we’ve shared a bill with both bands, we’ve never played with either at Q’s. How suitable that we’ll finally rectify that for something as grand as the Farewell Shadows release (the fourth record release we’ve participated in).
A little bit of a last minute reminder here, and if you’ve forgotten, you better get your priorities in order. Tonight we play our first and last show for a couple months in support of the first and last show for a few months for one our good friends and one of this city’s great gems: Bear Claw
The warm months haven’t been the same this year without the guys from Bear Claw periodically rattling our insides loose. Their drummer Scott’s been in Germany, and other than a month that the band joined him and they rocked around Europe, the band’s been quiet. We last joined them on stage when they released the very awesome Refuse This Gift, and couldn’t be more giddy about being a part of this show tonight. Here’s what you get:
That was fun. Now let’s watch them wreck some shit:
And if that’s not enough for you, and it totally should be, the fight will also be joined by midwestern supergroup Flaum Adger. This band was forged by members of, amongst others, the criminally underrated Dis-, and the much better known, but let’s face is, still underrated Jesus Fuckin’ Lizard. Really really excited to catch these guys live. I love playing shows like this for no other reason that we get in free for playing them:
Finally, we are pleased to be joined once again by the lovely Transmontane. Transmontane is Ryan Duncan, who for years ran one of the best labels in the city, Sick Room. As the age of Sick Room came to pass, Ryan picked up a guitar and started to write and record some songs himself, and surprise surprise, they were terrific. He already has one great album under his belt: Lo Specchio Circolare, and his soulful, gentle melodies will round out nicely the loud and abrasiveness coming from the rest of us volume junkies:
So yeah, this show’s gonna rule. Hope to see many of you tonight, and stay tuned to this space as we continue work on our next EP!
“…only you would spell it with an ‘e-a’ so it’s ‘beat’ like the ‘beat of a rhythm’…”
