trespassers william

Anna-Lynne's solo album release

2008-04-26T21:14:00.001-07:00

I have completed recording of "China Mountain" and it is now available for purchase through the band website, on the MUSIC page.
It is also available on CD Baby.
This is my first solo album after many years of thinking of doing one.

There is a myspage page for this project, which is called Lotte Kestner.

www.myspace.com/annalynnew

anna-lynne
xo

March plans

2008-02-04T23:42:00.000-08:00

We have spent the last year working on various projects, and recording the 4th Trespassers William album at home and in the studio. We have some early mixes of a handful of songs, that will occasionally rotate on our Myspace page. In the month of March, we will be making our way to Austin for the SXSW festival, and on our way home plan to play shows along the west coast.

the noble house ep

2007-03-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

sorry for the long inactivity on this blog, we have been busy on myspace at
www.myspace.com/trespasserswilliam
and have been posting regularly on there.

the big update is the availability of the noble house ep on april 1, a collection of 6 new songs, that can be preordered on our "store" page to be shipped as soon as we have copies of the cd. it will also be available later at cdbaby, but for the time being will be available straight from the band. it is a self produced and designed album. we hope you like it.

there are many solo and side projects that you can find sites for on myspace as well. here are some brief descriptions of what is in the works.

DISINTERESTED: matt brown's primarily solo endeavor of ambient and electronic music with ocassional guest artists. his first album is already out, a second is underway.

LOTTE KESTNER: anna-lynne williams' solo album of acoustic instruments and folk songwriting.

ROOOS!: ross simonini's solo album of experimental vocals, percussion, and homemade instruments.

NC SKOLRUD: nathan skolrud's solo album of singer/songwriter pieces blended with complex keys and rhythm.

TUNNEL-TUNNEL: ross and anna-lynne paired up to make dance/folk/pop music.

east coast tour update

2006-10-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

we are finally travelling to the east coast. the following are the majority of dates but more will be added soon:
and before we leave there is a last show in seattle with icelandic band amina.

Nov. 2 Chop Suey (w/ Amina) Seattle, Washington (FREE show)

Nov. 8 - 9:30p Pianos (with Now It's Overhead and Nous Non Plus)
158 Ludlow St, New York, New York 10002

Nov. 9 - 8:00p Relative Theory
271 Granby St, Norfolk, Virginia

Nov. 11 - 8:00pm Evening Muse
3227 N. Davidson St, Charlotte, North Carolina 28205

Nov. 12 - 8:00p Wetlands
157 E. Rosemary St, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514

Nov. 14 - 8:00p Flying Anvil (with Glaciers & Filthy Bird)
219 W. Lewis St, Greensboro, North Carolina 27406
Cost: $5

Nov. 15 - 8:00p Stomp and Stammer Presents at The Earl(with Summer Hymns & Liz Durett)
488 Flat Shoals Ave, Atlanta, Georgia 30316
Cost: $8.75 online/$7 door, Doors at 9pm, we're headlining so we'll be on later...

Nov. 16 - 8:00p DC9 w/the Czars
1940 9th st. NW, Washington DC
Cost: $10

Nov. 18 - 8:00p
Pete's Candy Store
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

free at tower records, seattle

2006-07-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

we are playing a free set at tower records in queen anne, seattle on august 2 at 7pm. we'll probably break out a few new songs. see you then. anna-lynne & tw

cute shirts

2006-07-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

there are a few dozen t-shirts left from our west coast tour, now available to check out on the "store" page on this website.
please email differentstars@yahoo.com to inquire about shirt sizes as they are limited.
the chair design was created by heisuke, the artist who did our album cover.
the owl design was created by ross, our bassist/multi-instrumentalist.
shirts are $15 plus $5 shipping within the US.
men's quantities are particularly low (medium owl for men is out of stock) so email soon.
there are no small or XL, only medium and large, in most shirts.
these are american apparel and very cute. the girls shirts are the american apparel classic girl cut.
check them out.

seattle show 28th

2006-06-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

we are playing with west indian girl at chop suey on june 28th. we would be happy to see you there. tshirts, cds, and books will be available at the show. for the time being, this is our last seattle show for at least a month, but if you do miss it we will be playing an in store at tower records in seattle on aug 2 which is free. most likely a short acoustic set.
thank you.
anna-lynne

good quote

2006-05-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

"act the way you'd like to be, and you'll soon be the way you act." - leonard cohen

by the way, all of his books are worth reading.
anna-lynne

white crayon sky

2006-05-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

a few brief journal entries from 2 winters ago, when we drove in 4 vehicles from los angeles to seattle to record 'having'. for the first month we lived in the house where the recording took place. we still live in seattle.
anna-lynne williams

12-28-04
i am to leave soon for san francisco – the rain is foreign and vicious outside and is making a patterned sound against the window, hard and soft in succession. i dreamed my apartment had been redecorated, recarpeted, but now there was a patio and pool and it was lovely but i was watching for water to come seeping up through the floor.

12-29-04
rainbows under car tires. “the sight of bridges and balloons.” the first three tracks on the joanna newsom cd. loleta exit. two whole flocks of dark birds, sky-filling. gold beach motel. a bookstore mistaken for a christian bookstore by my tired midnight eyes.

12-30-04
olympia. outdoor coffee drinking, green neon, we walked through the drive-through. free andes mints and a dish of lollipops and washington is already significantly different. no one else seems to feel the cold but us. our breath is in the air. we look for food and step into a bar which is smoke filled. it seems like everyone is saying things to us, mumbled, and i am not sure. instead we go to a “noodle place” and eat tofu and vegetables that i hope will save my body. jamie asks if tofu is gelatinous. ross replies no – it is not gelatin.
the whole table is rocking with my apparent sea-sickness. each day is slightly worse at night, blurring eyes and timelessness and stiff muscles. but the 101 is a beautiful road, the white sun reflecting like a blinding mirror off of wet bridges. losing one another every few hours on the 5, someone has gotten too far ahead and cannot be caught up with. someone has been diverted by the ocean or a rainbow or a new gadget like a phone or an ipod.
i lay down to sleep last night to the sound of ross’ scribbling and jamie’s heavy breathing. muscles so slowly slackening into something almost like sleep. rain pouring in heavy sheets and it feels like i would imagine a cabin to. we do not notice the thermostat until the morning, which we then turn on. all of my jeans are wet around the cuffs from dragging in rain puddles and my car begins to smell damp.
unscathed and alive, sandwiches and coffee and full service gas stations. we passed two accidents – police and ambulances and cars on their sides, on a beautiful mountain road near crashing waves. seeing items from the cars on the asphalt. wondering what happened to the people. wondering if we would have been part of it if we had left just a little earlier. i cannot know. we all have different stretches to perform at the gas stations we stop at. legs, arms, necks. ross gets a free lunch because first they forget his sandwich altogether, and then it is the small size, the wrong size. salt and vinegar chips with an overwhelming amount of both. too much salt.

12-31-04
new years’ eve. i have slept on a love seat with my feet up and my head down and allergy medication so my head is full of blood and rain and driving roads. i dream i write a brilliant story but upon waking i only remember the words “white” “crayon” and “sky” from the final sentence. half-way through the night i awake and feel the light warm weight of the smallest cat, abby, against my leg. i stroke her, she purrs, then jumps to the air mattress where jamie is sleeping and apparently punctures it with her tiny claws because in the morning it is falling shapeless. hunger in my stomach. we have slept two 6-hour pieces. down comforters seem to warm your blood – you are safe in the cold for a certain amount of time with the feel of its warmth still.
viking trails and swashbuckling paths.
we watch the cat for at least half an hour.

jonathan is incredibly welcoming and is drinking coffee and eating a bagel, says he loves smoothies and his face reminds me slightly of vincent gallo’s. lettuce grows in the garden. he tells us about an old woman who stole all of his tomatoes. chocolates on our pillows, an idea of his girlfriend’s. we eat gourmet pizzas a few blocks from the house with thin crusts and we drink a pitcher of water.
jamie burns candles. i hang up coats in the closet and wish i was staying for more than one month. different colored walls in each room. mine are olive.

recording journal

2006-05-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of excerpts from a journal I kept last April while we worked on the final steps of the album. At some point I'll try to get my act together and post the entire thing. For now:

7. Cassadaga, New York (somewhat near Buffalo)

Two hours of driving. Only trees.

At midnight, we arrive to the studio and meet Dave Fridmnan. He is mixer, producer, engineer etc. Hellos are exchanged. Then, almost immediately, he points an ominous finger at an orange vest and crowbar dangling from the kitchen wall.

-The orange vest is for the hunters, he says. They’ll shoot at anything that moves. Wear it whenever you walk.

We smile and nod, in mild disbelief.

-The crowbar is for the dogs, he says. There are packs of wild ones everywhere. Not like normal dogs. Not like the kind you lean in to pet. These are mean, angry German Shepherds. No one owns them. Sometimes people fling raw meat at them, but they are owned by no one. So keep the crowbar with you. People have been attacked.
-Is it safe to leave the house? Someone asks.
-Sure, he says. With the crowbar and vest.

9. Food

One day, we decide to go for food. There is a supermarket twenty minutes away. We get in the car and forget our map. Once we exit the driveway, we are instantly lost.

-There are no landmarks, Matt says.
We take seven wrong turns. We don’t know where we’ve come from. People begin to panic.
-There are no landmarks, Jamie says.

But in a minute, we see our first landmark. It is the scariest looking graveyard I have ever seen. Bent crosses, fallen tombstones, gargoyles and demons guarding the perimeter.

Two minutes later, we pass another graveyard. Then another. They all have the same miserable look about them.

-Was that the same graveyard? Anna Lynne asks.

We gasp.

-What about that one?
-How can there be some many graveyards when there aren’t any people.
-We’re all going to die out here, Matt says.

track order notes

2006-05-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

The track order for Having became a point of contention for everyone who ever listened to the record. Below you will find a very-abridged history of all the possible track orders we arrived at. I did some calculations and I realized that we had attempted over half the possible permutations of song orders. They are not all included.

After we record the demos, there was this preliminary order:

Track Order no 1:
Matching Weight, Bells, Weakening (full band version), Low Point, And we lean in, Safe, Sound, Ledge, My Hands Up, I Don’t Mind, Needing the Words, Eyes Like Bottles (5 min version), What of me, No one

Then:
After we recorded the final version of the songs, there was this order:

Track Order no.2:
My hands up, Ledge, And we lean in, I don’t mind, Safe, Sound, What of me, No one, Eyes Like Bottles (shortened), Bells, Low Point, Needing the Words, Weakening (new version), Matching Weight

Then:
After the record was mixed, there was this order:

Track Order no.3:
Safe, Sound, Ledge, Weakening, Eyes Like Bottles, I don’t mind, And we lean in, My hands up, What of me, Bells, Low Point, No one, Matching Weight

Then:
After we were asked to remove “Bells” and to make the record “smoother”, there was this order:

Track Order no.4:
Safe, Sound, My hands up, Weakening, What of me, And we lean in, Ledge, I don’t mind, Eyes Like Bottles, Low Point, No one, Matching Weight

Then:
After we are asked to make the record less “broken” at the beginning, there was this order, which is also the final order:

Track Order no.5:
Safe, Sound, What of me, Weakening, Eyes Like Bottles, I don’t mind, Ledge, And we lean in, My hands up, Low Point, No one, Matching Weight

If anyone is interested, trying playing the record in these orders and then respond with comments. In fact, if anyone has any comments at all, feel free to post them. This whole blog thing should be looked at as an open forum. I'll just say various things and then people can fling insults or questions at me or the other band members.

-Ross

mild deafness in the westlake hills

2006-04-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

For three nights we stayed in Westlake Village, in a home that sat on it’s own mountain. There were clear glass showers, two dogs, a hot tub, and something called an Infinity Pool. On Easter day, we ate and took the dogs for a two hour long walk. Then we came home, soaked in the hot tub, jumped in the pool and then back into the hot tub a few times. Someone dropped a beer bottle and Anna-Lynne stepped on it on her way out of the hot tub. She pulled out a tiny speck of glass with a pair of tweezers and then held it up proudly for everyone to examine.

I noticed that some water had lodged itself in my ear. I turned my head back and forth, knocking my ear with the butt of my palm, but the water seemed to have found a home in my ear. I went to bed, hoping that the magic of sleep would somehow ease the liquid out. I slept on my side.

In the morning, I woke to a mild deafness. People said things to me and I could barely understand their words. It sounded like animal sounds. A terrible panic struck me and I ran to the internet and typed in: “ear water” and then: “Water in the ear” and then: “Water in your ear” and then “Swimmer’s ear.” A few pages scared me into thinking that I had developed some terrible infection. I panicked and search some more. Eventually, I came across a few pages that talked about a homemade remedy. Supposedly, if you mix one part White Vinegar and one part Rubbing Alcohol you arrive at a nice solution to Swimmer’s Ear. I asked the owner of the house if he had these ingredients and he asked me what I was planning on making. I said I wanted to pour it in my ear.

After I put the drops into my ear, I began to feel very strange, very unbalanced. We played a show that night, in Las Vegas, and everything seemed to be very far away. Surprisingly, the show went smoothly. There was a lot of smiling and nodding. People kept running up behind me and ripping things out of my hand. I was in a world of ghosts.

-Roos

southern california shows

2006-04-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Spaceland on Tuesday
Instore in Encinitas at 5pm on Wednesday,
The Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa on Thursday
Instore in Belmont Shores at Fingerprints.
KCRW with Nic Harcourt on Friday morning at 11 am.