christmas lane

greetings internet voidians, jingle freaks and true believers everywhere.

we here at Magic Kids are all still busy in our workshop, preparing our next multimedia assault to strike you down when it's least on your mind. probably as you're losing your job, then BAM- new songs, music videos and more- THIS IS MAGIC KIDS.

in the meantime, let's take a short trip down christmas lane, shall we?



"video flyer" promoting the Barbaras 2007 christmas show (with the Strange Boys), filmed by Chuck Vicious. featuring future magic kids Bennett, Will and Al, plus Stephen Pope and willy nilly 69. classic treasure!
Donny Perry's photos from the show are HERE.




Will and Ben's other current band Toxie doing wham! last year, with Alex Burden, Madison Farmer, plus Bennett on guest lead vocals.



Boston Chinks had a song called "let it snow." I think it's about christmas cheer. here it is in 2007, that's Bennett on bass.



Bonus photos of the Barbaras 08 christmas show HERE!
the Barbaras' unlikely retrospective/album came out this year; it's not too late to give it as a boxing day gift.


The Barbaras 2006-2008 at Goner


let's hope santa sees his shadow so we get six more weeks of christmas. thanks, thanks, thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks.

MAGIC KIDS AT SXSW 2012

This week in Austin, check out Magic Kids' biggest SXSW showing yet! It won't include any Magic Kids performances of course, but you'll have no less than FIFTEEN opportunities to witness our various members not playing such hits as "HEY BOY," "SUPERBALL," and "EVERY GOOD CLOWN (IS CRYING ON THE INSIDE)".
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MK bassist Michael will be playing drums in his sexy new punk band Ex-Cult (formerly Sex Cult), featuring members of Vile Nation, Nots, Moving Finger and other Memphis favorites. Full length coming on Goner!

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Guitarist Al Gates will be lending a hand to both Wavves (who he joined over the last year as a touring member, reuniting with fellow former-Barbara Stephen Pope!) and the newly augmented live setup of our former tourmate Bosco Delrey, which also features MK compatriots Bill Bevan (Girls of the Gravitron) and Alix Brown (Golden Triangle, Angry Angles). Two bands, two coasts, two members who never lived in Memphis (..but only one who hasn't left yet!)

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Finally there's Toxie, in which Magic Kids Will and Ben join forces with Madison Farmer of Coasting and frontlady Al Burden. (bafflingly most frequent point of reference: Suburban Lawns?)

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DATES HERE!:

EX-CULT

THURSDAY MARCH 15TH:
@ 1501 East Cesar Chavez Austin, TX 78702 (House Show), 8PM
W/ USELESS EATERS, RENE HELL, WHITE DOG, RECIDE, RUSTED SHUT, KING LIGHTER (new Total Abuse project) DJ EVIL MOMMY, FREE KEG

FRIDAY MARCH 16TH:
@ Beerland, show starts @ 8PM
GONER SHOWCASE W/ TOXIE, MANATEES, WHITE FENCE, WES COLEMAN, MIKAL CRONIN
http://soundcloud.com/goner-records/goner-records-austin-march-16

SATURDAY MARCH 17TH:
AFTERNOON SHOW
@ Beerland, show starts @ 12PM
RUBBERNECK SHOWCASE W/ VIDEO, WHITE MYSTERY, DIARRHEA PLANET, LOS VIGILANTES, BASS DRUM OF DEATH, BAD SPORTS, FLESH LIGHTS
http://www.facebook.com/events/248434365236097/

NIGHT SHOW
@ Trailer Space Records, show starts @ 7PM
W/ G. GREEN, UNHOLY TWO, TERRIBLE TWOS, JAMES ARTHURS MANHUNT

LATE SHOW
@ House of Commons, rio grande and 26th, show starts at drunk O clock
W/ MANATEES, MODERN CONVENIENCE, UNKNOWN RELATIVES

WAVVES

WEDNESDAY MARCH 14TH:
@ Lustre Pearl, 11:45 pm
w/ CITIES AVIV, TRASH TALK, PRODIGY, more

FRIDAY MARCH 16TH:
@ IcenHauer's, show lasts 1pm - 2am
"Workaholic's House Party" w/ TRASH TALK, FREDDIE GIBBS, cast of "Workaholics," more

SATURDAY MARCH 17TH:
@ Beauty Ballroom / Emo's East, show lasts 12pm - 1am
MAD DECENT / CHECK YO PONYTAIL SUPER PARTY w/ DIPLO, ANDREW WK, BOSCO DELREY, TEENGIRL FANTASY, BLEACHED, more
http://www.checkyoponytail.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SP-NoBondo.jpg

@ Hype Hotel, 12am
w/ BEST COAST, more

BOSCO DELREY

WEDNESDAY MARCH 14th:
@ BUCA LOUNGE, 1 am
"DREAMS"
http://www.facebook.com/events/185817411533384/

FRIDAY MARCH 16th:
@ Spider House @ 4:45pm
w/ THEE OH SEES, STRANGE BOYS, MAGNETIX

@ Cheer Up Charlie's, 9pm
w/ WHITE FENCE, KING TUFF, FUNGI GIRLS, more

SATURDAY MARCH 17th:
@ Beauty Ballroom, 2:15pm
MAD DECENT / CHECK YO PONYTAIL SUPER PARTY w/ DIPLO, ANDREW WK, WAVVES, TEENGIRL FANTASY, BLEACHED, more
http://www.checkyoponytail.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SP-NoBondo.jpg

TOXIE

FRIDAY MARCH 16th:
@ Beerland, 9:15pm
GONER SHOWCASE W/ EX-CULT, MANATEES, WHITE FENCE, WES COLEMAN, MIKAL CRONIN
http://soundcloud.com/goner-records/goner-records-austin-march-16

SATURDAY MARCH 17th:
@ Cheer Up Charlie's, 1:45pm
M'LADY'S FAMILY PICNIC w/ COASTING, DEEP TIME (formerly YellowFever), CANDY CLAWS, LA SERA, CHAPTER 24, REYNOSA
http://www.facebook.com/events/332800456768936/

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note: Magic Kids proper should make a return to SXSW next year, but it might have to be during the technology expo to give a lecture on how we became the band of the future, and what we had to sacrifice to get there. (where we're going.... we don't need wristbands.)

mystery solved

The internet failed us (and that means YOU) so we had to piece our own minds back together. Last week's mystery tune ended up being "Ice Cream Man" by the Tornados, recorded by the awesome Joe Meek.



So no one gets a MAGIC KIDS No-Prize this time. I'm just going to give myself an ice cream sandwich.

for no reason, here's a barrage of progressively less related songs:

this weird Joe Meek version of Ginny Arnell's "Dumb Head":


the classic (weirder) Ginny Arnell original:


and one from the guy that wrote it:
David Hess - Sunshine Path
Huh, who would have guessed there was a pompous, bumbling MAN behind "Dumb Head".

-Will

mystery tune

I woke up this morning with a very brief snippet of a song stuck in my head that I couldn't place, and it's been driving me crazy all day. When I played it on guitar for Bennett, it started driving him crazy too, so it seemed like a good question to take to the internet.

!!!!!!!!HERE'S THE MP3!!!!!!!!

First person to accurately guess the song we're thinking of gets a No-Prize.

RULES AND REGULATIONS:
What seemed at first like a shortcut to an answer is starting to reveal potential as a sort of game, which might be worth repeating here. See, we've got some pretty strong hunches as to what the song might be, but since we're consulting you before confirming the answer ourselves, it's more than just a "name that tune" game; you also have the whims and delusions of our stupid brains to contend with. It might be something really obvious and famous, but it's also entirely possible that whatever I'm playing on guitar is A) nothing like the song we're thinking of, or B) from an imaginary song. Half the stuff we thought we accidentally ripped off on Memphis ended up not being at all how we remembered it.

Doesn't count if you know another song with this melody. Multiple chances for No-Prizes if it turns out me and Bennett were thinking of different songs. If no one gets it I'll post the answer in a week, for sake of completeness.

I just hope it doesn't end up being the Beach Boys.

-Will

weekend update

been meaning to post this all week, but it looks like Mad Decent beat us to it. Last weekend Al and Ben backed Bosco Delrey up for a show in Memphis, and our friend April got some cool video...


More on the Mad Decent blog

Meanwhile, across town, Bennett was playing keydrums for Abe White's ever-growing punk orchestra MANATEES. I implore you to get a good look at Bennett's awesome headset mic..and keep going for some breathtaking ("nsfw") True Sons Of Thunder photos, all by "Hey Boy" cover photographer Don Perry.
..then this weekend we all reconvened in various other permutations to raise money for the memphis socialist party. Thus far no incriminating video has surfaced, but if you're in Memphis next Sunday you can attend the sequel, Red January III at the Buccaneer. Don't worry, we're also hard at work on new MAGIC KIDS tunes, and it's going to be pretty awesome.

I'll leave you with this somewhat complementary old video of Ben and Bosco Delrey's Gucci Mane tribute...
-Will

cult classic

catch us on tour this spring: US dates with Cults, plus a visit to Australia!

Wed 3/9 Sydney, Australia @ Manning Bar $
Fri 3/11 Melbourne, Australia @Northcote Social Club
Sat 3/12 Meredith, Victoria @ Golden Plains Festival
Wed 3/30 Brooklyn, NY @Knitting Factory*
Thu 3/31 New York, NY @Mercury Lounge*
Fri 4/1 Boston, MA @Brighton Music Hall*
Sat 4/2 Montreal, QC @Il Motore*
Mon 4/4 Toronto, ONT @The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern*
Tue 4/5 Buffalo, NY @Soundland*
Wed 4/6 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop*
Thur 4/7 Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle*
Fri 4/8 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St. Entry*
Mon 4/11 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile*
Tue 4/12 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios*
Thu 4/14 San Francisco, CA @The Independent*

*= w/Cults
$= w/Wavves

space junky

our buddy Bosco Delrey's "Space Junky" music video is now online. Filmed in the awesome, haunted (literally, by ghosts) upstairs of Earnestine and Hazel's in Memphis, it contains fleeting glimpses of a Magic Kid or two, and enough other local creeps to haunt 12 Earnestine and Hazel's.

Bosco Delrey - "Space Junky" from stereogum on Vimeo.

The directors did a pretty good job capturing what went down; this is pretty much exactly how I remember it, down to the multiple Boscos fading in and out and Stephen in varying degrees of clown costume every time I blinked my eyes.

-Will