surfin and sh*t

Hey all,

A good friend of mine has recently been using our songs in some surf videos he's been putting together. Please take some time to check them out because they are pretty sweet!


&

A video hosted at Surfline.com

http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=18204


thanks for reading!

love,
Patrick

Interview with Venaca Clothing

Recently I sat down, and nervously hatched out some interview questions with Venaca Clothing's Caroline. Check it out here:



-Nik

September 28th, 2008

The Devils Orchestra
w/Picture Atlantic
@ Cinespace
6356 Hollywood Blvd.
(Corner of Ivar and Hollywood)
10pm
18+
Free admission and vodka until 10:30

This is going to be an amazing show, and one of our few LA shows to date.
We'd love to share the magic with you, and hopefully start a mosh pit to shame all mosh pits.

-Nick

Stripes

We've been gone a little haven't we?

So hrm...how to sum up whats been going on.

So we played a couple shows recently that were truly awesome, and we had a lot of fun with. First was a show with Daphne Loves Derby at San Jose Skate. It was really nice to have a local show, after having mostly out of town gigs, and it felt nice to see some familiar faces in the crowd, and even have a mosh pit break out. I heard someone got punched! in the chest! Imagine that. Next it'll be flaming chairs thrown into the audience.

We spent a couple weeks practicing, and writing. Its been, in most cases, pretty successful. After writing an album, and focusing on shows though, I can say things have slowed down just a little. We're taking it slow. Album 2 wouldn't even be in the works for ages, as it is.

A couple nights ago, we played the Trophy Fire's CD Release show at the Rickshaw Stop in SF. What can a guy say, it was awesome. We opened the show, followed by the secret guest, The Matches. Next up was The Hundred Days who played a solid set, and then, the final move, done by The Trophy Fire. They did a terrific job, and I wish them the best with their new Album "A Lifetime Spent in The Ocean", which you can pick up here : www.myspace.com/thetrophyfire

People were awesome. Bands were Awesome. The show was awesome. I even made friends with a girl named Amie who had secretly stowed away in our van by climbing in through the back door while we were loading. She took some pictures of us with her digital camera, and we talked about baseball bats and art. You can't beat that can you? One nice gentleman even bought an album from us outside the venue, as I stood , street peddler style with an open box of CDs.

Overall, its been an awesome couple of shows. It truly has.

Just as a side note, the band Bloc Party has recently release a new album, and I've been taking a listen to it lately. I'm not sure what I think about it yet, so go ahead and check it out.Tell me what you think. New Album releases are always fun, and there are quite a few bands releasing albums this year.

alright, enough ranting.

see you next show!

-nick

press/interviews/etc

Here's a collection of various recent interviews and other press items.

Picture Atlantic interview in Metro Magazine

Check out the interview with The Metro Magazine, done by Nick and Ryan:

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08.20.08/music-0834.html

This interview can also be found in the physical copy of The Metro Magazine, which is available for free in most places of business in the South Bay.

Picture Atlantic on AP.net’s Absolute 100

It was brought to our attention, by the helpful Mr. Tamothy, that Picture Atlantic has made AP.net's Absolute 100. It's a list of their favorite new and lesser known artists:

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?p=16563441post16563441

Kleos Album Review on A Free Man.org

Here's a nice review of our album on the New Music Monday reviews.

http://www.afreeman.org/2008/07/21/new-music-monday-picture-atlantic-and-head-of-femur/

Rico on Fresno news and interviews in Fresno Bee newspaper

Apparently someone contacted the local Fresno news station, and let them know about us opening for Coldplay. They jumped on it and contacted Rico. Below is the link to see what Rico had to say about the situation:

http://www.ksee24.com/news/local/25538969.html

Also, check out the interview and follow-up interview in the Fresno Bee newspaper:

http://www.fresnobeehive.com/archives/2008/07/viva_la_vida_ho.html

http://www.fresnobeehive.com/archives/2008/07/viva_la_vida_ii.html

PA interview on Fuzz.com

We did this interview with Fuzz.com right before the release of Kleos:

http://www.fuzz.com/sanfrancisco/news/entry/Interview-with-Picture-Atlantic

Kleos Available on iTunes

Just as a reminder, our album is now available on iTunes. Click the little iTunes button below to buy:

-ryan

trimm trabb

I was just going through my computer and stumbled upon these gems...

aaron - rico - ryan - patrick - nick

This Saturday, Daphne Loves Derby

As we have mentioned before, This saturday, we will be playing with Daphne Loves Derby at San Jose Skate.

There are two unique things about this show:

1. It is with Daphne Loves Derby
2. This show will be our last show in San Jose for quite a while.

We'd love for you to come out and see us play,and to get your hands on a CD, for those of you who haven't picked up the new album.

San Jose skate
397 Blossom Hill Road
All Ages
$12
6pm

Daphne Loves Derby
Picture Atlantic
Brave Citizens
Pushpushpull
Pericardium

See you all then. In the meantime, here is something to entertain you for two minutes



-PA

Join us for a TV show!

As you can see, below this post, we have yet again, another video outlet.

On sunday nights between 7-8pm, we begin our show called Fluff. It is a purely online chat and video sharing session.

We've only had one so far, but its been pretty successful, not to mention, really fun!

So if you want to hang out and talk about music, have us DJ some videos and tunes, and make video requests, please come check it out Sunday nights. It is a live stream, with live chat.

You can access the video through the post below, or go direct to our page at www.ustream.tv/channel/picture-atlantic

Hope to see you all there!

-Nick

Videos

Please, feel free to upload all your Picture Atlantic related videos here

Live TV by Ustream

What comes into our horizon?

Ok, so the Coldplay craze is over.Well, at least officially on paper. People still ask me about it, and some even give me a hard time (as friends of course!) about it. Its been awesome so far though. I mean the aftermath. Its gotten us a lot of attention, which is always beneficial for bands.

The band has just started practicing again, which is a huge vacation for us. We spent so much time recording, and all the dumb technical stuff that goes a long with it, that we got burnt out on studio stuff. Then we had our 'tour' which lasted about a week and a half. To get back to just writing music the simple way is an exciting thing.

Its kind of weird to think that we're already writing new songs, right after our first full length album was put out, but we're being careful about not rushing things so far. This sounds like bragging (but its really not when you think about the work involved), but we have almost 37 songs so far. Don't be so impressed. A lot of those songs are older ideas that we've been tossing around, and haven't really gotten into the oven yet. Once we start messing around with them, the number of songs will definitely drop pretty fast.

right now we're just trying to get out there and play for your amusement, so keep your eyes peeled. We have a couple shows coming up this month, so be sure to check them out.

-Nick

Coldplay!!

Here's my much belated Coldplay post. There's so much to write about, so if I forget something, forgive me.

So if you hadn't heard, our band Picture Atlantic won this contest through Live105 to open for Coldplay on July 18th at the HP Pavillion.

The Contest:
So the way the contest works, is that any unsigned bands from the area were to submit a live video/music video/some sort of video to the Coldplay contest channel on Youtube. From there, the station (Live105 in our case) would pick the top 15. Once the 15 were announced, the public could vote (once per IP address) and the top 3 vote winners would move on to the final round. So once you get in the top 3, Coldplay/their management decides on the band to play.

Our video:


The day they announced the top 15, I was woken up by a call from my mom. We were on tour at the time and were staying at my grandma's house in LA. I was so surprised that we even made it to the top 15. Being a predominately San Jose band, I felt we would be overlooked by Live105 since they have so much love for the SF/Oakland bands. So I told Patrick, who was still mostly asleep next to me, ("Bro, we got on the top 15" *high five* "Sick, bro") and then got in the shower. It didn't hit me until I got out that even getting in the top 15 was going to be a lot of work to do. Once we were all up, we began checking out the site, calling people, making flyers, telling friends to vote, etc. Originally in the contest rules there was a bit that wasn't so favorable to the bands, but we sorted it all out with our attorney.

The voting was supposed to run from July 7th through the 11th. Every day we remained in the top spot, which although didn't ensure a win, was so satisfying to have. It reminded us just how many people were behind us through all of this. I'll give more thanks later on, but for now, a huge THANK YOU to everyone who voted or even supports us in general. We wouldn't be anywhere without you.

So as each night passed, Patrick, Rico and I would usually stay up till 3 or 4am, just talking about the contest. So many "what if's" were asked, decided on, then thrown out because we didn't want to get our hopes up. After everyone would be asleep, I'd still be up, honestly getting sick to my stomach in anticipation.

The voting ended up being extended until the 14th. This just killed me. Even if we were to lose (which I truly thought was the case,) I just wanted to know. The uncertainty drove me insane. We finally found out on the 15th. I had been waiting for a call from the station all day, but it never came. We had been staying at Nick's Aunt Sherry's house (in SLO) and were on the way to the beach when Patrick's girlfriend texted him the news. The contest site had been updated to show our video and a congratulations (it's still up now, if you want to check it out.) At first I didn't want to believe it, but once I saw the page for myself we all started yelling. It was such a surprise and the biggest relief to just know, let alone have won. We started calling everyone as we made our way to the beach. Once there, everyone sort of split up, so I called my mom to talk about it for a bit, before I walked down the beach alone, listening to Strawberry Swing on repeat. Quite fitting to me.

Over the next few days, we were mentioned and played on Live 105. At one point, I was stuck in traffic on my way to the Diesel store in SF (with Kev P Sullivan, no less) and right when the intro to "Clocks" came on the radio, the DJ said, "Congrats to Picture Atlantic for winning the contest! I can't imagine what it must be like for them right now. They are probably partying it up!" I wanted to call in and say, "No, we're not partying. I'm stuck in traffic and really stressed out." There was just so much to think about so we couldn't really celebrate just yet.

The Show:
So the day finally came. I woke up early and my mom and aunt took me shopping for some last minute stuff. Up until that point I hadn't felt nervous about the show, but now I was starting to feel it. As I waited for everyone to arrive at Nick's, I started to feel sick from the anticipation.

We got to the venue a little bit before our scheduled time of 3:00. It was hilarious to park our terrible van next to these huge tour buses in the loading area. We unloaded into the back and sat around for a few minutes feeling awkward and unsure about everything. Once we got our laminates and could be recognized as the opening band (as small as we are) things became very exciting. We met 3/4 of the band as they were dropped off by a team of SUV's (guess who wasn't with the others ^_^ ) and it was such an honor. My true, unbiased opinion is that they truly were incredibly nice and down to earth, especially for being pretty much the biggest band in the world (though I will be biased with my Bono hating.)

We had a few hours before our sound check, so like little curious animals (in this case I will use welsh corgis for my animal example) we wandered around the arena, free to go wherever we liked. I felt like such a nerd walking back and forth throughout the hallways. People could tell we were these starstruck fans, but also treated us like true musicians. Most of the staff were from the UK (I'm going to go ahead and assume, I apologize if there was an Aussie running around back there!) which was so cool to me. Hearing the accent come from everyone you met made us feel like we were in a different world. I'll thank them later as well.

We got to watch Coldplay soundcheck. We were the only people in the room, sitting near the front row. It was an unreal experience that coincidentally made them real people to me. I obviously realized before that they were just four regular people from the UK who had become huge, but this was proof. They made mistakes, they argued a bit about songs, they messed around. It made me feel so much better about myself as a musician, to see the biggest band in the world were also just like us in so many ways.

After we ate (the food was amazing by the way! Can someone please explain to me what Eton Raspberry Mash is? I want it again) we proceeded to sound check. It was the most thorough soundcheck we have ever had, and probably will ever have for a long time. Just looking out to the empty arena from the stage was mind blowing.


After sound check, Patrick and I walked around out front to see tons of people filing inside. I truly hadn't been nervous about playing since we had arrived, but seeing all those people gave me the chills.

We all grouped up behind the stage a few minutes before we were set to go on. Sadly, Brian wasn't allowed to play with us on stag due to some technicalities, so he had to use his mind energy to play his parts from the crowd. Let's all give a big hand to Brian Graves for the strength of his mind powers!

Our set:
We huddled up, said some words, did a group cheer of "Queens for life!" and walked out on stage. We were met with an applause I have never heard before. Only 75%ish percent of the arena was full at this point, but really, 12-14,000 people is nothing to scoff at :)

Oddly enough, I wasn't nervous while we played. It just felt right. I realized we were meant to be there on that stage, in front of all those people. The set went by in a flash, and after every song we were given a big applause. We had a lot of people there in the crowd we knew cheering us on, so I want to thank them for that.

My Guy Berryman rant:
Once we were done, we got off the stage. I was the last one off, and right before I stepped onto the ramp, I noticed someone sitting on the side of the stage - Guy Berryman! For those of you out there who are Chris Martin fanboys, let me educate you. Guy Berryman is one of the best bass players in the non-wank/virtuoso genres of music. He is truly my biggest musical hero and influence. The first time I heard the bassline to Coldplay's "Sparks" (click for a video link!) it honestly changed my life and understanding of bass guitar. Up until then I had no real direction in my playing, no grasp of what could be done and how to do it. So before I rant, just know, Guy Berryman is my hero.

ANYWAY, so he told me he was impressed and surprised by our set. The band didn't know what they'd be getting themselves into with the whole contest, but it seemed to have worked out. I told him he was my biggest bass hero, and he replied, "You're pretty good yourself, mate!" I truly take this to heart. I know he could have said something else just to be nice, but I think for him to say that he at least thinks I'm on the right track.

After the set, Guy came and hung out in our dressing room for a half our or so. We all talked about normal band things, and he treated us as if we were any other legitimate band (not that we aren't, but in comparison to COLDPLAY...) In another starstruck fan moment, I had him sign the back of my headstock. Think what you will of the situation, but I have dreamed of meeting Guy for years, and for him to compliment ME on my playing was unreal. I will take that compliment to heart for the rest of my days.

Coldplay's set:
So we hung out for a while, celebrating now that the pressure was off. Unbiasedly, we played very well and we were all proud to be in our band.

Coldplay took the stage around 9:15ish. My only regret of the night was checking out their setlist prior to them playing. It ruined the surprise of songs for me, but in the grand scheme of it all it really doesn't matter. I got to see Coldplay at Shoreline in 2005 (thanks Steve Wozniak!) for free, in great seats, and that was the best concert of my life. In many ways, that show and the 18th are tied. However, they still put on the best show I have ever seen. They had a great bit where they did some songs on this platform (Will played a sampler pad) all standing together, and they also went out into the crowd for two acoustic songs. Will sang the last one, so if anyone still had a doubt if he too was a great singer, they surely didn't after that. Chris said their goodbyes, but reassured the crowd it was obligatory for them to leave and come back. In a few minutes they returned with some more songs. During "Lovers in Japan", they released millions of these butterfly cut outs into the crowd. The second time around, when the room was filled to the top, they changed the lighting, so all you could see were these glowing, flying butterflies. It was truly the most amazing sight I have seen in all of my short time on this earth, and it brought a tear to my eye. You'd really have to be there to understand how incredible it was. The band did a final encore of "Death and All His Friends", and as they walked off, "The Escapist" played. It was the perfect way to end the set.

We went back to the dressing room and packed up, thanked everyone we could, and headed home in our terrible, yet still reliable green van. Everyone met back up at Nick's house for a bit to talk about the night, and I fell asleep with the biggest smile on my face.

In Conclusion:
It goes without saying that Coldplay is one of our favorite bands. Their newest album was much more incredible than I expected it would be, and has been the soundtrack to my life since it was released. To get to meet, see, AND play with our biggest heroes was a true dream come true. There is so much more I could say about the night, but I'm sure the rest of the band can fill in the blanks.




THANKS TO:

-Everyone who voted for us. I have heard so many stories of people passing the word on and truly going the distance just to help us out. I'm not sure how we can ever repay all of the work you have done for us. As small as we are compared to the biggest bands out there, we really do have amazing fans. So how should we repay you? Give us some ideas.

-My mom. She always kept me on top of info as soon as it was available. Especially while not having the internet for most of the tour, without my mom we would be in a bad spot. Not to mention I owe her everything for always supporting my dream to be a musician. I could go on but I'll keep it short! I love you, mom!
-My stepdad, Joe, for also always supporting my music, even when it sucked (and trust me, it sucked.) A big thank you for taking these pictures so everyone go check them out!
-Our attorney, Dave Kostiner
-James Leste and the rest of Audrye Sessions
-Aaron Axelsen and the rest of Live105
-Guy, Jonny, Will, and Chris and the rest of the people behind Coldplay
-Staff at the HP Pavillion, specifically:
Peter (catering) - I cannot thank you enough. When we first came in to the load in area, he had asked me what kind of beer we wanted in our dressing room, but I thought he was telling me I wasn't allowed in the back (or something like that.) I was surprised we were given anything, but I did go into this expecting nothing. Throughout the night Peter brought us our beer/water, fruit and other assorted snacks to the dressing room, and after we played, we came back to the room to find champagne waiting for us. So to Peter, I say thank you very much!

Terry (head of security), Jaqui, Tiffany, Mike (the sound guy - thanks for treating us like a legit band and giving us such a good mix on stage!) Heather, Lauren, Dave Holmes (coldplay's manager/tour manager - he was honestly someone you'd see in a movie. The slightly older yet truly still cool as hell UK manager, who curses a lot and always had something funny to say)

If I've left you out, let me know! This was a lot to remember.



So in closing, I would just like to say that if you have a dream, don't ever hesitate to chase it. Don't let other people tell you what you can and cannot do, because they aren't even capable of knowing your potential. Stick with those people who do realize, and never let them go.

thank you

-ryan

3D Imaging

Picture Atlantic Opens for Coldplay @ HP Pavillion

Hey all,

We are so proud to announce, that we have won the Coldplay contest.

Thanks to all YOUR votes, and help promoting this contest, we are now opening for Coldplay at the HP Pavillion in San Jose.

We will see you all soon though, as we have a couple local shows coming up :)

Thank you all

-Picture Atlantic

voting contiunes until monday the 14th...

URGENT - Live 105 has changed the voting AGAIN!
Voting will not end until MONDAY!
Please ask everyone you know to vote for Picture Atlantic.

1. Go to http://coldplayontour.com/live105
2. Scroll to the 9th video
3. Press the vote for this band button.

Thank you and please ask all of your friends to vote. Everyone has been so supportive this whole time (we have had the most votes for the entire contest) so hopefully monday is the last time you guys will have to hear me asking you to keep voting.

-ryan/PA

Please Save Our Local Music

I was rather shocked, and worried to read this. Especially being in a band. Please read the blog link below and please sign the petition. It will guarantee that local music can continue on unharmed or hindered.

Blog Here

In the mean time, please link this in your myspaces, and let your friends know.

-Nick

July 7th at San Jose Skate with Hazel and Vine

For those of you in the past who had issues ordering from this website, they have now fixed their server, so those issues should be nonexistant.

If you missed our CD release show, now is your chance to see us play locally, and pick up a new copy of the album. Thank you all.

Interview and Review on Fuzz.com

we recently were interviewed, and had a review , for our Album Kleos, set to release on June 20th.

If you would like to read them, head on over to www.fuzz.com,and look in their Local: San Fransisco section, or you check the blog on our myspace to get individual links.

Enjoy the read, and don't forget to pick up your tickets for our release show, at www.letswoosh.com

thanks much!

-PA

No Seeing Allowed

Not to sound like a flaming hippie liberal (although I'm sure I fall under that catagory), but this video terrifies me.



-Nick

Presale for CD Release

Hey guys,

You can now buy your tickets for our CD release show from the comfort of your home. The Tickets are five dollars, and there will be Will Call.

*Click here for tickets*

Also, here is a link for a google maps set of directions...


View Larger Map


We hope to see you all there :)

-Picture Atlantic

Picture Atlantic - Kleos - June 2008

The time has finally arrived.

We are at the very last step of the album.

The name of the album is Kleos, and the track listing is below this post.
It will be released in June 2008

We will also be officially releasing our Single on Friday June 6th.

Our next show will also be June 20th in Morgan Hill w/ Please Do Not Fight, One Small Step For Man, and The Pilots Wife.

Stay tuned to the myspace and blog for more info as it arrives.

Thanks much

-Nick,Ryan,Aaron,Patrick,Rico,and B.Graves