Latest Review: Magic Lantern – High Beams

Long Beach’s Magic Lantern have finally gone and released a new sonic document after what seemed like an eternity of waiting. Eagerly anticipated by those who have been biding their time waiting for the band to get on with their uber limited cassette only and CD-R releases (their Self-Titled CD-R was limited to 30), “High Beams”, the band’s latest opus [...]

The final chapter of Vaux

So I am feeling a little bummed out right now that I am here in Long Beach right now and not in Denver, CO to see one of my all time favorite bands, VAUX, play their final show tonight at The Bluebird Theatre.

Calling it quits after ten long years on constant touring, label ups and downs, and 5 releases (though if you ask them they’ll probably tell you there have only been 3 proper VAUX releases and 2 Eiffel releases, they’re former name), the time has come to close the final chapter in band’s story as members are now spread from coast to coast, married or planning to marry, and have no solid label behind them to release further material. It is time quit, maybe not while they are ahead, but definitely not in reaction to being knocked down, as VAUX was a band that thrived on people counting them out, telling them it coundn’t be done, and figuring out how do it themselves when there was no one there to help.

I remember the first time met the guys in the VAUX back in 2002 as they walked through the parking lot of the offices where I work, joking to myself that Stillwater had just shown up, they were a band of long haired rocker dudes in corduroy pants and cowboy style button up shirts (which come to think of it, they still are). It was from that day on that my relationship with the band began, one of that as a fan first, a friend, a business associate, and a former business associate. These are people that I have let stay at my house, people I have gotten high with (well just one of them), people I have gotten drunk with (well just two of them), people I searched out vegetarian resturants with, and most of all people I shared some of the best times of my life with out on the road with.

It saddens me to think that I will never get to experience another VAUX show again, a spectacle of lighted fury and soaring volume, though there is some comfort knowing that I will be treated to one final release from the band, an epilogue of sorts, in the form of a final 5 song 30 minute ep this Fall.

Download “On Love and Cars” (mp3) from VAUX’s 2003 release There Must Be Some Way To Stop Them, a real ass kicker.

[audio:vaux_on_love_and_cars.mp3]

And “Van Fong” (mp3) from their 2005 release Beyond Virtue, Beyond Vice, which really showcases the band’s evolution between releases.

[audio:vaux_unwound.mp3]

Also if you head over to VAUX’s MySpace page you can listen to “Ammunition”, the first track available from their forthcoming ep release.

Buy VAUX releases from: Insound | Amazon | iTunes