ableton live

Ithaca, Oswego, and Zink!

We had an amazing weekend playing music in upstate New York! A Friday night gig at Lot 10 in Ithaca, a Saturday art and music exhibit at Zink Tees screen print shop in Oswego, and lots of pretty fall tree colors, tasty apple harvest fest treats, and visits with good friends in between 🙂

We pulled into Ithaca Friday afternoon, as the annual Apple Harvest Fest was in full swing. Perfect timing to get that fall apple pie fix before heading straight to Lot 10, Ithaca’s hip downtown bar and venue on Cayuga St. It sure felt like it had been a while since we last played music there and it was great to be back!

Saturday was our very first trip to Oswego. Aaron Z. Lee, who is a talented graphic designer, hosted a ‘Month of Halloween’ art and music exhibit. Everything took place in the ‘Darkroom’, a cozy gallery and performance space within Zink Tees screen print shop. With comfy couches opposite the stage, a rug in the center of the floor, cool screenprints hanging on the walls and quirky decorations placed about the room, the Darkroom has to be the most unique and comfortable venue I’ve ever played! And who goes to a screen printing shop without printing some tees?? Not us! 🙂 We got the chance to print our own shirts after the gig. Glen, the man behind the Zink, gave everyone a behind-the-scenes look at the screen printing process and taught us the magical ways of making band shirts. Thank you!!

Music

Rockwood and Leftfield

I don’t know what I like more about being in a band, playing shows, writing music, recording songs… I love it all! Recently we’ve been playing more shows than anything else. The show a few weeks ago at Rockwood was a lot of fun and we had the pleasure of meeting up with some of our out-of-town friends who happened to be in NYC that night.

Last weekend we returned to the lower east side to play a gig at Leftfield joined by our friends Beloved Binge on tour from North Carolina. They are another guy girl duo and like us, they are married! They had such a powerful energy in their performance of songs about their own personal life experiences, the aging of relatives, eating a vegan diet, and funny life lessons. Find their music here: http://belovedbinge.bandcamp.com/album/pockets-2

Every new venue we play here has its own charm. Getting to experience that is something I love about shows and I really like the crazy music filled lower east side. We’re trying to stick to one show a month right now, but finding it hard to resist playing more! I was not able to get video from the past two, but we do have pictures! ( thank you friends for taking these 🙂 )

Music

May 31st at The Greenpoint Gallery

A launch party will take place this weekend for the filming of a Mexican-American coming of age story, Last Day, and we’ve been invited to perform! The Launch Party is a fundraising event that will feature live entertainment by four bands and three DJs Saturday May 31st at the Greenpoint Gallery. Tickets are only $20, include one drink ticket, and can be purchased here.

To crowd fund the movie, the film makers from 4&1 Sibling Productions and Fox Yew Media hit the streets running! For the past six months, they’ve embarked on daily runs wearing t-shirts that say, ‘I am running to fund Last Day’ to spread the word. They also gave free shirts to anyone who wanted to run with them and the entire journey can be tracked here.

Now, they are ready to begin filming. Hope you’ll come out to the Launch Party!!

https://www.facebook.com/events/272581382921539/

Music

first Manhattan gig!

Last week’s show at Pianos was a blast. I was so excited to play that I decided to be daring and wear bigger heels than I usually do… they made me feel cool okay!

When we got to the venue, a band called the walking shapes was setting up. They were even more daring than my extra inch in height, (if you can imagine that..), they were doing a crazy 24 shows in 24 hours! Pianos was their 18th gig and despite an exhausting go of a day, their spirits were high. They put on an awesome show.

When we started our set, I was super happy to see some familiar faces. Thank you everyone for coming out! We played about a 40 min. set and used the house amps for our guitars and Ableton clips, everything sounded great.

And the staff were a very special group. The sound guy, the door guy, the bartender guy, the booking guy…..all of the guys! (and girls 🙂 ) were filled with good vibes.

Thank you Pianos!

Music

Pete’s Candy Store

Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg is cozy and welcoming and filled with good vibes! For anyone who hasn’t been there, the stage is intentionally separated from the bar in an adorable room where performers and audience members can completely immerse themselves in the music. We loved this stage and this room! It made a certain togetherness possible between us and the audience. Check out the cool lights that frame the stage over head 🙂

It was great to play at a venue in a new neighborhood. Before our set, I couldn’t resist one of their specialty sandwiches, the black forest ham which was delicious! I’m already thinking about our next show there, because I want to try to the roast beef! 🙂

Live, Music

Loads of fun

Attention Ithacans! Your new music venue, The Dock, is awesome! Saturday night, Diwas and I joined Gabe Tavares and Lora Pendleton for a Rungs and Sisu Powder The Moon show. Lora opened the night with a lovely surprise solo set. I’ve seen her perform multiple times with PTM, but it was my first time seeing her originals and I absolutely loved them! Her smooth guitar playing paired with her captivating voice inspires a sense of comfort and ease. It makes me want to get in my car and drive across country with the music blasting through my speakers. As a female vocalist I’m always on the lookout for other female vocalists to listen, to learn from, and get inspired by, so this lady is definitely added to my list!

As for Diwas and me, the amount of fun we had at this show, measured in units of loads, was approximately 10 loads of fun, which is a lot!

Thank you to our friends for coming out, it was so great to see everyone and we can’t wait to return to The Dock!

Music

The Debut EP!

Happy New Year everyone! We are kicking off 2014 by self-releasing our debut EP!

Thanks to all of our old and new friends, 2013 was filled with fun live shows, lots of inspiration to create new music, and most importantly, good people to share it with. These songs are for you!

https://soundcloud.com/the-rungs/sets/the-rungs-ep

If you like what you hear, help us share our songs and connect with us via our social media pages here on the left and right menus.

Bloggers – We are looking for bloggers to help review our EP. Feel free to email me at mandy@rungsrungsrungs.com and I will gladly send you song downloads and any information you’d like about the band.

Thank you and best wishes to all 🙂

We are The Rungs. Thanks for supporting our music 🙂

Lyrics

Ride Lyrics

Ride, by The Rungs

Seems I’m in no hurry yet to get where I’m going so I might as well enjoy the ride

A scene sandwiched in between the same framed window and the always looking over me sky

Even though you’ve been through hell, you can’t quit now you’ve gotta go pick yourself up and get a move on

Tell me what you’re waiting for, a day a week another year another year another year gone

I’ve seen waste arise from haste and so I’m taking my time

Buildings and trees stationary streamed along the way I’m going rolling wheels radio on

(lyrics written by Mandy)

Live

Playing Gigs – Be Flexible!

The LOT 10 show went magnificently well! The guys from the touring act, Sool, had some old friends in the Ithaca area, so there was a nice little vibe of reunion in the air. I also learned a surprising lesson in flexibility. These guys are of a slightly older generation, and it seemed to be a later than usual night for some of their friends. Although they were scheduled to play last, they asked us to switch with them so that they could play earlier and relieve their friends of staying up super late. Diwas and I didn’t really think much of it. Here it was their show, they were only in town for one weekend, and they hadn’t seen some of these friend in many years, so of course we were like, ‘hey guys, its your show, whatever you want!’ From their response, it was evident that they were not used to playing with bands that were so flexible. Man, imagine how awkward and rigid the night would have been if we were like, ‘No guys, sorry, the line up has already been discussed, we can’t change it.’ Ha! That would have taken the fun right out of it! So anyway, the lesson learned is that when it comes to gigging with other bands, the key to having fun and ensuring a smooth event is flexibility. Things are constantly changing and you’ve just gotta roll with it. That night, with such good attitudes all around, the music was that much better. Both The Fly Rods and Sool rocked it! And here is a little home video from the first song of our set, BFF.

Live

Thank you June!

Well, June began with a bang, (literally a ‘bang’ – flat tire on the way to Shindig in Brooklyn!) and closed with a mellow Sunday night set at Felicia’s in Ithaca. I’m so happy our friends, The Sunday Vipers, asked us to open for them. I mean, its an honor when anyone asks us to play with them. My reaction is always, ‘Really?! You want us to open for you??!! Yes!’ And then I am secretly flattered forever that they liked our music enough to share a bill together 🙂

This night was particularly special because I’m a huge fan of Sunday Vipers, AND the venue is practically my neighbor. Diwas and I just hop on out the door, guitars and amps in hand, and take about 20 steps to load in. The awesomeness of the night can further be summed up by fun music, delicious cocktails, good friends, a great audience and one new Rungs Facebook fan! (Yes, one. I will take what I can get!)

Here is a live song from the set! This is a new one. It’s called Indecisive. You’ll get what I mean 🙂