Uges Limbu, a Nepali songwriter based out of NY, has released a new song featuring Diwas, called Hami Nepali! The guys put a nice music video together set in a practice studio and out and about in New York City. Hami Nepali means ‘We are Nepali’
Music videos seem to be the theme of January. Maybe its because I’ve been so under the weather that laying in bed watching music videos while drinking hot tea is a very tempting way to spend my time 🙂
It seems that I am now playing double bills every show! On January 25th, The Rungs will play a benefit for Educate the Children, a not for profit organization that provides education and skill development programs to women and children in Nepal. The benefit will be held from 4-8pm at Lot 10 in Ithaca. Immediately afterwards, I will head over to another venue, The Haunt in Ithaca, to sing with my fav band, The Sutras! What are the odds of both shows happening in the same night? Lets just hope my crazy cold goes away by then!
A change in arctic winds has brought super cold air down to the northwest.. and it is unbearable! It finally got the best of me and I’ve been knocked out with a bad cold the past few days. To help make the most of it, I made my first lyrics video while laying in bed with hot tea.
I really enjoy singing along to lyrics videos, and I always look for something basic, just the lyrics, clear and easy to read, so this is what I wanted to go for. I chose ‘Confluence of Anomalies,’ since it seems to be my favorite song off of our recent EP right now.
Not being the most skilled in video making, I started very basic, using iMovie on my MacBook. I created an image in Photoshop with our logo and the song title, and another image that was all black, to serve as the background for the lyrics. I dragged the images and the mp3 file into iMovie, and typed the lyrics in white font using the text boxes. It was easy to increase or decrease the duration of each text box so that they lined up with the song.
Here is the final video:
Now the weather is looking much warmer today, the snow is melting away, and I’m starting to feel a little better.
A talented writer and indie music supporter at emerging indie bands music blog reviewed The Rungs EP! It brightened up our day to read such beautiful words about our music,  and we’re feeling very thankful for the indie music support that websites like this create.
Check it out the review because it is a good read! http://emergingindiebands.com/the-rungs-synth-dance/
When we started playing our first shows a little over a year ago, I wouldn’t have predicted us evolving into a ‘real band.’ I guess it all depends on what you define as a band, but now we have an EP out, a real music release! And I have stickers now. Band stickers! So based on the music release and sticker scale, I’d say we’re getting pretty close to real band material.
Boy were those first few shows rough. I made silly mistakes, forgot chords, mumbled mixed up lyrics, and the list of goofy errors goes on. Thankfully, Diwas exercised the most amazing patience with my newbie musician growing pains. Because you have to start somewhere right?
Okay lets be real here, I still do all of those things at our live shows, but at least less frequently!
The point is, if any closet musicians are out there reading this, then run out to your nearest open mic! Don’t be afraid of sharing your music because releasing it to the world and letting go of the hesitations is one of the most rewarding feelings! Take it from me and my new EP 🙂 And take it from folks who are supporting indie musicians, like our generous emergingindiebands.com reviewer.
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 🙂Â
And now for a little recap of our show at Felicia’s, opening up for Gabriel Tavares and Powder the Moon.
Every Sunday night, Felicia’s hosts free music from 7pm to 9pm. The popular local acts and small touring bands that are drawn to this delicious cocktail bar always ensure good quality, consistent Sunday night entertainment.
It is one of those cozy small venues that has a nice warm vibe no matter how many people are in the audience. A good turnout really packs the place and it is quite the squeeze to make it to the bar or a comfy lounge seat across the room. We were lucky to have a moderately squeezy kind of night 🙂 and intimate type of show, (the first set of seats are only a couple of feet from the mic stands!)
Recently having left my day job due to a repetitive motion injury, (I haven’t written much about that because it is no fun 😦 music is way better and has been the most therapeutic activity, hence our catch phrase, ‘music is the best medicine’ !!! 🙂 ) I was just tickled to see friends from work in the audience. How nice of them to come out and support the band!
We also wore matching shirts that night, from our friends at House of Thoughts clothing company in the United Kingdom. Great shirts and we felt so pro with the matched look.
What made this particular show even more special was that it was the release of a live CD that Gabe had recorded in 2005 when he was invited down to New York city to share a gig with the band Faith at CBGB’s 313 Gallery. The show was one of a series of farewell shows that were scheduled when the legendary Bowery club lost their lease. Aptly named, ‘Live at CBGBs 313 Gallery’, the cd has a great raw roomy feel to it and you can almost make out Gabe hitting the strings of the guitar, just like at the live show. Powder The Moon is a male female duo with Gabe on guitar and Laura Penman on the upright bass. At the show Sunday night, they performed songs off the album and new originals. I love the addition of the upright bass and female vocal touch to Gabe’s solo sound! (Hopefully Powder the Moon will release a live cd someday tooo 🙂 )
Speaking of CD releases, we’re working on that one! It’ll happen soon, but for now, help share our music on soundcloud and youtube
We greatly appreciate the support!
The Gates is a new-ish, (okay I still consider it new even though it has been over a year!) bar and venue located in Cornell University’s college town. They’ve got a cool upscale interior design, a nice decent sized stage, and a great sound system. Â My favorite thing about the place is that they serve kombucha on tap! This Friday we will be opening for Diwas’s other band, Photoreal at The Gates!
Saturday night we played at one of our favorite venues, The Nines, in Ithaca NY. It is actually the very place where we met, about 5 years ago. (I think it was 5…maybe 6? this is too much math already 🙂 )
Anywhoo, a band called Schooner from Durham NC had contacted us about playing a show together on their ‘Neighborhood Veins’ album release tour. After checking out their music and digging it, we were psyched to share a bill with them.
We hadn’t been making it up to The Nines very much over the past year, so we thought, ‘Lets play there! Don’t you miss that place?’
It turned out to be the perfect location for Schooner and us to tear it up! Â I’ve never been to a show there that didn’t have a great vibe. Not sure what it is. The people? The Pizza? (You must try the deep dish if you are ever in Ithaca!) It’s funny how some spaces and locations just don’t work. No matter how much people try to doctor a place up and re-brand, there is just something about it that is off. Then there are places that for no explainable reason just work. Something is special about them. The Nines is like that, it just feels good to be in that place. Â We will definitely be playing there again!
Here is a clip of our Feist cover from the show, My Moon My Man.
Last weekend was the first weekend in a while that we didn’t have any shows booked, so we decided to get out of town for a little inspiration and catch Eric Johnson live at The Blue Note! We’ve been so busy lately running around with work and other projects, it was the perfect time to relax and go out for a band-date night.
At The Blue Note, we sank into our tightly packed seats and enjoyed superb music, tasty drinks and of course, each others company 🙂 It was just what we needed!
And we have a little list of guitar greats to see live that we’re slowly working on. Last year we saw Steve Vai in Rochester, and now we’ve got Eric Johnson checked off the list too. He laid down a great performance, accompanied by Mike Stern on guitar, Chris Maresh on bass, and Anton Fig on drums.
Exploring the things that inspire me to make music is teaching me so much about myself and how funny the mind works. Sometimes I just want to lock myself up in solitude and bust out songs that are piling up in my head, and other times I need a change of scenery to enjoy all of the beauty and art and music that surrounds me. Catching Eric Johnson live was a nice change of scenery, to take in and appreciate all of the amazing talent and experience and musical work of these guitar greats. Might I add, in this age of electronic music, DJs, etc (all stuff that I dooo love, but..) long live guitar! 🙂
therungsband.com 