The shows have been pretty amazing so far.  Thank you to everyone that has been coming out to kick it.  Easily our best turnouts ever.  The homie Chris Hadland has been continuing to crank out daily photo recaps on this site, and he posted another edition of No Kings Tour Diaries on Sunday.  Check this out if you haven’t already.  It’s a recap of our shows in Salt Lake City, Boise, and Portland.  Stay tuned this week for the Seattle/Vancouver/Eugene recap video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And while we’re at it, here’s another installment of our ongoing (and extremely educational) “We’re Workin’ Hard” video series, courtesy of Cecil Otter and Paper Tiger.  Might be a hint at the musical direction Paper is going in for his next solo album.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The public voting for our first ever Rap Contest ended last night.  Congratulations to Soulcrate Music who inched out the victory over Verble Spears and Homeless.  And again, a very heartfelt thank you to everyone that participated in this contest.  I was pretty floored to receive over 80 submissions in that 3 week period.  Hopefully we’ll be able to do something like this again.  For those of you that didn’t win, please feel free to use your track for whatever promotion you’d like (mixtape/youtube/soundcloud/etc), so long as you don’t sell it for monies.  I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedules to create those songs.

Haha, that is a picture of Mike rocking a crazy space nug t-shirt because I’m too tired to come up with a better transition.  I’m off to do some press stuff and get some custom fitted ear plugs before load in this afternoon.  I’ll leave you with a bunch of pictures from the Eugene show the other night, courtesy once again of Young Chris.  Hope you all have a wonderful week.  Can’t wait to see a ton more of you out at these upcoming shows.  Our 4 day California run starts tonight at Slim’s in SF!

– Beak

This time out we’ve been fortunate enough to bring our very own camera guy to capture a ton of footage from the road.  The dude’s name is Chris Hadland, and even though he may be too young to have any idea who Barry Sanders is, he does take some really awesome photos.  Chris has been updating the site daily with tons of action shots from each show, and today he posted a new tour video from the first five dates out on the road.  Check out the first edition of the No Kings Tour Video Diaries (man, we gotta come up with a cooler name for that ASAP).

Click here to view the embedded video.

In other noteworthy news, LAVA BANGERS was officially released out into the world this morning!!!  I breathed a ginormous sigh of relief last night at the Urban Lounge when I saw it had made it’s way to iTunes and Amazon successfully.  You can pick up the album digitally right HERE.  I’m extremely grateful for all the support everyone has already shown Bill and I with this release.  Here’s a little backstage video to celebrate the real deal debut of the album.  Shouts to Chris for throwing this together super last minute.  And shouts to Plain Ole Bill forever.  LAVA BANGERS 4 LYFE.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speaking of LAVA BANGERS, I suppose it’s finally time to unveil our Top 15 picks from Doomtree’s first ever rap contest.  First off, I want to thank every single one of you that submitted for this.  When it was all said and done we had over 80 entries, several from other countries even.  I really appreciate you all taking the time out of your busy lives to be a part of this thing.  Hopefully we can do more stuff like this in the future.  Below are the 15 winners, in no particular order, that will be entered into the public voting poll today.  If you didn’t make it, I promise you are not a loser.  We had a super hard time picking this thing, and below is just what Bill and I were immediately feeling at the time.  Congratulations to the following artists:

Homeless

C-Silence

Sheeped

Guante

Soulcrate Music

Verble Spears

Seany Richfield

Baby Jayne

Analyrical

ft (the shadow government)

Ill P.O.E.

Jimmy Spits

Ashley Fedorchak

Scott Vance

Ben Field

So here is how this thing works now.  Listen to the submissions in the player below, then, just VOTE RIGHT HERE for your favorite one. Boom.

Pretty simple actually.  We will hold the contest until this coming Monday night (1/30) at midnight (12:00 PST, technically the beginning of Tuesday morning).  One vote per IP address will be allowed.  Then on Tuesday morning (1/31) we’ll announce the big winner.  So yeah, go spread the word about this thing and make sure to vote for you favorite.  Let’s make this thing as interesting as the NFL Playoffs.

Oh one more thing.  We just announced the Snow Kings tour yesterday, our first ever week long tour of Colorado (I may finally have to learn how to 760 shred that gnar gnar pow pow).  Just click on the banner below for tons more details and ticket info.  We’re super excited to have an excuse to finally buy some snow tires for MOUNTAIN.  Really looking forward to this thing.

 Alright, it’s officially van call time.  We got Boise, Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver coming up before we make our descent through the West Coast.  It’s been amazing to see so many of you out on the road already.  Hope to see a ton more of you real soon.  I’ll leave you with a couple Video Bonus Jams from two of the Rap Contest finalists that went the extra mile and made real deal music videos for their tracks.  Not playing favorites at all, just wanted to highlight them since there was no way to post the videos to the contest site.  Hope you all have a wonderful week.  LAVA BANGERS 4 LYFE.

Homeless

Click here to view the embedded video.

Verble Spears

Click here to view the embedded video.

– Beak

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh man, can’t believe this thing really kicks off on Thursday.  So much laundry to do.  If you still haven’t gotten tickets yet, have no fear, just go to doomtree.net/events.  We’ve got everything all organized for you there.

We’re actually gonna be bringing out our very own camera/video guy this time around to capture all the content ever (we’ll get into some real deal tour introductions in an upcoming Tour Days With Lazerbeak).  Make sure to check back here on the regular as we’ll be uploading stills from the previous night’s show every single day, as well as several short tour videos throughout each week.  Really going for it this time, haha.

The bewitching hour is upon us.  The official cut off for the LAVA BANGERS Rap Contest is this Saturday at the stroke of midnight.  I’d like to personally thank everyone who has already submitted.  I gotta say though, I’m a little underwhelmed at the amount of submissions so far.  We’ve never done anything like this so I guess I wouldn’t know, but from all the talk/complaining I hear every day about how hungry/overlooked all these rappers are I would’ve thought more people would be taking a stab at this thing.  No shots, just an observation. Rappers: step up to the plate.  You’ll get a free unreleased lava banger (priceless) and a bunch of shine time.  Everything you need to know about the contest is all right HERE.  It is so easy.  Remember, this Saturday (1/21) is the deadline.  We’ll be posting our Top 15 on Tuesday and then letting the public vote for the winner.  Oh, and if you know someone who might be good for this please let them know.  Light a fire under em or something.  Let’s make this thing interesting.  OK, stern dad talk is over now.

In related news, we got the CDs back from the plant on Friday and they turned out awesome (and yes, that is my weird nub of a thumb in the bottom left corner).  Huge shouts to everyone that pre-ordered a copy.  You should’ve received an email yesterday with instructions on how to join the Ustream webcast with Bill and me tonight (8pm CST).  Your discs and pop rocks are all packed up too and will be shipping out tomorrow.  A sincere thank you again, I really do understand that it is a choice to purchase music, and I truly appreciate the support.

You can still pick up LAVA BANGERS from the webstore HERE if you’d like (with recipe cards and pop rocks while supplies last).  If you need a little more reassurance, check out this insanely positive review of the album from Absolute Punk right HERE.  I think I might’ve gotten a tiny man tear of joy caught in my eye after reading it.

That is a random picture of my dog Della wearing my winter hat like a BAWSE, because I couldn’t come up with any better segue into the Bonus Jams outro.  Now that I’ve mentioned it though, it really does seem like the perfect time to drop some new Bonus Jams on you.  There’s been a ton of songs and videos coming out over the last week here in the Twin Cities that I’d like to highlight today.  First off, Polica premiered their first video for “Lay Your Cards Down” over on Jay-Z’s blog, which is so baller to me.  Edited by the extremely talented JoLynn Garnes.  Check it out, the whole album smokes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brother Ali dropped an entire song about his sweet potato pie recipe over a new Common instrumental.  Haha, awesome.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The dude Franz Diego put out a super tripped out seizure inducing video for “Waggin On The Scene.”

Prof released a 4 minute video homage to Sally Jesse Raphael for his “Gampo” anthem.

Click here to view the embedded video.

KnoX, Mr. Gene Poole, and Mike the Martyr just dropped their video for “Breathe.”  Good to see Poole back at it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And finally, our good friends Isaac Gale and David Jensen had an art show opening last week celebrating all the visual work they did for the Bon Iver deluxe DVD.  Check out this trailer, and if you live close by make sure to go check out the showing at XYZ Gallery all this month.

Click here to view the embedded video.

OK, that about does it for this week’s post.  I gotta run and handle these Doomtree taxes before band practice starts.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.  We’ll see some of you tonight on the webcast, and I look forward to seeing a million more of you (slight exaggeration) out on the road over the next couple months.  Come out, come up, and say hi.  And make sure to check back here constantly starting Friday for a trillion updates from the road.  See you soon!

– Beak

And while we’re on the subject, check out this incredibly sweet volcanic eruption promo video for LAVA BANGERS that the kid Young Baby Ander Other put together.  It’s got pretty much everything I’ve ever dreamed of in a promo clip (slow motion erupting volcanoes, LAZERBEAK in huge moving letters, a liberal use of explosion sound effects), plus you get an audio preview of “Xylophone” off the album as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Haha, that’s the best!  Thanks Ander.

In big Doomtree news, we’ve just added a bunch of new shows to the No Kings Tour!  Check the dates below.  We’ll be winding our way through the Midwest on our epic trek down to SXSW.  Should be an absolute blast.  A select batch of pre-sale tickets will go on sale today at 3pm CST for the new additions (get it, New Edition, no?).  You can grab them below by clicking on your city.  Can’t believe this whole thing really starts a week from Thursday.  So amped!

Doomtree

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Submissions for the LAVA BANGERS Rap Contest are already flying in.  You’ve still got til January 22nd to download “Cement Blocks/Knight Fighter” and turn it into your very own track.  Then just email it in the form of an MP3 or YouTube link to rapcontest@doomtree.net.  On the 24th Bill and I will announce our 15 favorites and then we’ll let the public vote to decide the ultimate winner.  Download the track and get all the details right HERE.

And don’t forget, the early pre-order for LAVA BANGERS ends this Saturday night (if you want your order shipped out on the 18th, almost a whole week before street date).  Check out the webstore HERE to grab a copy.  Consider it your annual subscription fee to 52 weekly issues of Tuesdays With Lazerbeak (I copied that off a US Weekly postcard).  You’ll get a signed copy of the CD, a handwritten recipe card with the secrets to my world renowned LAVA BANGERS Nachos and LAVA BANGER Shots (plus a packet of Pop Rocks, the final key ingredient in the shots), and access to a very special Ustream webcast that Bill and I will be partaking in next Tuesday (8pm CST).  We’ll be reporting live from the Legend Lair; playing some new joints, answering every and all query, and cooking up a serious storm.  Plus we’ll email you a digital copy of the record on the 24th.  More than any of that other stuff though, I guess the real number one reason why should pre-order this thing is so I don’t get stuck with the heavy burden of eating all the Pop Rocks ever.

OK, that’s my best attempt at a pitch/spiel.  Thank you for always bearing with me on this sorta stuff.  And thanks a ton to everyone who has already ordered.  You’re the best.  I truly appreciate it.

I’m gonna leave you with a very special Bonus Jam Mixtape today.  Paper Tiger, my dear friend and world renowned International Touring DJ partner in crime, has blessed me with my very own 20 MINUTE MIX in honor of LAVA BANGERS.  I seriously feel like I’ve been knighted or something.  Papes has been making the awesomest mixtapes over the last year (we just cleaned our whole house to them all last week) and you can download all of them over on his page right HERE.  For this eleventh edition of the project he blended an insane amount of my previously released instrumentals into a career spanning catch-you-up-to-speed history of where I’ve been.  Huge shouts to that man, I had honestly forgotten about quite a few of these joints.  Anyways, click the picture below to stream/download the whole thing.

Alright, that about does it for this post.  I hope you all have a great time gearing up for more insane NFL Playoffs this weekend.  See you next week for the final Tuesdays With Lazerbeak before the triumphant return of Tour Days With Lazerbeak.

– Beak

20 unreleased instrumental heat knockers from yours truly, all sequenced and blended together by DJ extraordinaire Plain Ole Bill to create a seamless project that plays-front-to back as a continuous, unified whole!  I could go on for days about how this all came to be, but you should probably just listen to a couple songs with your own two ears first.  Check out “Cement Blocks” and “Knight Fighter” to get a much better feel for what we’re really working with here.

We’ve decided to take the “hit em out of nowhere real quick” approach and will be releasing the album in three very short weeks from now on January 24th, right in time for the No Kings Tour kickoff.  Due to the time constraints we’re offering a very special super limited edition LAVA BANGERS pre-order starting right now!  Here’s what you’ll get with your purchase:

- A signed copy of the album

- A two-sided handwritten recipe card from me with instructions on how to make my legendary Lava Banger Shots and world famous Lava Banger Nachos.

- A packet of Pop Rocks (the final key ingredient necessary to consume these shots)

- Access to a very special pre-tour Ustream webcast with Beak and Bill (1/17, 8:00 CST).  We’ll be playing a bunch of new songs live, answering any and all questions you might have, and cooking up a serious storm.  This webcast will only be available to pre-orderers.

All orders placed by Saturday 1/14 will be shipped out on Wednesday 1/18 (almost a full week before street date) and we’ll also email you a digital copy of the record on 1/24.  Check out the pre-order at the webstore right HERE.  I will totally vouch for the quality of the product, haha.

To coincide with all this insanity, we’ve also decided to try something that we’ve never ever done before: a real deal rap contest!

Here’s how it works:  Download the “Cement Blocks/Knight Fighter” instrumental HERE. Then make your very own song over any portion of the beat that you’d like.  You can sing, rap, tap dance, play jazz clarinet, seriously anything goes.  It can be 30 seconds or the full 4 minutes, whatever you’re into.  Then all you have to do is send in your finished composition in the form of an MP3 or YouTube video to rapcontest@doomtree.net (no attachments over 15 MB please).  We’ll be accepting submissions for the following three weeks, and on the big album release date we will announce our most favorite top 15 picks (voted on by all of Doomtree).  At that point we’ll open up the polls to the public and let the rest of the world duke it out and vote for their favorite.  The person/group with the most votes by the following week will be crowned the winner and will receive their very own unreleased Lazerbeak beat absolutely free of charge, plus some serious shine time all over doomtree.net once that song is completed.  Boom, the Lava Bangers Rap Contest in a nutshell.  Pretty simple actually.  WE WANT YOU!

And there you have it, the LAVA BANGERS album/pre-order/rap contest announcement extravaganza.  I think you already know what the Bonus Jams of the week are gonna be.  Here they are one more time: “Cement Blocks” and “Knight Fighter.”

I hope you are all having a wonderful first week of the new year.  Remember, 2012 is both the Year of the Endorsement Deal and the Year of the Sweatshirt (below is a picture to further demonstrate that point).  See you next Tuesday for sure.  LAVA BANGERS 4 LYFE!!!!

– Beak