NEWS

7/14/07 – The CD is finally available!  Send us an e-mail if you are interested in ordering, and we will gladly get you

one, along with the new buttons which were made special for this release.  Also of interest, we have finally gotten around to updating the “shows” section, so see where you can find us basically from now until September.  Other than that, things have been fairly quiet – we played some great shows in June, and are looking forward to finishing out the summer with a bunch more shows, including those in the Pacific Northwest.  Also, photo pages should be updated as the week draws on, so you’ll have tons of pictures of us recording, as well as a handful of shows from the past months.

 

5/21/07 – Wow, I guess time slips away something fierce.  Now to put some new news up on this site: WE HAVE

FINISHED THE CD!  At long last, we got into the studio, laid down some killer tracks, and have had the disc mastered and sent off to our production plant.  They should be in our eager hands in about 2 weeks, give or take.  We are leaving this Saturday for two shows down in SoCal – one at the Purple Orchid in El Segundo on Saturday night, and then the South Bay Surf Stomp, which will be going on all day long at Suzy’s in Hermosa on Sunday the 27th.  We are really excited to hit the road again.

Speaking of hitting the road again – we will be traveling to yet-uncovered areas in August as we are planning our first Northern Run in band history.  At this point, we don’t know 100% what each show will be, but we’ll be going around between Bellingham, WA and Portland, OR on the weekend of August 10th-12th.  Looks like we’ll be playing with The Verbtones, The ‘Verb, and The All-Nighters, among a host of other bands. 

Other than that, things keep on rolling in Lava Land.  We are getting busy already for the summer, and will be posting dates to our site as time allows.  There will be a CD release party here in SF sometime soon (after we have the CDs in our hands), so be sure to keep an eye out for that, and keep an eye out for how you can get your very own copy of “Don’t Drink the Water” from us or other local sellers.

 

10/2/06 – Hey hey folks, we actually made it UNDER the “news update every five months” deadline, which is all

kinds of good.  This summer has been crazy – we’ve played all around the State, and have really started to come into our own as far as developing the new sound is concerned.  Rodd has now been in the band for over a year and a half, and that crazy ol’ new CD that we’ve been prattling on about for oh so long is starting to really come together.  We have penned roughly 11 songs, with another in the works.  More importantly, the disc finally has a title: “Don’t Drink the Water”, which is a nod to the title track which we’re very proud of.  The overall artistic concept is setting itself up, and we hope to go into the studio sometime in January or February most likely.  Whenever the trip to the studio is made, you can guarantee that everything we crank out will be nothing short of solid gold.

Right now, we’re holding off on actively booking shows while we get the new songs honed, but could surprise y’all with a few public performances at any time.  We are, however, eyeing a trip to the Pacific Northwest most likely in March.  Yeah, it’s still a ways away, but the wheels are in motion.

Outside of the musical world, we are excited to announce that Taylor Still, the one and only, will be getting married in just over a month, which also explains in part our recent quiet.  Ladies, Bill is still single. 

Finally, we are unveiling a new feature on the site, which should be up any day now – The Lava Rats “Quote of the Week” page.  On this page you’ll have some amusing musings of the boys, and you’ll be privy to some of the sweet nuggets of wisdom that have been thrown around The Rat Cave. 

 

5/21/06 – Wow, we are really on a roll with this “news update every five months”.  The Rats

have definitely gotten back into “fight shape”: we are practicing regularly, and adding new songs to the set on a pretty regular basis now.  Bill is about three weeks away from finishing the school year, so the originals should get back and rolling again in no time.  We’re still keeping recording in our sights before too long as well, as the CD is inching ever closer. 

Also, you can click around the site for all the latest updates – there is a new direct link to the iTunes music store where you can download “Surfing the Magma” on the Merch page, about 4 shows worth of pictures on the pics page, and all the latest in our shows are up on the Gigs page. 
Hopefully some of you are heading over here from our myspace page, which has logged nearly three thousand hits, to accompany our seven hundred plus friends.  Gotta love free internet promotion. 

So now that Bill is going to be free again, this site should be a LOT more frequently maintained, and we thank everyone for coming out to check us out.  Hopefully we’ll see some of you down in SoCal next weekend for the Memorial Day Surf Stomp.

 

12/21/05 – So it’s been five months to the day since our last update, but hey, life is busy. 

That statement in and of itself pretty much sums up life in “Lava Land” at the moment.  We’re cooking on a few new shows for January, and are still writing away on new tunes.  By our count, it seems like we are around 8 songs towards a new CD, which we hope to begin recording sometime this Spring.  Due to Bill’s increasing workload, and Rodd’s change of schedule at his job, the Rats have not been in the cave as often, but as a result, each time we get together, we have both more energy and more desire to play. 

In other news, there are either two or three new photo galleries up, so swing on by that page and check out some more photos of us in action.  You can also start the new year off right – with a night of Surf Music, by joining us on NEW YEAR’S DAY at Ireland’s 32.  We will be kicking out the jams starting around 9 on January first.  Check the shows section for more info.  And finally, the moment you have been waiting for – the unveiling of Rodd’s bio.  It’s been about nine months in the making, but it will sure be worth it.