Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Rebecca Black Inspires Us Too

The music industry has been abducted recently by Rebecca Black and her insightful, paradigm shifting song "Friday." We like songs that shift paradigms, though we admit we can't offer an honest critique since none of us could make it past the 51second mark. Still, we're certain the remaining minutes were just as brilliant as the first 51 seconds. Anyway, those first 51seconds did inspire us. Mainly they inspired us not to change our style to that. So thank you, Ms. Black. We wish you the best of luck in your music career. You're already more successful than we will ever be. And you can rest assured that you will never have to take us to court in a copyright suit. You will also never have to worry about what to wear to the Grammy's except as Justin Bieber's date. I bet he'd be a fun date. You should go for it.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Keyboard Player/Lead Singer Takes Guitar Lessons

Yes, that's right. As if we couldn't get anymore awesome, our lead singer/keyboard player is now learning to play the guitar - correctly.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Apology

Apologies for Jack the Cat. We have a complicated love-hate relationship with our favorite feline fan which, yes, may have been skewing a bit more toward the hate lately. We should have seen this coming. Let the healing process begin!

Thankfully, the Fishers maintained the peace with an offering about which even bitter Jack couldn't muster a complaint: a massive four-star lounge pillow parked right in front of the fireplace. Jack is once again king of his domain, which happens to be a floor above and slightly to the right of his previous one (which as you know from the volatile exchanges, had been corrupted by our practice sessions). There is now plenty of peace, harmony, and love flowing once again on Friday nights in Perkasie, though of course that has had no noticeable impact on our dark, depressing songs. (The latest is actually a powerful exploration of violence called "Loaded Gun." No, definitely not happy, and Jack is thrilled he now gets to perch himself in front of the fire at a very safe distance from the amps.)

Anyway, we just wanted to assure you that we haven't broken up (yet - more about that later), Jack wasn't "donated" to the Humane Society, and we're still pumping out new tunes when we can. We also wanted to make a special announcement that we have another fan. I lost count after six, so I think that means we're up to eight or nine. So............eight or nine!

We love you all and we should definitely get together some time and BBQ. We love BBQ.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Jack the Cat

Hey Penchant fans.

Jack the Cat here coming to you live from the basement - aka my former haven of tranquility for doing my business. But hey, if they think hangin out while I pinch off a loaf in the corner is a good time, more power to them. Meanwhile, I'm stuck staring numbly while my ear drums bleed night after night. For some reason they seem to think you can disguise technical shortcomings with more wattage in the amps. Let me tell you, all it does is make your crap louder. Oh yeah, and now they have this new field recorder which they think is just awesome because they can freakin play the same song fifty times in a row and record it over and over and over again. Yeah, that's fantastic for the rest of us in the house. The truth is though, it's not like it's a constant wail of loudness. They pretty much talk and joke around half the time anyway. It's like "play depressing crappy song...tell a story from work this week...play depressing crappy song...joke about Jon's indecipherable beat from previous version of depressing crappy song." Don't get me wrong, their music actually isn't terrible. I just don't get why they can't play in a garage or something. Garages were invented for storing unused exercise equipment and wannabe rock bands. Basements are for hiding from humans. I was perfectly content with the soothing hum of the furnace and water heater in surround sound. Hook that up to an amp. Now you're talkin. Perfectly content...perfectly....perrrrrrrrrrr....ah....TGI Saturday. No practice for another week. Thank you gods of auditory functioning.

Peace.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Major Setback for PFR (CPS)

It is with great sadness that I write today's blog. Although basement bands generally require few absolute necessities for existence other than passing knowledge of music, functional equipment and/or intstruments, and a high tolerance for odd smells like cat litter and (hopefully) non-lethal mold, one non-negotiable pre-requisite for any basement band is the presence of an actual basement.

Unfortunately, due to recent backlash from Mother Nature, Penchant for Red (Cataclysmic Paradigm Shift)'s noted Perkasie basement has been rendered unusable due to flooding and abhorrant smells even its dedicated and seasoned members cannot stomach. Sadly, practices have been temporarily suspended, which is particularly devastating as the lead singer has two new songs she's dying to try with the other band members.

Still, not all hope is lost. The basement's owner is working dilligently to restore the practice-site to tolerable conditions and other basements are currently being considered as possible last resorts to save this nacent non-public-performing Bucks County phenomenon.

If you have any suggestions we would love to hear from you. (But please, PLEASE do not insult us by suggesting we move our operation to a garage. We are NOT a garage band and never will be.) Thank you for your support in these trying times and hopefully we will soon be back on our feet, once again producing the prolific music no one listens to.

We love you all!

Penchant (CPS)

!!UPDATE!! One optimistic fan has offered a sparkling gem of encouragement we all can appreciate at some time in our lives: use your pain. Stay tuned for our upcoming power ballad titled "You Failed Me" - an ode to the inadequacies of sump pumps.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Our Name

Hi Everyone!

We're signing on for the first time as we begin our journey out of the Fisher's basement and into public. (Jack, you're great, but you're a cat and we're ready for human fans. Love ya big guy.)

We are currently a band with more names than albums, but we're ok with that. You can't rush the creative process. We started out as Penchant for Red for four reasons
1. We like red.
2. Jon used it in a sentence once, thought he sounded brilliant, and wanted as many reminders of that moment as possible.
3. The Philadelphia Phillies are red and, well, they are and we love them.
4. I have red streaks in my hair which are just plain awesome.

Recently, however, we've been flirting with CPS (Cataclysmic Paradigm Shift) for two reasons.
1. Penchant for Red is too easily abbreviated to PFR which is already a band. A really famous one. (Thanks Jonathan for reminding us, you can stop now. We get it.)
2. See reason #2 for Penchant for Red (except it wasn't even his phrase this time - he stole it from a guy in sales. I don't even think he knows what it means.)

Personally, I always preferred Recovering Cynic (my vote from the beginning) for three reasons.
1. I'm a cynic.
2. Jon's a cynic.
3. Cara's a cynic.
(Although we're all still very active cynics, so the recovering part was only for commercial appeal.)

Anyway, our musical style is dark, piano-based rock with lots of angst. Our practice style is casual, self-depricating humor with lots of "What was that? Can we try that again? Maybe less polka this time?" Our personal style is rock star chic with a touch of business casual depending on the time of day.

As of today we have 16 friends on Facebook and one true fan who actually wants an album (we love you Vida! It's coming baby!) Come along for the ride if you want as we fight tooth and nail for at least 20 friends. Now's your chance to hop in the passanger seat while it's still vacant on our ride to the top (of the stairs of the Fishers' basement).