Buy tickets here. Share the event on Facebook here.
Reasons to not miss this:
1) The Mod Theme – Dressing up like a Mod means dressing up very nicely, like the Mod couple on our flier. How can you miss an event full of super attractive people dressed to the nines? It also means dancing to awesome Mod music DJ sets courtesy of Danny from The Frail!
2) The Blumenbooth – Our first Rock Hop in San Jose had an amazing photo booth provided by Aaron Blumenshine and it was a huge success (See photos from the last one here!). It only made sense to have him return for the San Francisco Rock Hop to capture everyones awesome Modwear.
3) The super solid line-up. Aside from yours truly this Rock Hop features performances from Finish Ticket, Picture Atlantic and Coast Jumper. It doesn’t really get any better than that.
Can’t wait to see you there! Over and out.
-Zen
[ RSVP on Facebook | Buy Tickets ]
We are so stoked for the theme of this one, it’s going to be lots of fun!
MIX CD SWAP -
Bring a Mix CD to trade and discover some new music! Drop one off when you arrive and then pick one up when you leave. Your CD must have a minimum of 10 tracks. You can decorate the CD however you like but you MUST INCLUDE A TRACK LISTING. You can only take a CD if you bring one!
DJ SET’S BY BLACKLIGHT FINDINGS -
Want to help create the playlist for the night? You can! DJ Lia of Blacklight Findings will be spinning REAL VINYL throughout the night. Bring your own Vinyl marked with the appropriate track you wish to have played and we’ll queue it up! You can submit up to three songs.
See you there!
-Zen
We’ve got a slew of home-base shows happening throughout March and April that’re worth checking out! Here’s the run down.
9pm. Free. All ages, with a full bar. Will Sprott from The Mumlers will also be playing an acoustic set. This is ERIN KEELYS FIRST SHOW BACK.
9pm. 21+. $5. A night of 21+ fun with our pals in Evolutia, Sunrunners and Coast Jumper.
9pm. 21+. $6. HELL&LULA (featuring ex-PDNF bassist Matt/Russell Henson) from Los Angeles joins us and Girl Named T for this very special San Francisco show!
6:30pm. All ages. Join us for a free performance AND grab some free digital downloads while you’re at it!
If you wanna get snuggly and personal with the PDNF crew now is the time as soon summer will be here and the time of extravaganza’s and tours will be upon us!
Love,
Zen
As you may remember in July of 2009 Erin Keely had her ‘last official show’ with Please Do Not Fight, leaving me the only remaining founding member.
Those of you who are observant may recall that that wasn’t her LAST appearance with us however – she returned to give Kubes a proper send off and stood in when T was absent on a handful of occasions. She also joined us in the studio, lending her keyboard skills to ‘Something Here’ and ‘Take It Back’. Which is as it should be, since she wrote the parts! We all remained friends of course – Erin and I frequently play Dungeons and Dragons with the boys in Picture Atlantic and she remained an avid fan of the local music scene, attending shows left and right.
But none of the less, her departure pushed Please Do Not Fight in a decidedly more guitar-driven direction and when T left we even lost the female vocals. And while PDNF is certainly my baby, Erin has been a crucial component of it since it’s inception. As well as just lending her musical talents she has always been a primary songwriting partner. It was almost beginning to feel like PDNF was an entirely different band, which lead us to releasing ‘pastpresentfuture : part 1′ as both a reflective look back and also a sort of ‘restart’ point.
Anyways, a month back Erin asked me to join her for coffee at The Grind and she asked if she could rejoin the band.
I, of course, said yes. Her first show back with us will be on March 24th for a free show at San Pedro Square Market in San Jose. She is already posting over on our Twitter (@pdnf) page and you can expect to see some blogs from her, as well as some new songs featuring her, soon. We couldn’t be more thrilled.
Welcome back Erin!!!
-Zen
I keep trying over and over again to be a good blogger. I have all these ideas and say to myself “This week! This week is the week I get retrospective and look back and talk about 2011 and what a year it was! Oh what a year indeed!”.
But then I write some songs. Book some shows. Work on a music video. Plan to book the next Rock Hop. Other things happen and my poor little blog falls to the wayside. I promise I’ll do better. I swear.
In the meantime, we’re playing some music at Hotel Utah in San Francisco on February 4th with some really great bands and we really hope you’ll be there.
I made the flyer. You can RSVP here. You can uStream the whole event on the day right here. You can buy tickets here.
Love,
Zen
At The Rock Hop Holiday Hooplah on December 10th we will be giving away a brand new black 8GB iPod Touch! The iPod will come loaded up with tons of music, artwork and videos from performers Finish Ticket, Please Do Not Fight, PK and Rin Tin Tiger as well as artist David Maddalena and, on top of that, also does everything a normal iPod Touch does.
Each of the bands will aso be donating merchandise and other gifts to be included in the Raffle.
TO ENTER: All you need to do is attend The Rock Hop on December 10th. Every person who comes wearing an ugly Holiday Sweater gets one free raffle ticket. Raffle tickets are also available for $2 and all the money goes toward supporting future Rock Hops and helping us create neat opportunities like this raffle! Raffle tickets will be drawn throughout the night with the iPod Touch being given away prior to Finish Ticket’s set. You must be present at the time your number is called to claim your prize!
That’s about it. Big thanks goes out to Dan Mahoney for creating this opportunity and donating a brand new iPod Touch to the cause. We’re stoked to be able to beef up the boing factor on our raffle to such a mega degree.
Can’t wait to see you all there!
-Zen
[ Buy Tickets | RSVP On Facebook ]
Dear 21+ friends – do you avoid our big shows because you’re afraid of children? Would you like to enjoy a 12-pack of PBR in quiet shame without the curious eyes of a baby catching your gaze? Well then my friends, THIS SHOW IS THE SHOW FOR YOU. We will be opening up the night at 9:30pm on the dot. We will play all of our new album pastpresentfuture : part 1 as well as a slew of new material including a never before heard song. Seriously.
After our set we will be grabbing some beers and other fancy drinks while enjoying the sounds of our very talented friends in Sunrunners, Picture Atlantic and Briertone. Yes, you heard it right, we’ll be hanging out and we’d love if you came and hung out with us.
Love,
Zen
We’ve pretty much been in hibernation since our CD Release at the Haunted Hoedown at Bottom of the Hill. I can hardly believe how much energy we and the other bands put into the event – it pretty much consumed my entire life for all of October! But it was so much fun. I think we all kind of left the show feeling like “Wow. Now what? How do we top that?”. Don’t worry, we’ll find a way.
One of my favorite things about the show was everybody’s costumes! Whenever you have a themed show there’s always that fear that people won’t get into the spirit of event but boy did they ever! I saw at least two Doctor Who’s and two Quail Men. There was the Tooth Fairy, Giraffes, Foxes, Zombies, Wicked Witches, you name it. Even our old drummer buddy Kubes showed up in full attire.
Kubes and Heather as American Gladiators
About a month before the event we decided we’d bring back an old Please Do Not Fight song from our debut LP ‘Leave It All Behind’. We had folks on Facebook vote on what they wanted to hear and the winning track was our song ‘On The Other Hand, Fight! Fight! Fight!’. Geoff had never played the keyboard part before so obviously it had been a while since we’d rocked it but it was tons of fun to get to play it again and I felt it was the perfect song to dedicate to Occupy Oakland who, at the time, were having some trouble with the police.
Overall the night was an awful success, everyones costumes were super spooky and all the bands did amazing. We dressed up as our Mafia-selves from the Haunted Showdown video series which you can revisit starting with episode one here.
If you were part of creating this night in any way, from us to you: thanks. I want to especially thank Brandileigha, who manned our merch booth in make-up as spooky as you can get and the very talented Anna Larina who, as usual, documented the evening in photo form. Check out more shots from the Haunted Hoedown here on Facebook courtesy of Anna and Skeleton Key Photography.
This is what music should be all about.
Love,
Zen
The fans right before our encore
Part 2 in Rin Tin Tiger’s epic three part series. Part 3 comes out this Monday and features the final showdown between the Rin Tin Tiger’s and the Please Do Not Fight’s!
Don’t forget, October 28th we’re playing with these guys and releasing our new album at Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco, CA. It’s going to be a huge party and you won’t want to miss it!
-Zen
Last week we spent 5 hours or so with Rin Tin Tiger filming clips for a three-part web series titled ‘The Haunted Showdown’. This is Part 1. Enjoy. I can’t wait to see the rest. Working with these guys is always hilarious and we couldn’t be more excited to be sharing the stage with them October 28th.
-Zen
I am so excited. Please Do Not Fight opens up right at 7:00pm so be timely! -Zen
Here’s what you need to know in a nutshell:
pastpresentfuture : part 1 will be released on October 28th.
There will be a release party at Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco, CA as part of Rin Tin Tigers Halloween Hoedown.
Pre-orders begin September 24th. If you pre-order you get the album one week early.
It will be a digital release only.
Below is what we went out to the e-mail list yesterday if you want the nitty gritty. If you would also like to get info early you can put your e-mail address in on the right or go here.
We are bursting with excitement. We can’t wait to share these songs with you! Please join us at The Rock Hop on September 24th – we’ll be playing all of pastpresentfuture : part 1, a few covers and even a new song. Maybe a new song from pastpresentfuture : part 2??? Only time will tell!
Lurhve,
Zen
—
Name: pastpresentfuture : part 1
Tracks:
1. Take It Back
2. Silence My Skin
3. Something Here
4. Blink
Official release date: October 28th, 2011
Pre-Order Begins: September 24th, 2011 at www.pleasedonotfight.com (People who pre-order get it a week early on October 21st)
Format: Digital Only
Why ‘part 1′?
This is part 1 of a three part release culminating in a full length album. A trilogy if you will. The other two parts will be released over the course of the next year.
Why is ‘pastpresentfuture : part 1′ only being released digitally?
To save us and you money. You don’t want to buy three separate products from us only to have us release the same songs as a full length album. That wouldn’t be fair. The digital releases will be priced very affordably – .75 per song and $2 for the whole thing – and simple download cards and no-frills CD’s will be available for purchase at shows. An official physical product with extra goodies will be released once the full album is completed although the exact nature of this hasn’t been decided yet.
Will there be a release party?
Why yes there will! We are headlining Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco on October 28th as part of Rin Tin Tiger’s Halloween Hoedown. We will be in costume, performing all of ‘pastpresentfuture : part 1′ along with some spooky covers and other surprises! More details on that as it draws closer.
I spoke at lengths about how much I enjoy local music over on our Tumblr. You can read that blog post here:
http://pleasedonotfight.tumblr.com/post/4335217493/local-shows
But aside from just enjoying it, local music is important. Moreso, local art is important. Moreso, all ages local art events are important. Why? It’s a way for our communities to really connect. I mean really. Not over some big Hollywood blockbuster made in New Zealand or London but over something that is coming from the community – something real and tangible and right here and right now.
Why all ages? Because we need it. Because without all ages events there is nowhere for adults and teens and kids to co-mingle as equals. Kids and teenagers are limited to school yards and family homes and over-patrolled movie theaters where adults are forced into authority figure roles. Without a space to exist together – even if just for a brief moment – the younger generation loses respect for the older generation and the older generation can’t even begin to fathom how to interact with the younger like normal human beings. We have a lot to learn from each other and as things are we have no way to do that. Public spaces created by the community, for the community, away from giant corporations and heartless mainstream vendors slinging the latest cool energy drink are imperative to our ability to have a free-thinking educated united populace. There, I said it. It’s preachy but it’s true!
So our own little effort to create a slice of that has been in the form of Open Mic Night at The Grind in Redwood City, CA. It’s a space for anyone to come and perform their art, music, comedy, poetry, dance routine … you name it. Real people giving you a real slice of themselves at an incredible local business. It’s been running for almost a year and a half now and I love it. This month we have Rin Tin Tiger as the featured act and we would love to see you there as well, whether you’re performing or simply sharing in the experience.
I should also mentioned that this Friday’s benefit for Raphael House of San Francisco at the Dolores Park Cafe in San Francisco is our last official show with Girl Named T as she will be focusing on her own project from here on out. I know, I know, we said that about Erin and yes it’s true, you will probably see T again. For us at least she will be around, filming some videos and also recording songs for our new album so it doesn’t really feel like the right time to say goodbye. That being said, it’s worth mentioning that this is her last show as an official full time member of the band so that we can really pay honor to all the work she’s done with us. T, it’s been such a pleasure, you’re such an incredible talent and I look forward to working with you a ton more in the future.
Much respect,
- Zen
Back in March Mimi was critically injured by a drunk driver. In response her friends and family created ‘Rise and Shine Mimi’ to have a on-line presence and place for her supporters to gather and share their thoughts and feelings. Quickly – as all really important things do – it grew bigger and bigger and Rise and Shine Mimi partnered with Friends Against Drunk Driving and now here we are ready to play this fantastic benefit concert. I almost can’t count all the great friends who will be performing with us from Girl Named T (The main project of our own T. Sawi!) to Curious Quail to Rin Tin Tiger.
We’ll be going on right at 5pm and kicking things off so be sure to show up early and stay for the whole thing. It’s for a good cause and it’s going to be a good time!
-Zen
