FYM ON THE LIST: THE REPLACEMENTS • LIVE IN SEATTLE • BUMBERSHOOT 2014

(Editor's Note: Catch the Replacements live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon tomorrow evening — 28 years since NBC banned them from their network after a wild night on SNL)

Thoughts & Photos: J.D. Scholten

As a general concert rule, I am not one for reunion tours. However, this is the Replacements! The Bumbershoot show was only their 9th show in the past two years after 22 years of silence. I was in, despite having so many questions. What were they going to sound like? Will they be belligerent, or even coherent? Now that these ‘bastards of young’ have grown up and their youth has evaded them, who are these ‘Mats?

It was very much a Paul and Tommy show, the only two remaining original members. They bantered, joked with the audience and continued to be endearingly arrogant. Despite being shells of their former raucous youth, they were out there having fun and doing things their way.

They played the 6pm Main Stage slot, oddly between Schoolboy Q and the Head and the Heart. Westerberg even referenced, Maybe when we got older we can play when it’s dark out. The slot seemed symbolic of their career – where they never reached a mainstream audience or had that much commercial success; in spite of their loyal fans and the critics’ admiration.

They immediately silenced all doubts as they jumped out of the gates with “Favorite Thing” followed by three songs off their first album, the punk filled Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. As the show progressed, they showed their diversity and evolution of sound by playing most of the highlights off — Let It Be, Tim, Please to Meet Me, and Don’t Tell a Soul. In typical ‘Mats fashion, their cover of the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” was only played partially and it seemed like it could have been rehearsed a bit more (if it was at all). For an encore, Mr. Westerberg leaped off in front of the stage to perform “Left of the Dial,” mostly with his back turned to the crowd, before they radiantly closed with “Alex Chilton.”

This tour is producing consistently great, crowd-pleasing shows. Gone are the legendary days when you never knew what you were going to get with these unapologetic, unpredictable drunkards. At times, Paul stumbled over a few of the lyrics, he didn’t shy away from any use of expletives, he smoked between songs (and sometimes during), and his guitar cable came undone, but those imperfections are part of the charm.



Maybe it’s maturation or maybe it’s them paying it back to the fans for all the years of uncertainty, but whatever it is, it is working and enjoyable. I went to see the Replacements; something that I never thought was going to happen. View the full setlist HERE. Cheers, FYM.

FYM PRESS PLAY: THEORETICS • SUNSETS

FYM's favorite Seattle hip-hop band is back with a smooth new jam for your Friday listening pleasure. As part of their one single a month series, Theoretics today release Sunsets featuring Grynch & Afrok. Listen to this laid-back summer cruiser below:



Sunsets is the second jam Theoretics have released for their monthly single series. The first, Funk Break featuring Moe Betta can be heard HERE. It's nice to see Theoretics moving past the departure of their original vocalists Mark Hoy and Chimaroke Abuachi in 2013. The band is comprised of immensely talented musicians, and they are truly doing something special on this current project.

Sunsets and the overall direction Theoretics seem to be going in, reminds us of the heyday of 90's hip-hop. There is a definite Midnight Marauders vibe going on here. Grynch (The King of Ballard), and Olympia hip-hop vet Afrok do an excellent job contributing vocals to Sunsets. Stay up to date on the latest Theoretics news by visiting their website HERE.

KRIS ORLOWSKI • CAPITOL HILL BLOCK PARTY

Fresh off a lengthy tour across the United States, Seattle's Kris Orlowski performed a secret show for 107.7 The End in the Caffe Vita Bean Room this past Saturday at Capitol Hill Block Party.

Before his set we found Kris Orlowski out front hanging with his keyboardist Torry Anderson & sonic wiz kid Budo. It was a true pleasure meeting Budo, one of Seattle's most versatile musicians and producers.

Orlowski started off his set with the uplifting anthem -All My People GO. The soaring chorus backed by his tour traveled band buds sounded as tight as we've ever heard him. FYM is loving his new approach to composition with a punched up rock/pop influence.

If you haven't heard Kris Orlowski's latest release Believer, check out the video for the title track below (shot while on their national tour with Jamestown Revival). It's a great introduction to his record - released on April 15th this past spring.



FYM had a great time at the Caffe Vita Bean Room rockin' out to Orlowski's set. Visit his site HERE to stay current with tour dates, merch and music news. View more photos from Kris Orlowski's secret Capitol Hill Block Party set below (click to expand images). Cheers, FYM.

FYM PREVIEW: ROCK LOCAL ° SEATTLE WA USA

This Saturday, June 28th FYM is excited to attend ROCK LOCAL, a new music showcase being held at Hotel Max in downtown Seattle! Rock Local's mission statement speaks for itself:

"Rooted in our passion for community and art of all forms, ROCK LOCAL exists to promote local artisans, musicians, and independent brands while giving back to worthwhile causes. We connect audience to artist through intimate showcases in unique settings.

Kristen Burns (with a little help from her friends) has put together a stellar lineup of Seattle live music, art and spirits that should not be missed. Tickets can be purchased online HERE. For even more details visit RockLocal.org. Enjoy FYM's digital showcase of the bands performing this Saturday at ROCK LOCAL below:

MY GOODNESS

DUDE YORK

THE MOONDOGGIES

FOX AND THE LAW

OLD BOTTLE BLACK

FYM DESIGN: RECENT LYRIC POSTERS FOR MARY LAMBERT • SEATTLE WA ° USA

This past month (Grammy-Nominated, Capitol Records Recording Artist) Mary Lambert reached out to FYM to design 18x24 lyric posters for two of her songs--- She Keeps Me Warm and I Know Girls (Body Love).

My design concept above for She Keeps Me Warm, was to make this song visually feel like a patriotic statement. I used various weights of the same typeface, as well as color-blocking, and a newsprint texture in the background to make the lyrics speak for themselves.

My second visual interpretation of She Keeps Me Warm, is more straight-forward. I took the tune for what it is... a beautiful love song (as opposed to a political statement). There were two variations of this poster (the other is a light 50's blue). I liked the idea of including her photo and doubling up the lyrics to balance out the design. 

I Know Girls (Body Love), was a very challenging piece to design. The poem itself is around 60 lines of text, and it's also a very intense statement---emotionally uplifting while being brutally honest. For my first interpretation I decided to focus on BOLD color, while creating a modern layout for people to easily read Mary's empowering statement. 

The next, I focused on the spoken word vibe of I Know Girls (Body Love). I wanted to create a graphic that gave off a textbook/notebook feel (including highlighter marks and blacked out lines). This design is my personal favorite, and the detail shows off well when blown up to 18x24.

Up next Mary asked FYM to create a couple t-shirt designs using a line from I Know Girls (Body Love). The layout for the quote was pretty obvious for me. I wanted MORE and BODY to stand out on this shirt. 

For the next design I simply hacked More/Body to add a more dynamic take on the simple layout statement. Find Mary Lambert on tour with Matt Nathanson and Gavin DeGraw this summer. More info HERE. Cheers, FYM. They Live!

FYM DESIGN: NEW KRIS ORLOWSKI T-SHIRTS

Big things are already happening for Kris Orlowski in 2014. The Seattle singer/songwriter just signed a deal with SONGS Music Publishing and has a new full-length record coming out in April. Watch his latest music video for the title track Believer below:



Last month Kris reached out to us about designing a couple t-shirts for him. We wanted to design something that had a classic yet modern feel.

The graphic above was our interpretation of a mountain ladscape/native design vibe. We decided to keep the typography width uniform, and blow out the kerning on Believer -making a big and bold statement on top/balanced with the album title small on the bottom.

For the next design, we wanted to create something that had an old patch feel. We liked the idea of including a reference to Seattle without screaming it... so the latitude and longitude were included on the graphic. We also really liked the idea of playing up the KO in his initials, creating a strong statement capping off the top of the triangle's interior.

Purchase tickets to Kris Orlowski's album release show in April at the Showbox Market HERE. Kris will also be playing a FREE set at the Nordstrom downtown Seattle location this Friday (Valentine's Day) at noon by the piano. To purchase our t-shirt designs click HERE.

FYM DESIGN: MARY LAMBERT ° POSTER DESIGN

It's been an incredible ride watching Mary Lambert rise to massive success over the past year and a half. Last week she reached out to us to design another show poster for her (and it's one of our favorites).

Mary recently signed to Capitol Records, continues to perform on Macklemore's The Heist world tour, and has a huge solo concert coming up in February (which we created above). Purchase tickets HERE.



FYM wanted to create something very clean and straight-forward for this poster. The hacked triangles together represent an 'M' icon for us. We kept the date and time subtle, as Mary's name alone will stop people on the streets to look more closely at the details. With just a few hints of texture, we focused on making this very modern, playing with white space, typography weights and color theory. We hope you enjoy. Cheers, FYM.

FYM ON THE LIST: BIRDCLOUD LIVE IN SEATTLE

Birdcloud rained its Southern, sexy, warped and wonderful melodies down on my ears and into my beer glass last night.

“Honey, go ask the bartender to put my whisky in the microwave,” Mackenzie requested of the girl standing next to me. She was singing with a sore throat but doing just fine on stage with her bandmate, Jasmin. Gazing at each other over microphones crossed like the blue field of stars on a Confederate Flag, the girls sang about the men they fancied, dogs they buried and bein’ followed by cops even though they ain’t done nothin’ wrong that day.

Being a southern friend transplant settled down in Seattle, I felt just right last night, even though I never set foot in their home town. Still, a small part Seattle was warshed over with sounds that make you wanna go down to the historical Mississippi. There wasn’t a person in the room who wasn’t dancing, clapping or singing along with the band.



My dreams were seeded with Birdcloud song all night long and I woke up singin’ their tunes this morning. I can’t think of a better way to have spent a Sunday evening at the Lo-Fi than with those two ladies.

Words: John Kelley • Graphic: Jesse Codling • FYM THEY LIVE!

FYM DESIGN: PICKWICK • NEW YEAR'S EVE • LIVE IN CHICAGO ILLINOIS USA • POSTER

Pickwick has been touring steadily throughout 2013 since the release of their debut record Can't Talk Medicine earlier this year. The Seattle band closes out 2013 in style with a two-date say in Chicago Illinois. The poster above is our latest design for Pickwick. FYM was going for a classic boxing poster vibe with red and black Chicago colors, and clean layout to make the large amount of content easy to understand.

Last Saturday in Seattle Pickwick pulled off a fantastic pop-up show in Pioneer Square. FYM was really impressed with how tight the band sounded, the stellar new tunes they played, and lead singer Galen Disston's energy was as fiery as we've ever seen him perform. Click HERE to purchase tickets for the Chicago New Year's Eve Performance.

FYM DESIGN: LADIES CLUB 2 ° COLUMBIA CITY THEATER ° POSTER ARTWORK

Seattle's Shenandoah Davis reached out to FYM a couple weeks ago about another poster design for her ongoing concert event --Ladies Club. The second in this series features a stacked line-up of female musicians from the Northwest/West Coast.



FYM is stoked Whitney Lyman and Lena Simon of Pollens will be performing live that evening at Columbia City Theater. To get an idea of the dizzying power of Pollens, watch the video above. This was a fun poster to make, focusing on color theory and typography layout + we get to support such a cool event. Purchase tickets HERE. Cheers, FYM.

FYM DESIGN: PICKWICK ° SEATTLE WA USA

Today FYM is excited to share a few of our recent design projects for Seattle's Pickwick. The first is pictured above, Pickwick today announced they will be performing TWO nights in a row at the historic Crocodile!



If you can't wait until December to see them, find the band on the road this Fall; touring with Neko Case and Black Joe Lewis (see the full list of tour dates HERE). Below we have also included other design projects we have done for Pickwick over the past couple months. It's always a pleasure working with this band, visit their merch site HERE. Cheers, FYM.

Postcards:

Coasters:

T-Shirt:

Tote:

FYM DESIGN: RECENT POSTER DESIGNS • CAMPFIRE OK • SHENANDOAH DAVIS

This week FYM was excited to work with Seattle's Campfire OK again, designing their album release show poster. CFOK's second full-length record When You Have Arrived, will officially be released 9.17.13! To purchase tickets to their Crocodile show with Sean Nelson visit HERE.

A few weeks ago Shenandoah Davis came to us wanting a poster design for a really unique showcase. The event is called 'Ladies Club' -featuring some of the finest music talents in the Northwest (all of which in this case are ladies). If you have a chance, pop over to Columbia City Theater tomorrow night! You can purchase tickets HERE.

FYM DESIGN: MARY LAMBERT • SHE KEEPS ME WARM • COVER ARTWORK • SEATTLE WA, USA

Over the past year FYM has been working on design projects for Seattle's Mary Lambert. We've worked on numerous poster designs, logo, t-shirt, stickers, as well as our latest piece shown below. (a little background) Lambert's collaboration with Macklemore on Same Love, became an international anthem for civil rights for all + marriage equality this past year. Same Love has since gone platinum in the US, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Rap Charts, as well as #1 in Australia and New Zealand.

On Tuesday July 30th, Mary Lambert releases on iTunes the full extension of her hook on Same Love. The track is titled She Keeps Me Warm... It's less of a political statement, and more just a classic love song. Lambert's voice and songwriting skills are on another level with the release of this new single. She Keeps Me Warm, is a tune anyone whose ever been in love can relate to (gay or straight). Listen to the new single via Lambert's bandcamp below:


The She Keeps Me Warm cover art is a departure from FYM's signature style (as seen at the very top of this article), showcasing our versatility. Lambert wanted to include photos from the tracks music video shoot, and give the feel of a movie poster. We are stoked to have designed a digital face for such a great tune, and wish Mary great success in 2013. Visit iTunes on Tuesday or download the track from bandcamp. Cheers, FYM.

FYM PREVIEW: SEAN NELSON • MAKE GOOD CHOICES • ALBUM RELEASE SHOW • SEATTLE WA

A week from today, Sean Nelson celebrates the release of his first solo record LIVE at Neumos in Seattle (Wednesday June 26th, 2013). Watch the brilliant animated video for the title track Make Good Choices below. + Keep your eyes peeled for a Shenandoah Davis office cameo as well :)



The former Harvey Danger frontman collaborated with friends like REM's Peter Buck and Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla + many others over 8 years of scattered recording sessions. The outcome is an album worth digging into over multiple late night listens.

On the surface you have a great pop/rock record showcasing Sean Nelson's signature voice (which is still extremely powerful). But our favorite attribute of Nelson is his masterful storytelling skills. It's his honesty, lyrical wit, and sonic picture painting that keeps us coming back to Make Good Choices.

This past April we had the pleasure of seeing Nelson play LIVE at the Nordstrom Flagship piano (part of the Flagship's monthly concert series to support local music). Nelson's waggish showmanship paired perfectly with the surreal location we saw him in. To purchase Sean Nelson's new album, visit Really Records HERE. OR come to the album release show at Neumos next week! We can't to hear these tunes with a full band LIVE! Cheers, FYM. They Live!