Music Blog
HELP THE BOLIDES LOCATE MISSING EQUIPMENT!
After a killer and possible final show at Alex’s Bar on the night of June 26 (which was this past Friday, for those that don’t like dealing with numbers), Long Beach garage-geeks The Bolides had a less-than-pleasant weekend. Turns out someone made off with two major pieces of singer/guitarist/synthesizerist(?) Dr. Mikro Fiche’s equipment.
Not cool! The next time you’re Craigslisting, at a pawn shop, or hanging in your shady friend’s garage, be on the lookout for the following:
- Roland KC500 Keyboard Combo Amplifier (looks like this)
- "Fender The Twin” With red knobs and a glow-in-the-dark painted meteor on the grill. The wooden tube protector on the back is broken off.
Just remember, stealing from a scientist is a Cardinal Sin. Stealing from a scientist who doubles as the singer and guitarist in a new-wave-garage band? Now that’s just mean.
Contact The Bolides at their Myspace or drop a note here if you have any information.
[Link to original article: http://thedistrictweekly.com/2009/daily/staff-infection/music-blog/help-the-bolides-locate-missing-equipment/ ]
Also, here is the farewell article on The Bolides that I linked to in an earlier post...
Features
CLONE COLOGNE
The Bolides: Goodbye, friends of science and technology (sort of)
PHOTO by DAVID THORNTON
Whether it was laughing hysterically at an impromptu mosh pit that broke out (in 2002!) or wondering how long it would take for their robot to break as people kicked it across the dance floor, each Bolides show was as good as the first time I saw them, when I became an instant fan because of their shared affinity for Jon Spencer and Devo. Now, after hundreds of shows, a record on Dionysius and countless hours of scientific experimentation, they are going away for a bit. The science and Long Beach music communities will mourn solemnly.
The District Weekly: The first time I saw the Bolides, I instantly thought of Jon Spencer and Devo—this kind of melding of old punk, garage rock and the new sounds that kind of naturally derived out of these two genres—is that close to the basic idea of the Bolides?
Dr. Mikro Fiche (guitar, synthesizers and vocals): Indeed, spot on! Early on (1996) I placed an ad in The Recycler—does that date this band or what?—looking to start collaborating and recording ideas. I listed that the project would be as if Pussy Galore evolved into the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in outer space.
How difficult has it been to separate your important scientific research from playing music?
Music definitely clears the head, so we can get back to discovering the perfect Clone Cologne or figuring out which came first, T&A or DNA.So this isn’t necessarily goodbye, but where are you guys going?
The Bolides are going on an ‘extended sabbatical.’What memories stick out over the years you guys spent together?
One of the craziest times I remember was when we played at Alex’s Bar and a local punk— whose name is pronounced the same as a recent former president—jumped on stage and called for a huddle. He proceeded to let the band know that he wanted to administer mushrooms to us, right away. I laughed; one of us considered taking him up on the offer.Are you scared one of your old lab rats may come looking for you after you set them free?
No way! Those rats always left B > I > R <>THE BOLIDES WITH FUNGUS MUNGUS AND THE SHROOMS, PROJECT SHEPHERD AND BLOB ALEX’S BAR | 2913 E ANAHEIM ST | LONG BEACH 90804 | 562.434.8292 | ALEXSBAR.COM | FRI | $8-10 | CALL FOR TIME
[Link to original article: http://thedistrictweekly.com/2009/print/music/music-features/clone-cologne/ ]
FeaturesRegarding the "MITIGATING FACTOR:" Sometimes they play nurse, themselves...
A TORTOISE, A HANKLA AND AN ICE CREAM MAN, OH MY!
The District Weekly, Wed. October 29
Our first-ever list of Long Beach's scariest!
In Long Beach, there's the scary—ghosts on the Queen Mary, Igor's Alley and the unfettered power of people like Chris Pook—and the really scary—Measure I, the parking lots at any of our Trader Joe's outposts and, 30 days out of 31, Colorado Lagoon. So, while it wasn't easy for us to whittle down Long Beach's scariest into just 13 winners—Rich Archbold, the Navy sailor statue and the guy who blew up his house with fireworks, sorry, you won't be moving on toward becoming this season's scariest person—we're confident in who (and what) we ended up with. Then again, a tortoise tops a list bookended by an ice cream man, so maybe Long Beach really isn't as scary as we thought. Wait—we forgot about Jim Hankla. Never mind.
...
9. THE BOLIDES
Seriously. What is with those masks? Are they surgeons? Are they fit to operate? Are they made of science? Does science make a man? Who are these masked men who play songs like "mind ctrl alt del" and "relaxative"? They have names. Here are the names: Dr. Mikro Fiche, Dr. Shrink Wray, Dr. Drummond (he's the drummer, you see) and Dr. Phillip de Chi Chi's. Without the masks, you might recognize them—but do you really want to know what's going on behind those masks? We don't want them to take them off. God only knows. It's scary. (And they're obsessed with robots. Are they going to make us all into robots? Will there be a mind probe?)
MITIGATING FACTOR: Sometimes we like to play nurse.
...
Don't necessarily remember the first time I witnessed the scientific exploits of the Bolides, but what is memorable is that at least most of their influences seemed to jibe with mine. Sure, most people could toss the band's music off because it could appear to be laden with shtick; however, that's the same mistake people made (and still make) when they talk about the Mummies, Devo or Sparks. It's not so much what they are saying, which, by the way, has its moments of hilarity. It's more the way their music challenges the audience to actually move, instead of just standing around sipping their drinks. With that in mind, and having only recently shaken off the dust that may have accumulated during their brief hiatus, the Bolides definitely made the crowd move during their set at Alex's Bar opening for Supernova tonight. Relying on mostly new songs, such as "Mind Ctrl Alt Delete," the band still has the same fire as the first time I saw them, and still has the ability to let you hear what influences their equations without making them seem like a photocopy. (ATR)
THE SWEET SCIENCE
August 15th, 2007
The Bolides just cause devastation
By Chris Ziegler
[click thumbnail to enlarge]
PHOTO by JENNIE WARREN
When nuggets come rattling in from outer space, they must be called bolides—that's the technical term for "a solid nickel meteorite that won't break up in the atmosphere and will just cause devastation," explains Bolides singer/guitarist Dr. Micro Fiche. Behind him, drummer Dr. Drummond has two of those little laser pointers/synthesizeristers that come with stickers warning you not to shine them directly into your eyes. He is shining them directly into his eyes.
This is just another night at the lab for the Long Beach band with the scientific shtick, and the only guy who isn't wearing glasses is wearing a microsurgeon's flashlight strapped to his forehead. Their 10 years of synth-stimulated rock & roll came just a little too late to align alongside revered inspirations like the Mummies and Devo, but that inherited pile of bile and science still combines to make the Bolides the determined and learned men they are. ("We all met at the League of Extraordinary Genitals," explains Fiche. Entrance exam? "No," says bassist Dr. Shrink Wray. "Weight requirement." Any message for the aspiring scientists still in school? "Don't worry," says Wray, "it'll grow.")
Kim Fowley could have done something with this: white-coated gutter geeks into fringe tech (Fiche drags out a scarred Korg keytar that handles like a capsized kayak; guitarist Dr. Philip D. Chi Chi keeps a new theremin quivering in the practice shed) who used to cover "Mr. Pharmacist" (the song that asks what science can do for you!) and who chunk out caveman originals like "Mind Ctrl Alt Delete" and "Relaxative" that substitute their own unknowns into ? and the Mysterians.
"I've always been into sci-fi movies, B-movie UFOs—and magic!" says Fiche, who in part of his out-of-character daytime life designed a T-shirt that perfectly details his character: a computer keyboard and a synthesizer keyboard mated seamlessly in the middle. "I always felt pretty nerdy—always had something stupid to say!"
But that was a long time ago, he adds cheerfully—now as the voice of the Bolides, he joins these three noted locals (all Long Beach-area musicians easily identified if unmasked, with discographies that pre-date even tenure in the Bolides) in a band that perforates its anxiety attacks ("The anti-depressants don't make her feel very pleasant," went an old song) with sharp punchlines and plenty of short pauses for Fiche to slip in a for-the-fun-of-it scream ("Giga-giga-bytes!" delivered at rat-a-tat stutter).
A no-quark-left-uncharmed set at the Bigfoot Lodge so boggled Dionysus Records' Lee Joseph that he set up the release of the Bolides' one and only official document—2004's Science Under Pressure, a full-length as much space junk as it is trog rock. Ever since (and after the amiable departure of original member Dr. Osiris) the Bolide research team has been chasing "cologne for clones" (thanks, Shrink) and an ass for the ASIMO robot, by subdivision U.S. Robuttocks (thanks, Fiche).
There's also a recorded live set at Alex's Bar and new demos toward a possible album that Fiche hopes point toward a newly technological sound something closer to Trans Am, though he can't get them to play right now. And their fog machine doesn't want to work, either. So to get the appropriately dramatic effect they want—it makes the lasers look better—the Bolides divvy up a pack of cigarettes and start smoking. As they say—science marches on.
THE BOLIDES WITH SUPERNOVA, THINKING ALOUD AND PISTOLERO ALEX'S BAR | 2913 E ANAHEIM ST | LONG BEACH 90804 | ALEXSBAR.COM | FRI 9PM | $7 OR $5 IF YOU WEAR TINFOIL | 21+
