Rain This Time

Good evening my friends,

June 28th, 2011 and we've got RAIN here in the Bay Area. Today has been the wettest on record for this date in much of the Bay Area and the rain just keeps on coming.

As of 2 p.m., .37 inches of rain had fallen on downtown San Francisco, breaking the old record of .22 inches set back in 1952.

Don't get me wrong, I love the rain, but it is really messing with the whole Summer vibe that folks have going right now.

Needless to say this weather brings to mind some music.  Now is the time for The Screaming Paisleys and "Rain This Time"

Enjoy the track, stay warm and dry and drop me a note - lemme know if you're digging the scene here.

Mark Harvey

Just how many?

Good evening,

I was recently asked how many CD do I have out.  My answer was that I'd blog about it since I need to sit back and count the releases.  I've not thought about it and the question got me thinking.  It is amazing to think about releasing music.  There are a bunch of steps to it and because I've been doing it for so long I don't focus on numbers, just that I enjoy doing it. So...here we go... (click an album title or the play button...have a listen...)


The Screaming Paisleys "EXIT"


mopehead "Cheer Up My Camp"


mopehead "Ballads for Bogun"


mopehead "Songs for Spim"


mopehead "SS-MOPEHEAD"


mopehead "instrumental mopehead"


mopehead "It's Always Good"


mopehead "Big Top Blues"


mopehead "unreleased mopehead"


mopehead "instrumental mopehead volume two"


Rain Station "Criminal Goat"


Rain Station "Fancy Fancy"


Rain Station "The Living Room Sessions"


Rain Station "Stonedozer"


Rain Station "DARK RIDE"


Rain Station "Unreleased Rain Station"


Rain Station "Underground"


Beth Eyre and Month of Sundays "Nobody Records Presents:"


MITCH "Outlaws"


MITCH "Unreleased"


Mark Harvey "Pumpkinland"


Mark Harvey "Pumpkinland II"


Mark Harvey "Pumpkinland III"


Mark Harvey "Unreleased"


Mark Harvey "Fleshrot: Songs from the Dead"

There are a few more releases not listed (not on Bandcamp). In total there are about 27 releases.

There you have it!

Have a great evening,

Mark Harvey

Porch at the Hemlock Tavern

Hey there,

So last night my buddy Jay (Rain Station) and I went out to see the band Porch at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco.  Jay was telling me it was his first time out without the wife and child in 5 or so years.  WOW...we need to go out more. It was very cool getting caught up with Jay, having dinner and hanging out.  It was great seeing Todd, Chris and Michael (of Porch) as well as Zac Briesach (a high school friend and an admin on NorCal Beer Blog's Facebook page).

So, Porch.  I believe it was somewhere around 1992 or 1993 when my high school friends Dave Ayer (who played in the The Screaming Paisleys with me) and Jeff Palmer joined former Primus guitarist, Todd Huth,  to start Porch.  After they recorded their 1993 CD, Jeff left and Chris Frey joined Porch and a little while after that another high school friend, Michael Jacobs, joined Porch.  I was a staple at their shows in the early days - great music - great musicians -just plain great. Last night was no exception.

When I heard Chris was going to be in town for a couple of shows I knew I had to find a way to get out and see them play.  I knew they were working on a new CD and was looking forward to hearing new tunes (as well as some old ones).  Turns out that they hadn't played a show in around 5 years, but you wouldn't know it.  They all play in other bands so their chops are super tight, but there's just something about the sound these three guys make.
(set list photo to the left was swiped...hope you're not mad at me Chris)

These guys are epic musicians.  Chris and Michael are a rhythm section to die for - heavy - solid. Todd is just plain genius.  The intensity was huge - pounding out old tunes and new songs. There comes a point when you look at this three piece and wonder where is all the sonic goodness coming from...only three guys?  Yes.

Anyhow, I am hoping they play again and I am eagerly awaiting their next release.

Well done guys!

Mark Harvey
(ears still ringing)

A Thousand Times

Good evening,

Here's another track taken from The Screaming Paisleys "EXIT" LP.  "A Thousand Times" was another 4-track tune that I wrote...about a girl.  Tony's fretless bass is fantastic and beats the bass bends I had done on the original 4-track version.  Dave's drums follows nearly the same pattern as the 4-track version, but Dave's drum skills beat my programming any day of the week.

My "wall of sound" guitar sound was a part of what The Screaming Paisleys were about (during the recording of this track with Bart Thurber at House of Faith Recording), but as we began to gig more and more my sound became a little less ambient and a little clearer.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the track, drop me a line and take care.

Mark Harvey

The Screaming Paisleys on bandcamp

Well...after a little blog silence I've decided to get with the program again and get something written here. I do plan on writing the account of my 40th birthday weekend (mainly for my own historical record...I'm getting old, ya know), but tonight I decided to announce the digital availability of The Screaming Paisleys "EXIT" LP (found here). It is available to listen to as well as to download. It is a fairly good quality rip, not the best...

For those who have not read the account of the band, keep reading...

The Screaming Paisleys started out as Rhythm and Rhyme - a band thrown together for a Battle of the Bands contest at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, CA. Soon after that "gig" we changed our name to The Screaming Paisleys, played for a little while and then broke up. Some where out there is a demo we recorded at a friend's house, but I've not come across it yet.
At that point I began recording on my Tascam 4-track and I called my solo project mopehead. At a party at my buddy Scott Rehlaender's house, Dave Ayer (The Screaming Paisleys' drummer) heard some of the tracks I had recorded and thought it would be cool to get together. We reenlisted Brent Willson (bass) and began practicing, but soon stopped playing together again. I started looking for a bass player to fill Brent's spot.
One night while working at Gelb Music in Redwood City, CA (click here to visit their website) Tony Iuppa saw the flier pinned to the wall and approached me asking if he could "try out" for the band. So Dave, Tony and I began practicing. The Screaming Paisleys were together again.
Once we had a number of tunes ready we decided to record an LP. EXIT was recorded with Bart Thurber at the original House Of Faith (click here to visit website) recording studio (then in Bart's Palo Alto house). Bart was amazing and taught all of us a lot during the process. I had been going to recording college so working with Bart was great to hone my production skills.

EXIT was released in 1988. The Screaming Paisleys played lots of gigs. Our LP charted on many college radio stations nationwide. It was a good run. We ended up breaking up when Dave decided to go on tour with SAMIAM (one of many bands that Dave was playing in). Tony and I would get together and record strange songs on the 4-track, but the band would never get together again. Tony's friend, Shane created a website (click here to visit) for The Screaming Paisleys (a page for stuff that doesn't have a page).

I've now ripped the entire LP so here is a digital version of EXIT. I hope you enjoy the tracks.

Mark Harvey - Acoustic & Electric Guitars/Vocals
Click here if you can't figure out where you're supposed to click to listen to "EXIT".