we will be touring extensively in the new year and are looking for a sound man to become part of our permanent family. if you're interested and have done sound (on a professional level) before then please contact robert james at info@westindiangirl.com leave your phone number and brief description of your experience. this will be a great job to have.
well, we are in the middle of working on some new songs for the next record. the songs sound great. i'm really proud of how pro everyone has been in the studio - it's great working with this crew. this next record is going to be very interesting. we have a few shows coming up in november but that is only for the lucky few in costa mesa and san diego. i think december will be more of the same - recording every night with maybe a few shows in AZ, NV, and CA. 
oh yeah as far as that pic below goes, that's mariqueen as a model for plasticgod products. she looks amazing (but what else is new right?) congratulations mariqueen we are all proud of you and looking forward to vogue in the near future. believe it or not she's modeling a necklace in the pics...i think if you use a magnifying glass you can get a good look at it;)
so check out surfline.com right now because there is another aaron chang gallery posted there featuring our song "miles from monterey". gotta love it. thanx aaron!
i then decide to use the emergency call box in the elevator and see if anyone would really answer it. to my surprise eventually someone picks up and says that they will page the guy who would i guess come save me. ok sure, is this really gonna happen. ok im still bumming out that i dont have my cell with the 500+ numbers it so i decided to look through rob's phone to see who i knew that he knew that i thought would be up at this hour and would be willing to drive to downtown. of course the only one i could call would be carter who had just gotten home from the studio. i called him and told him the situation and he was a great sport in that he immediately got in his car to help. so ten minutes later i call the emergency call box guy back and i say "so what's the deal" he tells me that it's 3 in the morning and that the guy isnt answering his page. at this point i was just mad and lonely so i figured i might as well try get out myself. somehow i pried open the door only to find myself between the 1st and 2nd floor. i jumped up and crawled out to the second floor and that was that ( it was actually not that far off the second floor so it was no big deal).
i rejoiced upon my new found freedom and called carter to laugh about it and then went outside to smoke and ask short dog if he saw my phone and he said no...agian. i told him i was just stuck in the elevator and he was like "was that why the alarm kept going off?" after that i went back up stairs and rob was just about to leave cos he thought i had gotten in some sort of fight outside cos i was gone for so long. i told him the whole story and we were both laughing about it. so then right before we leave i stick my hand in the same couch i had looked in twice early and instantly pull out my cell phone. how fucking weird is that!!!??? we were actually sitting on that couch calling my phone but couldnt hear it for some reason cos the couch is so fluffy it totally muted my ringer. moral of the story...dont ride elevators by yourself, don't lose your cell phone, always have good guys like carter in your band, and always carry matches with you.the door to our space - there's a man sleeping in that box
so - we have new shirts and stuff up in our store. they rock - take a look. if you've ever ordered from our store you can appreciate how we ship out our merch. wrapped in packages that look like they're up to no good and should be searched. gangster.
| How to make a West Indian Girl |
| Ingredients: 5 parts mercy 1 part self-sufficiency 3 parts energy |
| Method: Combine in a tall glass half filled with crushed ice. Add lustfulness to taste! Do not overindulge! |
ok so I finally added some more show reports. scroll down or check out the show report column on the right to read about the m theory in-store, the last show with turin brakes in s.d. and the solana beach show with sound tribe sector 9. I'm finally kicking it back into high blogging gear folks so watch out. oh yeah i also added a links section to the blog below the show reports.
hey guys- so remember my blog about playing live on WXPN in philly before our show that night with turin brakes. (if you don't check it out here - click this link and scroll down till you find it cos this will be good background for what was going on.) so anyway, this was our FIRST ever live performance as a band on the radio and it was early and it was fun but it was pretty sloppy. wrong notes abound (gotta love me hitting the wrong note in monterey) but that's the magic of being live. i still can't thank the station and david enough for giving us the opportunity to play - they are a HUGE HUGE reason we have such a great fan base in the philly area. thanx again and i hope you enjoy this rare stream.we have a myspace account. i know i know, what is the world coming to, right? listen, i know you all have one, i had one. if you don't already have our band as your friend, chop chop and get adding.
cool live shots taken by nik atkins - thanx man
we played at the roxy last night which officially ended our 4 show mini tour with sound tribe sector 9. the sound tribe shows were great in that we got to play in front of a different crowd. the sts9 guys were all really awesome and i want to thank them all for being so cool to us. i hope we can play some more shows with them down the road.once again we tried out a different set list and in retrospect it might not have flowed as well as anaheim did but at the end of the day you live and learn. the roxy has never been on my list of favorite clubs to play at as an opener and it still continues to be so. as we were playing i saw the moniter guy leave the booth as well as the house sound guy. that kind of sucks, plus we didnt get any sort of our rider fulfilled and their merch booth is possibly the worst one (followed by portland's doug fir) i've ever had the displeasure to work. i was kicked out of the bar on top of the roxy 2 years ago and vowed never to return there because the guy working the door that night told me my band would never play there. ahhh, hidnsight is 20/20, if only i had listened to him. 
oh yeah, the best thing about this show was derek (on right) who came up from sd to help us out. not only did he help me take care of a ton of shit ranging from settling the show, loading, unloading, writing set lists, helping out with merch, making sure our van didnt get a ticket etc etc etc he did it all extremely well and professionally. i was so impressed with how he busted his ass and took charge of things on his own that i asked him to be our tour manager from now. you will be seeing more of him i promise. on a random note a photographer from rolling stone was there to take pics of us for their "random notes" section. and on another really random and strange note there was a guy there filming me for an upcoming documentary film on minnesota viking fans. my reality tv 15 seconds of fame are finally upon me but in the weirdest of reality worlds...i get filmed while drinking beer and swearing while watching the vikings on about 3 hours of sleep the night before. good stuff.
Mariqueen's Mind
Carter's Consciencelewscious in a tribal zone
i have no memory of this event
loadin' up suck serious ass
house of blues...our little vegas
i really like playing at the house of blues in anaheim. it was sort of like the belly up in that they take care of the band with meals and have a great staff there. anaheim has probably one of my favorite merch booth set ups. it's on the second floor outside of the club. it's rather nice to be outside selling stuff with plenty of room to spread out. we also had the sd crew - walt, doug, tim, nick and derek come up there. good times all around. mariqueen's mom and dad also showed up and were very happy they could hear their daughter this time. zontobi was also in the house. oh shit i almost forgot the newbold's, drew, erin and taylor showed up. they came down from sacramento. now that is fucking awesome. 
we love those guys so much and i cant really thank them enough for helping to spread the west indian girl word. i'm glad we played some new material for them as well because they have been through a lot with us and could really appreciate the new takes on some of the old songs. hopefully one day soon we will get to play in sacto proper so that they wont have to drive so far to see us.
Mariqueen's Mind
What Were You Thinking While Playing: "mmm..." no really, that's all... "mmm..."
Carter's Consciencethese guys are everywhere
packin' up the merch booth - a thankless job
erin...what more can i say? you rock
walt and tim making it count
doug, mariqueen and tim...a few drinks later
live shots sent in by mike sherry - thanx mike!
i love solana beach and the belly up - it's one of the better sounding stages that we've played at. the sound crew there is totally pro and what a difference that makes when you're playing. in many ways it's like the troubadour in that they are all right there with you when you are playing helping to make a better show. i know this must be getting old saying this but the crowd was typical for s.d in that they totally rocked and gave us that unconditional love you crave for when you're up onstage giving it your all. the new songs - indian ocean and hopi sounded pretty good. 
both of those new tunes are pretty long but they went over well. we also experimented with a long version of monterey which i was totally feeling. i'm not sure what else to say except s.d is the best. it was great to see russ, leo and derek there. thanx for the support guys. oh yeah, thanx to jim brown for driving us down there in his cool van (seen in the pics) - it has a loft in it so you can sleep in style. we loved it.
The Show: the show was cool. i still think we played hellaciously early but it was better than the day before. one huge problem was the stage set up. sts9 has like, a bazillion equipment and it's not like west indian girl is a small band. we have our own trailer filled to the brim with gear. through out the set i think i hit carter's rhodes and boom stand a total of ten times.
Carter's Consciencezach from sts9 with zelig (aka walt)
tight stage - tighter show
leo and ash 
these two are simply the best people ever
making the set list in the van
our gorgeous hollywood couple
last night we played at the majestic theatre with sound tribe sector 9. i was really looking forward to these 4 sts9 shows just because we were playing some new songs in hopes of working out some arrangements for them. we ended up playing at 7:30 and thus played to about 20 people max which is the least amount of people we have ever played for. it was kinda funny but i thought we played the new songs pretty well. kampy made my night by showing up even though he missed "northern sky" which we played especially for him. at the merch booth after the show i drank too much on an empty stomach (because we had no food in our dressing room) and ended up puking. i actually made myself puke cos i cant stand being drunk. after that i crashed in the van til i felt better. it was nice of everyone else to pick up the slack at the merch booth for me. thanx guys i really enjoyed the nap.
Mariqueen's Mind
Carter's Consciencekampy and lewscious at the merch booth
i know you've all been clicking on our blog link and thinking to yourselves, "what's become of fran?"...
last show with the turin brakes guys
san diego is now our "second" official home away from home. first it was seattle but "daygo" is really making a case for so cal being the best spot in the world for west indian girl. i always knew our show at the casbah was going to sell out because there was just to much shit happening for us in sd for it not to happen - with all the love from midori on 94.9 and the press we were getting it was a sure thing. and what a way to end the tour...on a high. this show was important for us because it was one of the first times we really started to "jam" and stray away from some of our normal song structures and thus the first step in our evolving into a better bunch of musicians. the crowd was also one of the best we have ever played in front of. hey san diego this dago loves you. if any other italians are reading this do you know why are we called that? 
well, Oddly enough, the word "Dago", which is used slangily (and often in a derogatory sense) to mean someone of Italian heritage, comes from the Spanish name Diego. Spanish and Portugese sailors serving aboard English and American ships were called Dagos. Over the years, the term came to mean any southern European sailor, and since the late 1800s, it no longer refers to sailors or other Europeans, but simply means Italian. Who knows how these things evolve...(ask walt over on the right - he seems to think he knows everything)
Mariqueen's Mind
The Show: my god, what a way to end the tour. best show on the tour. best show to date. best show ever! it was magical. we were packed in tight, but in a very comfortable way. i did, however, almost hit rob with my tambourine. the audience was just outstanding. we had the venue filled. the vibes that were coming from our fans just radiated through us and i think, made us play and sing better. at the end of what are you afraid of i was so out of control with my tambourine that i almost fell into mark's drum set and rob had to grab my arm to keep me from falling. hot. what a great show.
What Were You Thinking While Playing: i am so sweaty, i am taking this sweater off and i'm going to look like a slob in this wife beater but i don't care because nothing can stop me from having this much fun on stage. i think i eeeeped a lot in my head as well.
flashing and arm grabbing from randoms and i even had my own personal cigarette caddy. it was amazing. the minute i was done with a cigarette, it didn't matter where i was or who i was talking to, he'd show up by my side cigarette ready to put in my mouth. is that some gangster shit or what? sometimes my life is ridiculously awesome.
Carter's Conscience
It was pretty funny, actually, we'd say who we we're and try to take a photo with them, and they were like "Yeah right, bullshit you're in the band" So we gave up, but we're coming back to play the Belly Up in a month, so bring the cameras!ollie and tommy -- twins...crazy huh?
drove past a nuclear power plant that day (titties anyone?)
lewscious and troy having a moment
emma's parents are the best?
band shot sent in by flavio and renata - thanx!
bass moment with eddie from turin brakes
chill vibes at m theory
our acoustic show at m theory was pretty classic. totally chill vibe - i was totally into it. walt and doug met us there and provided some great support. as usual it was just mariqueen and r james playing 3 songs while i hosted the event. the record store itself is pretty dope. good vibes. after the show walt and doug showed me the san diego newspaper that had a big article and picture about us in it. then they cruised me back (in the yellow jeep) to the club for sound check. these guys are good to know.
Mariqueen's Mindduring the deed
that's the back of doug's head
more visuals and lights are in our future
what a difference a day makes. after what i thought was a luke warm show the first night we rebounded with a much better show the second night. one reason i think the show was better was because the majority of our fans showed up exuding a ton of positive energy which made it's way to up us on stage and thus fueled us even more. our crew from san diego drove up for the show - walt, doug and nick are great guys and i wish these guys could make every show cos they're hilarious to hang out with. the troubadour is one of my favorite clubs to play at in la just because they treat their bands with a degree of respect that is often times not seen at venues. the stage managers and sound crew are all great - plus it's an easy place to load in and out of. this is actually a big deal because when u have as much gear as we do it makes for a much better time when you want to get the hell out of there. so the tour is coming to a close and i'm really kinda bummed out about. that's ollie from turin brakes in the picture with me on the left. san diego is our last show and i'm expecting big things.
The Show: what a sweet ass turn around. kevin reid's visuals were awesome tonight. the crowd was ridiculously energetic. yeah, can you believe it? i saw genevieve again which pretty much reassured me if had died that night i would've gone out like a happy girl. i saw my pumpkin patch of love, vivi and her cutie petutie date, jeff [he saw our verrry first show and i'm glad he saw the evolution of west indian girl. hot.]... i saw marc goldstein in the crowd... that always makes me happy... Je vous aime, marc. despite the potential of wardrobe malfunctions i think tonight's show was a good solid eight out of ten. we were into it.
shots at the merch booth with the sd crew - bad idea
q and rob with errol from astralwerks
heidi, geoff, joe and t.j. - good times
marc goldstein NOT behind the camera for once
our favorite french girl emilie
robert james sans beard - you make the call
marcos and john beltran
this couple was great and i forgot their names like an idiot
lewscious with joe who is the man behind our great merch
san diego in la - doug, walt, and nick
this blog is dedicated to all of our fans. we check in everyday and update all the time. this is the main place on the web to directly interact with west indian girl so bookmark it and check back often. if you write to us we will write you back - we keep it real over here. the main bloggers are francis ten and mariqueen with contributions from carter every now and then -- F10, Q, Carter
