TYENCE!

Previously on TYENCE:

We made beer!  A porter to be exact.  Mama's Porter as the recipe calls it, but we shall wait to christen our particular batch once we get to know it a little better.  

So.  Porter.  It is a beer which came to be during the 18th century in London, England.  It is a direct descendant of brown ale.  Brown ale accordingly called for brown malt in the brewing process throughout the 18th century, and porters followed in this tradition.  By the turn of the century, pale malt became the new standard with brewers because of its higher yield, making it a more economic choice.

The name porter is derived appropriately from its success with the street and river porter demographic in 18th century London.  Hearty brews for tough crews, right?  Porter is also directly tied in with stouts as stronger porters were subsequently dubbed as "Extra Porter", "Double Porter", or "Stout Porter".  Eventually the porter was dropped from "Stout Porter" and stout became the standard for thicker brews such as Guinness.  In fact Guinness Extra Stout was originally called an "Extra Superior Porter", which was changed in 1840.  

So the quick porter we through together, and by we I mean my brother Stephen and friend Danny along with me observing for the most part, is scheduled to be bottled within this week.  At this point I must amend some info I imparted in the last TYENCE post, that being the amount of time until the beer is ready.  Previously I stated there was a two month wait, the process in actuality involves waiting an initial three weeks, then bottling and waiting an additional three weeks.  So six weeks total brewing time.  Some tough math.

I know.  Shut up Ty.  You're rambling.

Anywho, enough out of me.  

More TYENCE soon!

And take a peak at our performance from our House of Blues show with Steel Panther last Monday!

Ty

Blogmosis on Sunset Strip

Hello folks, I hope everyone is having a glorious weekend thus far.  Wanted to shoot a quick update in your direction.

Mike with one of our favorite stand ups Chris D'elia

We have finally all returned to Los Angeles.  Taylor got in last evening and we promptly attended the Friday night show at The Comedy Store, one of our very favorite places to be in this fair city.  It was enjoyable as always to take in some comedy and forget about the unfunny responsibilities that plague us in life.  Chris D'elia, Bobby Lee, Dov Davidoff, Brent Morin, Brody Stevens, and a special appearance by Jeff Garlin; it was a great show.  I highly encourage all in the L.A. area to attend a show at The Comedy Store.



In the last week we have been finalizing the mixes for our new record with Gavin MacKillop.  We have four tunes out of ten about 95% done and the remaining songs will be finished within approximately a week's time.  These tunes are sounding incredible!  SO PUMPED!

Do not forget to get tickets for our House of Blues show this Monday with Steel Panther!  Guaranteed great times and incredible music!

Get tix here!

And I will leave you with this for some general hilarity:

Ty

Movie of The Month

Transformers.  The movie.  The 80's CARTOON movie.

That's right.

Suck it Michael Bay.

This movie has the very limited and prestigious privilege of being one of the few pillars of my childhood.  Joking am I?  Sure.  But serious?  100%.  And embarrassed?  Absolutely.  Ashamed?  Never.

This movie was monumental for me, I must have rented it from Blockbuster (remember those?, apparently they still exist) hundreds of times throughout my childhood.  But nostalgia aside, this movie is composed of a truly strange and foreign substance.  Firstly, check out the voices featured as characters: Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nimoy, Casey Kasem, John Moschitta Jr. (the Micro Machines guy with the super fast voice!!), Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime and Eeyore from Whinnie-the-Pooh), and Frank Welker (voice of Megatron and many more Transformers characters, not to mention the former highest grossing actor in Hollywood).  A strange enough cast but then add to that the final movie appearances of Orson Welles and Scatman Crothers.  Just bizarre right?

So, besides the odd cast of voices, the movie itself has a much darker tone than the television series.  The evil Decepticons savagely murder Autobots without any hesitation and the amount of destruction is decidedly more intense.  It was nothing short of terrifying, as a child, to watch certain characters that I loved in the television program deteriorate before my eyes, red smoke pluming from the mouth in appropriately typical 1980's action cartoon movie violence.  Not to mention that a VERY prominent character dies within the first twenty minutes, along with dozens of others.  So many characters meet their demise that it merits a "Character deaths" section on the Wikipedia page.  This movie is no joke, it is full on serious, action-packed drama circa 1986.  And humorously, present day in the movie is established as 2005.

The animation itself is quite good, at least much better quality than the television series provides.  I myself describe it as Japanese anime meets a certain quality of animation found in Pink Floyd's The Wall, if that makes any sense.  Give it a break, it was 1986.  And the soundtrack is absolutely divine.  In appropriate 1980's fashion, the senses are bombarded with Van Halen-esque heavy metal pop tunes amongst the average, predictable, sic-fi, synth film score.  Hilariously awesome.  Almost as entertaining as the classic dialogue which features such lines as, "I'll rip out your optics!" and "Wait, I still function...".  Not to mention the clever use of embellishments such as "When are we gonna bust some Decepti-chops?!" or "Take that Auto-creep!"  As you can tell, this movie scores a 10 in all categories.


Truly, this movie is a gem.  It is not one to be forgotten as surely it will not thanks to legions of dorks like myself that will continue to champion its importance.  And by the way, the best scene involves Eric Idle's character on Planet Junk with Weird Al's "Dare To Be Stupid" playing in the background.  Which is why my brother Stephen bought me this shirt:


Suck it Michael Bay.

Ty

P.S. You shouldn't actual see this movie.

Album of The Month: Animal Collective - Fall Be Kind

This month I would like to feature a record that is technically not an album but an E.P.  So welcome to the first installment of E.P. of The Month!  (LMFAO, elbow to the ribs).  Anywho, the record I have chosen is one that I have come back to recently and one that I enjoy very much (duh).  It is Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective.  I have become relatively familiar (not on a personal level) with Animal Collective over the past few years.  This indy, electro, experimental, hipster, art group began in Baltimore, Maryland and is currently based in, wait for it, New York City (surprise!).  The band's sound is difficult to pin down and that is partially why I enjoy them so much.  These Baltimore natives boast a solid catalog of ten full length albums and six E.P.'s since 2000.  At this point they have become a bit of a poster child for the whole indy, electronic music movement (whatever that is).

So. Fall Be Kind; released 2009.  It has a bit of everything: ambient soundscapes, funky beats, odd time signatures, abstract lyrics, smooth vocals, goofiness.  

Opening cut "Graze" begins with ambient textures and culminates with an upbeat carnival-esque synth vamp.  The second tune "What Would I Want? Sky" boasts the very first legally obtained Grateful Dead sample.  It is in 7/4 and one of my personal favs.  "Bleed" is a droning ambient piece with beautiful vocals.  "On A Highway" is a haunting, personal work containing tribal-esque beats and more distantly droning synths.  The final cut "I Think I Can" contains some minimalist, pulsing beats that include some overlapping Steve Reich-like hand claps; think Clapping Music (okay it isn't quite as intensive on the hand claps as this but you should get the idea).  Overall, this record is for those who are open minded and enjoy the occasional strange musical journey.  For those that are weary of such endeavors, this record is fortunately a short one and should provide an easy introduction to Animal Collective if you are not familiar with them.

Please check out this record!

Fall Be Kind on iTunes

Fall Be Kind on Spotify

Ty

Blogodacious with the Quickness, Hangin' With Hollis Brown, Back in LA With The Fresh Sound

Just wanted to throw a quickie at you on this glorious Saturday, January the 19th.

A couple nights ago I had the pleasure of seeing our dear friends Hollis Brown at Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland.  They killed as always and it was a pleasure to see these warriors of the road.  A congratulations is in order for signing a record deal with Alive Natural Sound Records, their next record is due out March 5th.  We have spent many a night on the road with these guys over the years and I hope we shall be seeing them again soon.

28 North will be back in Los Angeles this coming week, gearing up to finish our record by the end of the month.  It has been a long, complicated process and worth every ounce of effort that has gone into it.  And trust me, that is a whoooooole lot of ounces.

With the record being finalized and a huge show at House of Blues Sunset with Steel Panther, we have quite a bit on our plate in the coming month.  And don't forget to keep up to date with my other blogs of interest and potentially moronic content: Ty Bond's Quote of The Day and Late To The Party.  Hope you all enjoy!

Snatch up your tickets to our show with Steel Panther here!

Ty

Blogomus Prime in the Meantime

What is up folks!

We have been on a nice extended visit back in our eastern places of origin.  Other than our epic show on New Years we have been left to our own devices to keep ourselves busy as our producer has been plugging away at mixing our record.  And by the way, we have just received two cuts that have been mixed and they sound FAN-TAS-TIC!  It will not be long until the entire record is mixed and mastered, it will definitely be done by the end of this month.  Once the "code has been cracked" as our producer Gavin MacKillop says, the rest of the mixes will fall into place very quickly.

Anywho.  Taylor had the unpleasant experience of fracturing his leg, ankle, AND foot; that is correct three, count 'em, three fractures.  It sounds pretty nasty (and it was), but I have never seen anyone handle such an intense injury so casually.   Not to mention this injury literally occurred just minutes before we were to go on stage for our New Year's Eve performance and Taylor played through the immense pain in accordance with the law of rock 'n roll.  Truly Taylor is one tough dude, send him some well wishes if you can.

Michael has been bouncing around having adventures and playing tunes with friends all over the region.  Of course he is a staple to the rolling hills, converging rivers, and hipster bars of Pittsburgh; he also came up to Cleveland for a visit and took a trip down south to Nashville and Knoxville.  Always the fun-activity-seeker, Mike has been trekking around spreading the gospel of 28 North as only he knows how.  Look for him in your town!

Dom has been doing what Dom does best: rockin' hard with his solo project Dom Liberati, making the ladies smile, supporting his Packers (sorry dude, at least you're not a Browns fan), making moves in Japan, and being an all around awesome dude.

I myself have been doing a lot of tedious and methodical work rebuilding rooms in my parents' house.  It has been quite the learning experience and a pain in the ass.  The houses in their neighborhood are all a hundred years old, or older, and have been slowly falling apart.  This makes for some challenges when you are trying to get things plumb and level.

Redoing the bathroom, Danny is working on getting our floor beams level

Of course, we also have some beer a-brewing at the Bond household and you know what goes well with beer other than chips, laughter, raised voices, poor decisions, and headaches....STEEL PANTHER!!

And we are sharing the stage with them at the House of Blues Sunset on Monday January 28th in Hollywood!!  If you have not seen Steel Panther then you simply must.  They are a total riot and wildly talented to boot.  You will also get to see us perform our typically epic act as well, you do not want to miss this intrepid double whammy of a show.  So if you are in Los Angeles on the night of Monday January 28th, you know where you should be!  Tickets are only $15!  Get them here: info/tickets.

Ty

TYENCE!

It is finally time for a another edition of...

TYENCE!

That's right folks, TYENCE is back!  And boy do I have a treat for you.  This past week I had the grand, pleasurable, and educational experience of brewing beer.  I joined my brother Stephen and pseudo-bro Danny (the brewmasters) to concoct a batch of porter.  I call them brewmasters for these two fine young men brewed a batch of beer a few months ago that was simply divine.  Truly, the TiaTamara Ale (their aptly titled brew's name as it packed quite a punch and after just a few you might as well say, "See ya tomorrow...") was one of the best beers I have tasted in my life.  And I have tasted a few, possibly a few too many.

Now beer.  How DOES this tasty beverage make its way from an assortment of barley, hops, water, and whatnot into that iconic bottle and into your belly to make you feel all warm and toasty?  Well, FERMENTATION!  That is the key my friends: fermentation.  But you may know this already, fairly common knowledge I know, I'll speak more of this in Part II.  So, let us start with the ingredients:

GRAINS:
Pale Malt: 1.5-2 lbs., Crystal Malt: .5 lbs, Chocolate Malt: .5 lbs, Victory: .5 lbs, Roasted Barley: .5 lbs
HOPS:
Northern Brewer: 1 oz., Cascade: 2 oz, Fuggles: 1 oz

CONCENTRATED MALT (DME):

Traditional dark DME: 3 lbs., Light DME: 3 lbs.
ALSO: Muslin Bag x 2, Ale Yeast x 1

I'm not gonna lie.  I really did not have much to do with the whole process, I was more of an observer and moral supporter of the activity.  Stephen and Danny were the real heroes in getting this brew concocted.  Of course our dear friend and confidant Corey was around to motivate everyone with strange shot combinations.  (BTW gin and Mountain Dew is a BIG hit around here).

Now.  Keep in mind we were using an abbreviated process in which we add concentrated malt and completely avert the malting process of breaking down particular grains into the necessary sugars needed by the yeast in the fermentation process.  Anywho, these are the series of events that took place:

Our combo of water, hops and malt boiling away

About 2.5 gallons of water was heated to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.  At this point the grains were added with the use of the muslin bags.  The two muslin bags are filled with the different types of grains and placed in the water just like tea bags.  These grains are allowed to soak for approximately 30 minutes.  After the muslin bags are removed, the heat is cranked and the concentrated malt is added.  While the malt is added, the liquid must be stirred constantly so as not to let any of the malt reach the bottom of the pot and burn.  At this point, the Northern Brewer hops are added when the liquid reaches a boil and we let it sit for another 30 minutes.  After 30, the Fuggles hops are added and after another 30 minutes we add the Cascade hops.  After a final 30 minutes the pot can be removed from the heat and it must be cooled as quickly as possible.  At this point we add cold water to reach our 5 gallon goal.  Finally, when the concoction has cooled to 80 degrees Fahrenheit we can add the yeast.

My bro Stephen throwing up props to our super yeast
that looks like it is from space

Now all we have to do is wait about two months and VOILA!  Our Mama's Porter (as the recipe calls it) is complete.  I know, it is a bit anti climactic and as Tom Petty says, "The wayee-ay-ting is the hardest part....".  But I believe our patience will ultimately be gratified with a wonderfully tasty beverage.  So, cheers to beer and let's hope it turns out fantastic!

To be continued....

Ty

Our trusty alcoholometer, a type of hydrometer
A reading is taken before and after fermentation,
the difference is an estimation of the alcohol content

Sweet dreams baby beer, I'll be dreaming of you
See you in a couple of months