http://www.wearethepublic.com/

digging through some old stuff and i found a copy of this print...

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:55:28 -0600

digging through some old stuff and i found a copy of this print card for cd racks.. the idea was to slip these in with our discs in stores so they’d look more “professional” but i don’t think we ever actually printed them..

-T

“KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” is on ITUNES! Click the...

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:36:02 -0600

“KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON” is on ITUNES! Click the album cover to get it!

Here’s a cover of The Smiths’ “There is a...

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:50:59 -0500

Here’s a cover of The Smiths’ “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” that we did when we first got together.. This appeared as a hidden track on “We Are The Public” and we used to play it live now and then.. still loving all the crazy guitar textures..

-T

On October 17th at One Eyed Jacks New Orleans’...

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:20:00 -0500

On October 17th at One Eyed Jacks New Orleans’ post-punk/indie band, The Public, are releasing their first bit of new material in almost five years. When their debut for New York label Five03 Records, “No Love is Permanent”, became delayed for far too long by label problems and the tragic death of their Bassist, Ryan Plattsmier, it was decided to head to the Living Room Studio in Algiers to start anew and record some new material. The results of this summer’s work, “Keep Calm and Carry On” and “Chasing the Cops in Stolen Cars” are both set to be released in the next few months through Five03.

“Keep Calm and Carry On” features two songs written by the band while evacuated for Hurricane Gustav (“Keep Calm” and “Conclusion”) and their first collaboration with new bassist Ronan Bradley (“Vato”). The EP will be followed in the next few months by “Chasing the Cops in Stolen Cars.” The band’s full length “No Love is Permanent” is set to be released in February, and features the last work of Ryan Plattsmier.

Longtime friends of the band, The Tomatoes will open the show at 10pm. At Midnight, The Public will be followed by ActionActionReaction, the popular indie rock dance party started by DJ Elizabeth Christiansen, The Public’s singer Travis Shuler, and guitarist Jack Champagne and now features popular local DJ, Eugene Oubilette, who’s known for his work at FTPA (The Whirling Dervish) and Katamari Pharmacy (R-Bar). ActionActionReaction is monthly at the Circle Bar and has featured events at One Eyed Jacks, most recently ”The Dead Celebrity Ball” and “EASY: a 70’s porn style dance party”).

http://www.wearethepublic.com

http://www.thetomatoes.net

http://www.myspace.com/actionactionreaction

the public // …and you will know us by the trail of dead...

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:03:00 -0500

the public // …and you will know us by the trail of dead // secret machines

Sunday Sept 13th at Republic

presented by WTUL 91.5 FM

Doors: 8pm
Show: 9pm
Tickets: $14 Advance, $16 Door
Ages: 18+

the public // ...and you will know us by the trail of dead // secret machines

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:36:25 -0500

the public // ...and you will know us by the trail of dead // secret machines : Sunday Sept 13th at...

So last week we opened for The Donnas. I have to admit, I never...

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:19:00 -0500

So last week we opened for The Donnas. I have to admit, I never really listened to them in my lifetime of Anglophile music snobbery. But when you get the chance to open for a band with that large of a draw you take it….especially when it means you are broadening your spectrum of who will be coming to your shows.

So anyway, before I get into how much fun we had and what an energetic night it was I do have something to say about The Donnas themselves. When opening for a bigger national/international act, we always find ourselves dealing with something worse than an egotistical performer…their asshole tour manager and road crew. I’m not going to tell you any stories about past encounters (if you know me you’ve already heard them) but Dylan, their tour manager had to be one of the nicest and most accomodating people we’ve ever crossed paths with. When dishing out schedules, set times, etc. there was no “I’m better than you” attitude, or my favorite “we’re doing you a favor kiss my feet” attitude I’ve had to put up with. And thanks to Travis always going get something to eat or running an errand he should have done but was taking a nap, I always have to hear this shit.

So anyway, after first band Terra Nova, we got our stuff set up pretty quick so we can try to make sure the set didn’t run over our thirty minutes. A set list is written in a certain order for a reason and not being able to play the song that goes perfectly into what you’re closing with doesn’t give you the same effect you’re trying to achieve.

We opened with “Control Self Panic” and went right into “keep Calm and Carry On” and I have to say the crowd response made me very happy since this will be coming out soon as the title track of our new ep….When you have that many people cheering you on and they are unfamiliar with you, it really makes you just want to push the music further…and so we did. I popped a string on my Jazzmaster at the end of “Chasing the Cops” which had me pulling out my old Rickenbacker to close everything out. We closed with “These Transition Hearts,” got the shit off quickly and started drinking. Bryan had a massive blister pop while playing it was pretty gross and cool at the same time. We watched him peel it off backstage.

So when the night was over the Donnas singer, Brett walked outside of the club and told me I did an excellent job…then we talked about how her and the singer of Suede have the same name after I showed her my Suede button.

But the night had possibly one more important goal and thanks to Mae Beth, our friend who sold our merch. it was met. We sold enough t-shirts and copies of our old album Saturn Missile Battery to pay for the mastering of the Keep Calm ep. So get ready cause it’s coming to you soon!

- Jack Champagne

also, thanks to our friend, Vaughn Taylor, who took the awesome pic above!

The Public with The Donnas at One Eyed Jacks Friday Aug 21st

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:45:00 -0500

The Public with The Donnas at One Eyed Jacks Friday Aug 21st: The Public opening for The Donnas.....

THIS NIGHT IS ALMOST OVER (unmastered demo version)-

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:07:00 -0500

THIS NIGHT IS ALMOST OVER (unmastered demo version)-

WE ARE THE PUBLIC - Here’s the “official”...

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:13:00 -0500

WE ARE THE PUBLIC -

Here’s the “official” Public logo, meaning the one you can get on the t-shirts and stickers right now..

I took this pic on an exit door upstairs at One Eyed Jacks and did some old-school 100 percent contrast photocopy stuff to it..

Then I cleaned it up a little bit and hollowed out the guy’s head in photoshop (maybe as a little reference to Einsturzende Neubauten’s logo or the Germ’s circle). Left the lens reflection and the dirt specks in it for character.. I like the image of the man exiting as it evokes a subtle connection with the juxtaposition of ”Public” against “Private”.

- T

TAKE IT FROM THE TOP- Hello, and welcome to the new wearethepublic.com! We plan on bringing you all...

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:45:00 -0500

TAKE IT FROM THE TOP- Hello, and welcome to the new wearethepublic.com! We plan on bringing you all...

From left to right: Dj Alex English, Jack Champagne, Andy Rourke...

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:23:00 -0500

From left to right: Dj Alex English, Jack Champagne, Andy Rourke of The Smiths, Travis Shuler, Coulter

OUR NIGHT WITH ANDY -

So a few years ago, after playing several gigs with anyone that would come to town (mostly at the Mermaid Lounge) we finally got to start playing bigger venues. We get a call that former Smiths bassist, Andy Rourke, is djing at Twiropa and are asked if we would like to open. There was one catch… We had to do a set of Smiths covers.

When you are just starting out in this city, it seems everyone is out to get you (mainly due to paranoia). Because we wore black blazers, we were tagged as an Interpol ripoff and then a Smiths ripoff because Travis and I are huge fans and I had a collection of Smiths tees that I would wear pretty much everyday until the underarms ripped out. So at first, we were a little worried how this would effect people’s perception of us and then Travis jokingly decided, “Well f*ck it, we’ll throw a couple of our songs in.. nobody will notice.”

So right away we started compiling the list of what to play. There was the week long argument between Travis and I over playing “How Soon is Now?” My argument as an amateur Smiths historian, (if you know me, you are laughing) was that they only played it a handful of times and it was always disastrous. We tried it in practice, but luckily after one go around it was avoided. Basically in my opinion, if you say you are a Smiths fan because of that song, you are lying. They did not sound like that. Just listen to the rest of Meat is Murder instead of the mixed tape of stuff you are trying to get in to. You’ll get it.

So anyway, we already knew how to play most of their material but I had to sit with Ryan for a couple of days, helping him figure out the more difficult bass lines. We spent a lot of time on accuracy and Ryan wasn’t familiar with the Smiths at all.

The night of the show arrives and I’m shitting myself knowing that I’m about to meet a Smith. I quickly walk up to Andy to shake his hand. So we got up on stage and there is a loud arena rock whistle in the back of the room and it was him. Bryan started playing the opening to “The Queen is Dead” and I who have never had stage fright in my entire life froze up, but I turned my back to the audience and went for it. I didn’t even turn around to use the wah pedal. So we keep going, Travis had to physically turn me around to face the front of the stage during “The Boy with the Thorn in his Side.” So after a few covers, we went into “Lover, Come Quickly,” a song that started writing as a joke but got popular and was pretty “Smith-y.” We were finishing up with “There is a Light” going into “Bigmouth” and just as we are about to leave the stage, our manager at the time, Jay, informs us that Andy wants to hear another one of our songs. We scramble back on and play “Connected by Wire” to a now pretty confused audience. We get offstage and start drinking while Andy starts his DJ set.

So we are about to pack up and leave and discover that he wants to hang out with us. Andy comes backstage with a bottle of Ketel One, orange juice and a 16 ounce cup. The guy was so f*cking cool. He goes up to Ryan and yells, “How the fook did you play those basslines with your fingers?!” He starts telling us about the Smiths days and signs my little brother, Al’s Meat is Murder CD. He tells me about how they used to tune their guitars up a step and repeatedly says how it was like playing on cheese wire. And then my favorite moment of the night was when he asked how I played, my idol Johnny Marr’s parts.

“You know he couldn’t reproduce a lot of that live,” he says.

“Well when I started figuring these songs out when I was 14, I didn’t know what the hell an overdub was.”

Then Andy tells me that I was a better guitarist than Marr. Which is absolute bullshit, I mean I am better that anyone right now but not that guy (again if you know me you are laughing). But a year later, when djing in another city Andy asked our friend Scott about me and said the same thing.

So now we are finally kicked out of the club and Andy does not want to go to bed or stop the party. But it’s nearly 3 am and no one can bear to stay awake any longer.

So my brother and I decide we are taking him out… to the Half Moon. There was construction on Magazine so we had to drive down an unlit part of Tchoupitoulas so during a rant about how he hated Scrappy Doo (yeah like Eddie Izzard) he yells “Where the fook are you taking me?” We just start laughing our asses off.

When we arrive at the bar, where most of my friends (who didn’t go the show I might add) are hanging out. I exclaim in a louder than my ordinarily louder-than-I-should-be voice, “I have a Smith!” Andy immediately started flirting with the bartender Gabriella, didn’t pay for a single drink (on charm alone) and just kept telling us stories that I am not allowed to repeat. Then DJ Alex English, who was touring with him, showed up and said it was time to get a cab to the airport.

So that was my night. My brother had to drive my adrenalized, badly drunk ass home and we listened to the Smiths’ first album very loudly the whole way home and then again when we got back in.

So yeah, that was our night with Andy Rourke.

-J

HARD CORE LOGO - This is an early logo for The Public. It was...

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:23:00 -0500

HARD CORE LOGO -

This is an early logo for The Public. It was intended as an homage to our influences, obviously the stylized “P” inspired by Bauhaus’ face logo. The “P” in the circle from the Pixies logo and the black print on grey from the Factory logo. Ultimately, we decided it was way too derivative to really use for anything, but I thought I’d throw it up here anyway just for fun…

-T

The Public at One Eyed Jacks

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:23:00 -0500

The Public at One Eyed Jacks

Ryan Plattsmier

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:23:00 -0500

Ryan Plattsmier

CONTROL SELF PANIC - unmastered demo mixed by Travis from The...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:17:00 -0500

CONTROL SELF PANIC - unmastered demo mixed by Travis from The Public’s forthcoming Album “No Love is Permanent”

THE DRAGON’S DEN - Here’s a shot of Jack, Ryan and...

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:08:00 -0500

THE DRAGON’S DEN -

Here’s a shot of Jack, Ryan and myself singing together at the Dragon’s Den. Bryan is obscured in the background, but I’m sure he was singing along too.. This was to be Ryan’s last performance with us. I’m kind of glad in some ways that it was on a small stage. We always had the best times playing packed together on little stages to small rooms..

-T