3/16/06: 
So yea, i just bought three guitars and am ready to record another EP.  I might quite possibly the stupidest person alive. Quick, bake me lemon bars
mark.
12/06/06: 
So i lied.  It's not the 6th for about 45 mins, but who cares...close enough.  Besides that horrible opening for an entry, today (in 45mins) is a great day! I begin and finish finals for my last semester of college, my cds comes out, and i've hurt my back.  It's funny how if you sleep funny, it jacks you up for days.  And why do we say we slept funny.  Would i have laughed if i saw myself in that position?  If that's the case, man, i missed out.  Hopefully tonight i won't sleep as hilarious since there is no one around to see me and partake. Anyway, this is a good time if any to explain the Goodnight California EP.  The ep is pieced together very symbolically.  The colors used on all the art work represents the emotional ride i went through making this album.  The songs are in order of how i felt about live in general throughout the period of my life starting with quitting school, breaking up a successful band, causing extreme strife in my family, and moving off to pursue my dreams of playing music against all odds across the country fully unprepared.  The Red Room began as the first thing my friend Andrew and i recorded when we had our 1st apt in murrieta, ca.  I bought a junky computer from my girlfriend's, at the time, cousin and forced together a horrible home recording studio.  We would sit for hours recording in that apt.  Great memories.  Well, that song got totally junked, but about a year later i started using it as an intro track for our live shows.  It was written with much hope and excitement of a new life where there were no rules.  Blue Eyes Never Lie was the first completed track.  Easily the most aggressive sounding song to date i had written.  This sound delt with a very violent and horrible time i was caught up in with relationship hell and lack of a security blanket.  The Estranged was the last song i began before moving back to Texas.  At the point, i was at the height of my pain and disillusionment of the california dream.  The day i left california for texas i realized everyone of my friends had dropped me and i left the state cussing.  The song The Estranged is about sin/tempation and about how we all can get caught up in it.  The problems with sin is that once we snap out of it and break away from it, it usually causes us to get worked out of our social groups and even though we are striving to better our lives, we end up being the ones cast out of the group.  So that song is about cutting your loses and praying for redemption for the ones you can't reach.  Enter "Wife".  I wrote this song sitting on my staircase on early afternoon, and the chorus lyrics while driving to starbucks to visit my friends Justin and Kim.  This song is the most hopefully, honest song i could write.  Yes, it had hints of sarcasm in it, but it is a song directly from my heart with my future wife in mind.  I haven't met her yet, but i like to picture what she'll be like.  Aicha rounds off the EP.  Back full swing, this song ends the ep with humor and complete joy.  This was a song i had written before moving out to california as a cover to one of the most funny joke videos i had ever seen.  I thought, how funny would it be to try to make a crappy song try to be cool.  Apparently i did too well because most people can't tell it was meant as a joke.  Oh well. either case i love it and still laugh when i hear it.  So the name "goodnight california", does it make a little more since now?  My friend Justin came up with that and i instantly fell in love with it.  Goodnight California.  How perfect.  It is the fitting name for the chapter of my life that began and ended with california in mind.  Hope y'all enjoy this ep.  It's the "realist" thing i have ever done.
7/10/06: 
So in my right hand i'm holding the completely Goodnight California EP.  Ok, i guess that's a lie.  I'm not really holding it, but it IS to my right.  Well, i guess it still a lie bc i don't have it pressed yet, so i guess it's not really fully complete.  Dangit.  Well, i have the tracks right here that are the final and they are dang good.  I've just got in contact with 94.5 fm The Buzz in houston and they are ready to start spinning the singles.  Also i heard from an A&R movie scout about getting a song on a hollywood rotation for soundtracks.  Ya know, non of those things ever seem to pan out, but hey, it's still good to hear positive feedback.  I've put 3 of the 4 tracks on our myspace page in the meantime, so go and take a pre-listen.  Sadly, Justin is moving to Utah.  I already miss him and he isn't fully gone yet.  Send him your love in emails at justin@alicomusic.com and tell him how much you love him. 
mark.
5/29/06: 
TODAY IS JUSTIN'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!
I JUST got back home from about 10 hours of guitar tracking.  Good news...it sounds AMAZING.  Bad news is, i'm tired...so i guess no real bad new for you.  Thanks everyone that was praying for me today bc this was the first day of recording that something didn't go drastically wrong.  Tomorrow is aggressive vocal recording in socal...so pray for jason's tracking.  Let's see, today was fun.  Dan and i went to church this morning and got a great taste of God this morning and got super charged to get to work.  We stopped off at one of our old hangouts called Taqueria Mexico and that was an amazing personal time.  Eagerly we went back to the studio and i met the assistant, Joyce, and we got to work.  After all was broken in, i found out joyce likes movies almost as much as i do and we shared or favorite horrible movies.  I still think the worst movie of all time is Barbwire with Pamala Anderson, but yes gal, Chopping Mall is a close second.  After that we discussed some fun topics to me like the new afi album, mark trombino's magic guitar tones, and how to write a mathematical equation for the way girls butts shake in rap videos.  It was funny, by the time we ended Dan and i were so tired that neither us of noticed that he had muted all the tracks on one of the songs but the drums ...so when i got a cd for the days progress...i ended up thumping in my car just some drum tracks. eh...oh well. who cares anymore...it's already tomorrow now.  bed, where are you!?!??! 
mark.
4/25/06: 
Tonight was a weird night.  I had my last production meeting (that went really well) before i record an EP i never thought i would get to put out...but at the same time, i found out right afterward that my grandpa died.  It's a charles dickens kind of night.  it was the best of times....it was the worst of times....
4/19/06: 
"...I'll do whatever, whatever...whatever it takes...."  Man, that dang Glass Intrepid is in my head.  If you don't know these guys, you need to.  Bryan and Reed have been playing shows with my old project MarkNeedsAChick for more years then i'd ever care to mention.  One thing is safe to say, of all the musicians i've ever come across, there is no one i want more to succeed then these guys.  If y'all ever read this, thank you for always treating me like family.  Onto Alico stuff.  Let's see...we have some really great things opening up for us, FINALLY.  It's funny how when you quit caring about something, that's exactly when things start happening.  I have a slew of dates posted in the "shows" section for everyone to keep up with our studio experience.  The new EP will be something really really fun.  More instruments then i've ever try to add before, as well as so many great colaborations with other great artists.  I might as well be a rapper with all these colabs. i have on this one.  I'll be M-Diddy.  maybe Alicillonaire.  Maybe i'll be like Avenged Sevenfold and get a grill with my band's name on it. haha. Seriously guys,...seriously.  Let's see, on this album you'll see some familiar faces like: Jeff from Ethan Durelle, Mikey from John Evans Band, and maybe even Rick from Moses Guest.  Worthy mention is Paul from LetterKills that tried to help us out, but didn't work out.  So justin and i were at the after party for avenged sevenfold and coheed on monday night.  It was really really fun.  It was a very chill atmosphere with only about 30 people.  Funny thing was seeing some random people from my past there.  It was a very fun experience.  Worthy to mention was the guy that said he knew Justin from a "long time back". Yep, turns out he was come cocaine dealer, and justin had never seen him before.  Oh well...those silly druggies.  Oh yea, another music video via Music Guild is going to be coming as well.  I have some cool surprises for that video up my sleeve.  just you wait.
mark.
3/26/06: 
Yes, it's the truth, Alico's preproduction is back on!  I've been really worried about how everything has been unfolding.  It's like for every step forward there has been two steps back.  After the most horrible emotional ride of my life, i've finally just put it all in God's hands and said, "listen, if you want this to happen, let it happen. If not, i'm ok with that too".  Well, prayer is powerful, and it seems like the opportunity has finally arisen.  This time off has been great for songwriting.  I've really been given the time to write, rewrite, and get tons of inputs for every song.  Finally i feel like the songs are truly ready to record.  Nothing has been rushed, and i fully fully believe this EP is the best body of work i've ever written.  To the point that if this is the last thing i ever record, i feel completely satisfied that i ended with the best work i've ever put out.  As mentioned in the "news" section, the EP will be called "Goodnight California" and will contain either 4 or 5 tracks...haven't 100% decided yet.  Man, wait till you hear it. :)
mark.
11/21/05: 
Yea so i just got around to writing about our trailer getting stolen.  Sorry it wasn't sooner, but i really didn't want to think about it any more than i had to.  Well, the part that kills me the most is it was most probably someone we know or someone who was at the show and followed us home.  That's really really crappy.  For all who don't know, after the java jazz show on 11-15, our trailer with all our band equipment was stolen out of our storage space.  I always hated it when that happened to bands, but never really realized what it means until it really happened to us.  So for us, we are in Texas because we found a producer that believes in us so much that he was going to work with us for a deal we couldn't refuse.  So we up and leave our home in Temecula, CA in faith that we'll be able to spend the time to cultivate songs and be able to spend the time on recording we've always dreamed of.  So we're here, Katrina hits and there is no more houses available to rent....then Rita hits and there is no more apts. to rent...so all of us are in crappy jobs all living in different spots.  Everything was finally coming together as a band when this stuff happened and now we're on to our next enemy...the insurance company.  Have you ever dealt with them before?...they are evil.  Such an emotional ride, and i honestly think they get a kick out of it.  So now we can't even practice, don't know what the hell is going on with the police, insurance?...who knows how that will turn out...or if it will....and we're just sitting here trying to remain positive, but hurting HORRIBLY in the mean time.  If you can think of any way to help out, please do, bc we're at an all time low.  Our friend Dustin (spaz) is trying to put together a benefit show for us...so if you're in a band and would consider playing...email him here: spazhtx@tmail.com
mark.
11/15/05: 
And to think i thought it was the 14th all day long today. hmm...guess i got paid today instead for work. eh.  So yea, the show at java jazz was quite encouraging.  Something special about playing with a national tour and yet somehow, having over the majority of the people there for you.  Let see, i loved the new location.  I'll miss old town spring, but this place has way more potential.  Man, all the bands were super cool...that ALWAYS makes a better show.  The night started off with Justin and i (with two other kids from the show) walking over to whataburger with Jason from Hotrod Circuit.  Super nice fellow.  We had to sprint across 7 lanes of freeway (or so they cars were driving like) to get there. it was cute, we were screaming as we ran.  Turns out jason doesn't like BBQ...sad sad life for that boy.  We demoed all new songs at this show which was odd.  the crowd didn't know any songs but it was nice playing new material. I had so much fun at this show, let me stress. I HADDDD SOOO MUUUCHHH FUNNNNN.  My best friends were there, some friends i haven't seen in ages, some friends that i've back re-acquainted with, and some brand new friends that i snuck in and out of the venue backstage. weee, rebellion!!! Man, i'm toooo beat to keep talking.  yuck, up in like 4 hours to go to work.
mark.
10/10/05: 
my name is ronnnnn.  haha. if you haven't seen the new family guy movie...you should.  So much fun, so little time.  Let's see, Texas is great.  It's finally cooling down (praise GOD!!!!) and i've decided i really like playing Horse (the basketball game).  I'm all like baseketball, really good if i don't have to run or jump. Zack's not good though, but i didn't say that.  We're in preproduction right now for our new EP...and dang, it's good.  Very good.  Good enough to hang your hat on...and other cliches that sound cool.  Hopefully it'll be out before Christmas, but it might be right at the first of the year.  We don't really have any plans for live shows at the moment bc we are concentrating so hard on recording, but if the offer is right...we'll be there.  have any good jokes?  email them to me: mark@alicomusic.com  bc i want to sound witty when i meet people.
mark.
9/05/05: 
Last night scored a 10.  If you missed the Scout Bar show, man oh man, i'm sorry for you and your face.  Ok, this was the unveiling of Alico to Houston...aka our first show as a band from houston.  It was a blast. We met a ton of really great people that really made us feel like a million bucks as well as meeting some great guys in the band History of our Presence.  Check them out and give them a high5 for me.  So let me give you some funny stories...ready kiddies?  Ok, the scout bar was massivly packed.  There were a better part of 1000 people there...standing room only pretty much, so much stale smoke i was coughing constantly, but the best part...we had out own dressing room...crazy huh?  Check this out, they had a ps2 in there, tv, redbulls, cooler of misc drinks, couches, coffee...dude, the whole 9 yards.  The establishment apparently told the other bands to stay out bc this was "alico's night"...that's a bunch of jive...so we invited them all back there for some ps2/gatorade challenges.  That was fun.  Ok...now for "secret stuff".  I am 25, yet i act 10...this will prove it.  So we were getting ready to go on and i had to ...um...go "number one" ...rather badly and the bathroom was super far away and packed...so i improvised. I emptied out a gatorade into a cup...when "number one" in the bottle...refilled the bottle with the gatorade and capped the lid back on so i could through away.  Well, long story short...it ended up back in the cooler...and ha...let's just say some people came in our dressing room while we were playing and apparently "enjoyed" some of our gatorade.  I wonder what he was thinking as he was drinking it.  One might never know.  Besides that, drunk people everywhere...and i've decided i can sell anything to a drunk person. haha.  I almost talked a 30+ drunk guy into buying a small girls shirt with hearts on it for him bc "the ladies would love it". hahaha.  We did an acoustic preformace for the radio of "blue eyes never lie" as well as a live interview for 94.5fm.  That was kinda cool.  They put us in this littttttle closet where mics were smashing us in the face while we were holding guitars and trying to interview.  See, i'm an eye contact guy, and i could see the DJ Zakk United while he was talking to us, and it was making me kinda nervous and such.  You could hear it in the interview i'm sure.  But who cares, one of them drank my pee. see y'all at the next show. sept.24th. final java jazz show. houston,tx.
mark.
7/23/05: 
I've spent ALL day getting the website up and going.  Hopefully i'll have it all knocked out before the Dead Poetic show at 7pm tonight.  We'll see. Hope you like what you'll see...drop me a line if you see anything that needs to be changed...of if you just want to say hi: mark@alicomusic.com
mark.
7/09/05: 
Sorry, it's been a while.  Let's see, so much to write, not enough space for it. I'll just give the quick recap.  Ok, five people in truck driving 26 hours straight...crazy!  It was ok, we all cat napped and trucked it all the way to houston from temecula. Wenchie Brothers (sp?) in Old Town Spring, TX has the best chicken fried steak. Texas is just too unbearably hot.  A cop told us that anyone that can't stand the heat should get out (but said it way more colorfully than that)...so i told him...we'll we're from california...then he said...oh ...um...well.... CALIFORNIANS ARE STUPID....yea...bc they are going to break off into the ocean....so i happily responded...we'll just hang out with hawaii instead then of you.  Loser.  Java Jazz was fun, had a Rock "N Roll Cake Walk that never happened...just the cake and one happy winner.  Riddlin' Kids are the nicest band ever.  Zack, Josh, and Justin bought about $150 worth of fireworks bc they are extremely illegal in california.  We almost get kicked out of a fireworks store bc justin is taking pictures. McDonnalds in houston rents dvds. ha.  I guess it's a McRental. haha.  Played in Brenham for the TLM group.  Super fun, great food, great people, great high temperatures.  Stopped in El Paso and hung out at the only place open for 4th of july, hooters.  We had all these fireworks, but it was illegal there, so we just blew some up in the pool at our hotel.  Sad i know.  Finally stopped at "The Thing" in Arizona...it's this road side truck stop kinda like the one on House Of 1000 Corpses.  BUT it totally sucked.  We had to pay a dollar for the tour and we all wanted our money back.  DONT GO TO THE THING!  New Mexico smells bad and we've decided that New Mexicans live underground like prairie dogs or that they live a life much like in the movie Dune.  Arizona cacti hurt, don't push. Dirt Devils hurt too, don't laugh giddily and run into one...twigs, rocks, broken glass, and extreme high winds...what a recipe for FUN! Show in Hollywood with the Music Guild Group (japan).  Sooo much fun.  Had to park FAR away from the venue and had to cram 7 people into the smallest compact car ever.  Amoeba music is my new favorite place on Sunset Blvd, and there are a lot of weirdoes there.  The show was 21+ so they made Josh and Zack wait outside until we played.  I thought that was funny.  On to houston in a couple weeks.  See y'all soon.
mark.
6/20/05: 
We played at the Pizza Factory.  haha.  Kinda makes me laugh.  The Pizza Factory: home of pizza and rock.  ha.  Well, anyway...this show was totally laid back.  No stress, no worries, just play a couple of sets of songs and just have fun.  Zack played guitar on a few songs. and it was AMAZING.  ha.  I played cowbell, guitar, and some drummie things...justin played drums, and josh plinked on guitar and did some misc things as well.  Man oh man, for old school mnac fans, you would have got a kick bc we played a ton of songs off of out "all alone" album.  Like songs we NEVER ever play.  Ha, and it was acoustic.  Lets see, our biggest fan of the night was this old lady in a wheelchair that literally stayed for every second of our sets.  At the end i thanked her for sticking around and he just giggled and was like "your goooooood gooood gooooood". She won my heart for the night, sorry ladies.  Besides that, my boss came out, and the whole Souljourner posse was there (super great people by the way).  Oh, one of the guys had a Hulkamanic shirt on as well...and that totally floored me.  Reminded me of college, the first time, and how i had a Hulk Hogan CD. Now that was a true (crappy) rock and rock cd!  Um, the pizza was good too. I'm sure we'll be playing there again. 
mark.
6/09/05: 
Yea yea yea.  What a great day.  Think i'll go to the bay, or maybe sit on hay.  Hey! ...sorry, got stuck in a rhythm scheme.  Anyway, we've had tons of guitar auditions with all walks of life it seems. heh. More stories than i care to share...  You've seen those crazy people at wal-mart walking around that just make you think...ew...what do those people do???  Well, they dream of being in Alico apparently. ha.  Happily we have a great buddy of ours Josh, who is NOT one of those people filling in for us for the tour as a second guitarist.  Besides that, we're all moving into a rad band house right before tour, so that's exciting.  Zack is getting tanner and tanner.   I'm smelly. And justin is always just as fly as ever giving McGuyver a run for his money as master sex symbol engineer.  Just ask him about what he did with an old tape deck. I DARE you......chicken.  .....buy a new hoodie, they make Zack say siiiick.
mark. 
5/28/05: 
Viva la journal! Man, how i love this thing.  Ok, so tonight...here goes.  We played at Rancho Community....great place.  Loved everything about it.  Few venues have a good "vibe" to it...but rcc did.  It's hard to explain, but it's like, there was something beautiful going on there, and you could see it even in it's surroundings.  Yea, all tree hugger of me i'm sure...but just go with me here.  It was in our home town of temecula, which was nice with some other great bands.  The Chemistry was the headliners...also native temeculans...as well as some super great guys in Patchwork (from good ol' flagstaff, az), as well as Souljourners.  All super nice guys and super nice crews.  Refreshing.  The crowd turn out was decent, the establishment was amazing.  Grant, the guy who did all the booking, ...amazing.  Loved doing business with that place. Highlights from the alico perspective: This big guy james that i picked on from the stage (a native texan to boot) that was the best sport ever, Ian our youngest and raddest fan, Ivo...this rad guy that works with justin that was sporting justin's old band's shirt (broken february representing!), getting blisters all in my mouth from getting shocked all show long from the mic, going to In And Out afterwards and re-seeing everyone from the show...haha, trendy people, ...nothing too "funny" went on like normal...it's was just a very fulfilling show.  This was justin's first official show with us and he did tremendously.  Everyone, email him and send him some love: justin@alicomusic.com .  Besides that, upcoming stuff: writing, recording, and touring.  Hopefully we'll see y'all soon.  If you got any ANY pics of us, email them to me: mark@alicomusic.com
sending out the love,
mark.
5/01/05: 
Tonight was a blast. seriously. i had the most fun.  So we played at Biola university with our friends in Cut Shallow as well as two other great bands.  Everyone was so nice.  It's sooo refreshing to play in a christian venue again.  Everyone is just so caring and so eager to help.  This place made up feel like a million bucks, and for me, that was something i haven't felt in a while. So get this, plenty of venues do different things for bands instead of payment, but this place took the cake.  They hired a professional masseuse to give us massages after we played.  ROCK!  I've never had a massage professionally before...and,...well....it was different. Not what i expected, but totally rad and original.  We played well...were a little sloppy...but the show was so fun.  We totally worked the crowd and fellowshipped with some great people afterward.  It was a good night.  See y'all soon,
mark.
3/30/05: 
Back by popular demand:  hexxagon of death
3/29/05: 
California=Cancellations. Totally annoying.  I've never heard of such a place...a place where great business thrive...yet, have as much sense as a donkey in a bird bath.  Anyway, we've had a few cancellations.  yeehaw.  Ok, last show we did was at The Jumping Turtle in San Marcos.  Funny name, serious sandwich...i mean...great venue.  I really wasn't expecting much out of this place, but when i got there and we sound checked...bazang...who knew? The sound system was great, ...hey, and for once, so was the sound guy!  We were there with our good buddies in Arliss as well, and man, i can't say enough great things about them and their main man, Dennis.  Highlights.  Well, i hate making fun of people that go to shows and have a good time...but man, this one guy...or half monkey, is just begging for introduction.  I guess he was really into the set bc he was slam dancing by himself on the floor and jumping off the stage, but only with his arms, and...well... crazy stuff.  Man.  He won the cool award for that night.  There was a decent turnout, but i think Monkey boy scared them all away...should have given him a banana or a banana daiquiri or something, maybe then he'd kept to his self in the corner away from the crowd. :)
juan schwartz (mark.)

3/12/05: 
Seriously, what a weekend.  First the Whisky show was one big ball of stress, then last night, just the opposite....not enough stress. So the house party turned out to be a party in the pasture and we played out doors.  Something foreshadowed to us about the night when following the directions, the road stopped being paved, and the signs stopped being government made. odd.  We find the house and so the rock show began.  There was a big pile of trash in the middle of the yard for bonfire festivities, including such wonderful burnable items as: wood, metal nails, plastic bottles, and aerosol cans. Well, the lovely concoction did prove to be needed though, as the heat and aroma did drive the billion of bugs away.  Don't get me wrong, yea, the initial humor of the show did cause us to laugh a few times...but the show became super fun.  We had no pressure on us to play, and heck, we even covered an mxpx song that we just heard in the truck on the way over.  I think we figured it out alright. ha. Let's see, highlights:  the deafening sound of frogs and crickets on the drive over (overpowered our stereo), a group of bro-typed racists screaming for rap songs, the random couch in the yard which we assumed was going to be burned but never was that we could tell, and as always, the reemergence of the "cover song" (available for download in the "music" section). yea, super odd show.   Big thanks to Astrid, Desirée, Justin, Christie, and Brent for battling the insect kingdom with us. 
mark.
3/11/05: 
So last night is now and forever dubbed as night of insanity.  I get up early in the morning and go to pomona to take my friend brent to see this medical school...just to race back to pick up the guys and the trailor and race back to hollywood attempting to miss the traffic.  wrong. It's impossible to miss traffic there i've assumed.  So at about 6:30pm, while sitting in traffic, we decided to vocalize for the whole group that sound check was at 3pm.  So rock, we're screwed out of that now.  We FINALLY get there and race to unload and when we're done, we find out two major problems.  One being that the parking lot when up from $6 to $20!!!! and we didn't have $20....and TWO, that the venue loves to screw dumb bands.  We walk in and they are like, you owe us $400 to play tonight.  And as any rational person would think to themselves....why???  Good question rational person, and the answer is quite simple, BECAUSE THEY SAID SO!  Retarded.  Long story short, we didn't pay the $400 and it's a miracle that they even let us play.  Oh, did i mention they asked us after we played to please call them back to reschedule?  no?...well, they did.  Yea, so i'm confused.  To be honest, i like playing there.  Hollywood is a weird place by far, but there is this mistique about being there that i like.  Plus all the people see nice when they aren't mad at us about money. lol.  Moreover, only the security guards that night bought merch, so that's even funnier to me.  We met these guys in the band Pascal from Nevada.  Nice guys, Super nice.  Check them out. See you at the house party tonight.
mark.
2/28/05: 
Tomorrow marks Andrew and i's one year anniversary living in california.  Wow, so much has happened.  Anyway, enough of that, back to rock.  We just played at UCSD at the plaza on the side with our buddies Arliss.  Very odd show.  It was in this snack bar kinda place and the only people that came by were people we invited, my parents visiting from out of state, some random walk bys, and this really annoying asian girl that was all: "awww, loooook....you have teeeeeshirtssss!!! awww..are they $10 too??? Awww cute, you are trying to sell them."  I tell you, if i didn't know secret ninja moves from the government, i would have romped her in the face.  But, alas, i'm a secret government weapon, so i restrained.  We played with The Cemetery Swingers, and they were this really rad psycobilly band.  I don't know their website, but look them up bc they were really good and super nice.  I just wish i had more time to have talked to them.  So if you see them, tell them howdy for me.  We have tons of shows lining up now and got a tshirt sponsorship with Kingdom Eternal clothing today.  So yea, good times.  If you want to sponsor us while you still can, email me at Mark@alicomusic.com
<3 mark.
2/13/05: 
New music on the way.  We just finished our new video through the japanese group, Music Guild.  So now Alico is breaking into Japan.  Check out our video under the "media" tab.
1/22/05: 
Last night was just one of those night, ya know? Like, where you don't do near as bad as you think you did in your own head, but for some reason, moral is really low when you leave.  Epicentre wasn't exactly what i thought it would be, but they let us play and we are extremely grateful for that.  Good things came out of the show, the crowd was a good size and we definitely played at the perfect time slot for us that night.  Made some good contacts and met some nice bands.  You'll probably see us playing with Arliss in the near future more, as them us as well. It wasn't a good financial night for us, but i'm optimistic the contacts we made were far greater anyway.  Today is moving day for andrew and i, and i'm not looking forward to that.  It'll be another few weeks before our truck and trailer gets here from texas, so we're doing anything we can to move big stuff into small cars.  Note to you kiddos: stay at home with your parents as long as possible.  It's cheaper, there is food, and you don't really have to worry about "what is that weird smell behind the couch?" ...bc we've been wondering that.  See y'all on the 28th in good ol' sun city,
mark.
1/21/05: 
Yesterday Andrew and I were back in the studio finishing up vocals for the track "This is What I See, This is What I Say."  This was an old song we had from many many years ago that we always liked, but never really spent the time on it we needed to make the song killer.  So we did that.  Recording came out beautifully, i'm especially stoked on the guitar tones.  Tons, i mean, tons of new stuff to look for in this song.  Hopefully we'll have it totally ready by this next week, and if so, everyone on the email list will be able to hear it.  If you aren't on the email list, get on it.  If not, we'll be releasing an EP in the near future with this track on it.  ...now on to epicentre!
mark.
1/17/05: 
Two night of mayhem.  Wow. where to start.  ok, um. We left for the show about 3pm while cutting and stuffing promo\flyer cds in the car.  We get to Rancho Mirage and hit the mall to promo.  Met a lacrosse team and a really mean white boy rapper.  It's cool bc he's not interested in anything, so we weren't stressed.  Ate some greek food, then some carl jr's.  So the first night was DEATH METAL NIGHT!!! or so it would seem.  We were the only band that didn't scream.  No biggie, but what bothered me was that we were assured that there was going to be a vocal pa system already there for us, but when we get there the other bands were apparently in charge of it and wanted to charge us to use it.  We, being extremely poor, couldn't really afford to spend the cash, so it was an instrumental night.  Super fun show though.   About 10 people stuck around, and i swear, we've never gone off while we played like that ever before. it was fun.  i bled.  so did andrew.  i think zack just took his shirt off.  it happens.  Toshi was there filming as well...our Japanese best friend who films.  he's a pro. Oh, then it was late and we were tired, so we were off to find a motel.  NOPE. Every town around of there was completely booked to mass capacity.  Finally at 3 am we gave up and ate some denny's in palm springs....with some verrrrrry seedy characters there.  A fight even broke out in the lobby. nuts i swear.  Anyway, we drove until we found a 24 hr Wal-mart and all bought some pillows and blankets for like $5 and slept in our cars in the parking lot.  It was actually really fun bc i woke up to the most beautiful sunrise...then i experienced first hand how much it is hard to sleep when the sun is staring right at you in the car. oi vey. ok, so the second show was a little different, there were actually bands we messed with there.  This show was really interesting.  We played, did fine, a little sloppy, but i didn't really feel like we did so well.  We sold some stuff  slowly over the night, but the highlight didn't really come about until we really started talking with the band The Color Turning.  These guys were amazing to start with, and exceptionally nice guys to boot.  Hopefully we'll be playing with these guys very very soon and hopefully often.  Ok, so we hit up some In and Out on the way home and are watching a prevideo of the Japanese video we are shooting for Blue Eyes Never Lie.  i'm tired though, so i'm going to let you go.  Seriously though, i don't want to go, i just need some rest.  Don't worry, i'll call you first thing tomorrow and we'll get some lunch or something.  I don't thing i'm going to be babysitting anyway, so i think we can all go swimming at jimmy's.  bye bye
mark.
1/09/05: 
Tonight was weird.  Way weird. First off,  we left for the venue without any directions, then christie got sick on the road, then we get lost, then it torrentially rains the whole way, then there was flooding, then there was extreme fog, then there was also super high winds.  Oh did i mention bc of the clouds, it was dark the whole time....no?....we it was. trust me.  We get there and the venue won't let us in for like two good hours...so we park, condense vehicles, and go over to the River out door mall.  Did i mention it was raining?...no?...good, bc it wasn't there praise the lord.  We had some fun bumming around, then kinda drove around palm desert looking for a taco bell.  No go, so we end up at a Del Taco.  The food gets christie AND andrew sick this time and a whole bunch of puking takes place.  Oh, zack is sick too.  We go back to the venue, unload, and set up our merch.  Something feels a little weird when i heard someone say, "wow, they have actual instruments!"  Little did we know, we got booked on a Techno night. lol.  By the time we got up, not too many people were left, but we did our job and played like pros.  Everyone left in the house had a great time and so did the band.  Afterwards, we hung out with the kiddos (who were very very rad mind you) and the establishment (they were extremely rad too).  They pulled all kind of strings and want us out there again on the 16th for some huge deal.  We said ok, and that's that.  We stuck around after hours and they turned the place into a dance party looping the same 2 eminem songs over and over.  It was a blast.  Then on the way home andrew took the wrong freeway.  Crazy california and it's million freeways.  Oh, and we saw a coyote on a flooded street.  it was cute.
mark.
1/06/05: 
Um,...HAPPY NEW YEAR!?! ...yea, i know i missed it, sorry.  Anyway...here's the latest with us: Japanese music video!  Yes, that's right...and random.  At one of our past gigs, we were scouted by a group from Japan to basically make a video for and play in Japan as like "what japan should know about the american underground" music.  Neat idea i say.  So we began filming on the 4th and i have to say...yikes.  We are all camera shy, and are basically pathetic.  Actually no, i'm kidding...it's going to rule.  The director, Toshi, will be out at the Whisky show on Jan.22nd filming...so if you want to be in the video, make sure to show up! We have a few more days to go to finish the video up, so keep watching.  Oh, and hopefully soon we'll have a preview version of a new song up for you to listen to and rip apart. 
mark.
12/31/04: 
Man, sorry it took so long to get this journal up.  I am ashamed.  Anyway, HOUSTON, TX!  wow. wow. WOW! was this place amazing. Man, i don't even know where to start, let's see, we flew in a day before the show and basically did nothing (after zack getting stuck in phoenix for many hours and andrew and i having delays on our flights).  We started preparation for the show super early the next morning.  Everything had to be perfect.  Ok, so java jazz is hands down our favorite venue to play at and this show continued the tradition.  A huge turn out with fans that literally screamed every single word to every single song so loud that it was louder than me singing on the mic through the pa.  Andrew even got a little teary eyed during the first song (if you would ask him, he'd just say it was his allergies acting up...but you and i both know the truth now, don't we...friend).  A big thank you to everyone that let us borrow equipment, especially Christian and Dustin: thanks guys.  Our best of best friends came out to this show, as well as some of our favorite long term fans.  Miss Ashley even baked us cookies and brownies and put them in containers with our named on it.  Ten gold stars for that! The other bands were super nice, and i very much enjoyed sharing a table with the paradox.  good guys. Though someone stole my paradox (black medium) t-shirt though...and i'm bummed about that. Zack was super sick though, and that was a downer.  He flew home the next day because of it.  Oh, it was zack's first time eating "southern food", haha...and let's just say he's now a big fan of Black Eyed Peas, Okra, nor Chicken Fried Steak.  Pitty. 
mark.
12/18/04: 
Viva la calvary chapel menifee. I always love playing there.  The crowds are always large and receptive, the establishment always treats us nice, the lady who makes the food always goes way up and beyond the call of duty, and to top it off, the fans really give us the red carpet treatment.  The show was extra fun then normal.  I really really just had a good time playing.  I was super nervous about the show bc we heard a Tooth&Nail rep was going to be there, and that's the label we want the most right now...but after a call home to my mom and talking with some friends, i relaxed and just decided to let go and let God.  We played our new song, "blue eyes never lie," for the first time tonight and it went over huge.  yea to that song.  The highlight for the evening for me was meeting two girls from japan that are just here sightseeing and just ended up at the concert randomly.  They didn't speak good english, but heck, their english was better than my Japanese any day.  Well, that bought cds, and actually called a friend of theirs in japan and had me talk with him.  Now THAT was cool.  I talked with someone in japan!  Heck, i don't know how to even CALL someone in japan.  So yea, basically i am cool now.  Or at least cooler than i was.  Ya know, i guess that's really not that cool at all.  Oh, well, at least i got to call japan.  beat that.  ...well, don't really....let me have my moment of triumph.  Next stop, houston,TX!
mark.
12/16/04: 
Well, we just posted one of our new songs.  I like it.  It's different.  I always love different songs.  Anyway, it's mostly done.  He had this rad sound clip at the beginning, but it sounded bad how we recorded it, so i'm going to work on it on my own time and make another version.  If we like it, i'll post it instead, but in the mean time go here to sample the new song (it's available starting at the next show for sale) Blue Eyes Never Lie
12/11/04: 
Day two of recording in the bag.  Tonight was a very odd recording night.  The vocal "chamber" was this tiny closed in box with nothing but a mic and an exposed bulb-styled lamp...or as we call it in the biz...a sweat box.  So yea, after about 20 mins, the heat started getting to me and i ended up in just boxers and tape over my nips.  Why, i don't know, heat makes you do stupid things for fun i guess.  Oh, and my work clothes really stink...so that plus a tiny sweat box equals bad wiffs for the other guys when they would crack open the door. oi vey.  Let's see, we tracked all the vocals for our new song "blue eyes never lie".  I really like this song.  Kinda dead poetic meets saosin.  Good stuff.  Has some melodic vocals, some strained vocals, and some background screamo screams via andrew.  Over all, i'm happy with the premix.  We sampled a great quote from a rad artsy movie as well for the intro, but i won't tell you where we got it...bc who knows, maybe later on i'll have some contest for whoever can find it or something.  Well, Ryan (engineer) seemed a little perturbed with us after this evening, so that kinda scared me.  He, as well as their whole band, has really helped us out and i don't want them feeling that we take any of that for granted.  So if you read this ryan, or hemingway, i (we) seriously love you guys...extremely so.  All that's left for the studio now is tracking the vocals for a remake of my favorite song i've ever written, "this is what i see, this is what i say."  The music is killer, so i just hope i can produce the vocals like i hear them in my head.  So everyone keep us in your prayers and make sure to eat tons of carl's jr pastrami hamburgers.
mark.
12/10/04: 
Ok, today was the first day of recording.  We're done for the day.  Oh man, are we beat. Ok, so normally when you record all "professional-like"...it takes a good long time.  You have to tweek every stupid thing a million times to make is sound great.  So we did that....but with a very VERY limited about of time for the day.  So andrew and i went over to the hemingway studio about 11:30am to start unloading equipment.  Got greeted by some attack dogs, and basically got to work.  We only recorded two songs of a proposed 3, basically bc we wanted to make sure we didn't record anything we didn't feel was totally ready.  So yea, 2 songs.  I was only expecting we'd finish drums and bass and maybe the rhythm guitar tracks...but low and behold...we finished ALL music parts.  Yes, oh yes...ALL music parts.  We must be nazis to have worked that hard and that diligent for such a long time without breaks. oi vey.  Well, ryan's (audio engineer) mixing board kept freezing up when we only had like 4 guitar tracks left, and i know he was getting frustrated.  Well, that and he didn't realize how many guitar parts we have in our music.  haha...PROG ROCK STRIKES AGAIN!  Anyway, i'm doing vocals tomorrow, so water fast for me.  Oh, and we ate at weinersnitchel.  It was yummy.
mark.
12/09/04: 
Tomorrow is the first day of recording.  Yea.  Remember to pray for us. 
12/04/04: 
Interesting night last night.  First off, a huge thank you to hemingway for having up on that show.  That meant a bazillion to us.  With that being said...here goes:  ok, the place was rad enough, it was just a bar in a college town...so that's positive enough.  The stage was small for a 3 piece band (aka us) so i really don't know how the other bands did it...but kudos to them for pulling it off so finely. The establishment was rad. Praise God there was a Fatburger close by.  Oh man, by FAR my favorite place to get a hamburger and onion rings now.  Seriously. Go get some.  Oh, and if Fatburger is reading, our contact information for sponsorship is on the "contact" page. *wink wink* Let's see.  The sound system wasn't the best, nor was the room for live bands, so our show audibly wasn't all up to pair, but our stage show was good.  Andrew broke some rafters and some of the decor, but for the most part, it was fun playing for a huge group of drunken bros that could careless that we were there.  Ha, oh, did i mention it was like this bar\bootie dance club? No? well...it was.  So the clientele really could careless that we were there.  They had other pressing things on their mind...like....um....the uncertainty principle by werner heisenberg and how it relates to matter on a molecular level.  Next is recording, then the Hawk Nelson Show.  So STAY TUNED!
mark.
11/24/04: 
I spell tonight: F.R.U.S.T.R.A.T.I.O.N. We were all totally floored to get to the show...until like everything that COULD go wrong, did.  We had problems getting money deposited, getting taco bell, getting gas, we got separated on the freeways and i ended up getting lost in northern LA for a couple of hours.  And to make it worse, the only way we could find our way back was to call my parents in texas to get an atlas and tell us where the freak we were. So we get to the place and the turn out is low.  I break the string i just replace upon sound check.  The show was fine, we were a little sloppy, but overall it was ok.  The venue got mad that i had a knife on me, but thank goodness, i got it back at the end.  My knife and i are very close. It's this bond.  never mind.  So Zack and i were walking across the street to get some pre show munchies...when we were crossing the street with this hippy girl.  Apparently she was "psychic" bc she asked Zack, "X or Y?"...he said X.  She goes, "you will come to a situation where you will no know what to do".  then she goes, "B or C?", he goes, "B"...then she goes...OHHHH!!!!! REALLY????!!...yea, we quit talking to her after that.  nutzo. Oh, a crazy guy called me Interpol too.  but he apologized so i guess i could let him live.  what a strange night,
mark.
11/20/04: 
We just got back from good ol' poway,ca.  I have to say, this is a little off the subject, but i'm really happy to be here in california.  I was telling Andrew as we were walking to Wal-Mart by the venue, that it just feels like we are on tour out here instead of living here because we are always playing in towns we've never heard of for people that have never heard of us.  Feels like tour to me.  Ok, as for tonight:  It was cool for the most part.  We have a little trouble finding Cornerstone, but after about 10 wrong turns we get there.  Our friend, Chelsea, make some freaking great homemade mexican food for the bands and i was in hog heaven.  We played with our friends Paladoras, so that was always nice.  The other bands were friendly as well...which always adds to the night.  On a minus though, we got stolen from AGAIN.  This time we realized we had money taken before we got to venue, so that means trouble outside the venues.  In order to fix the greedy hands of others that we can't control, Andrew and I walked to a nearby Wal-Mart to buy a heavy duty cash box that locks.  So hopefully problem solved.  We had a lot of fun playing.  We played a new song tonight for the first time.  It was really rough, but it was fun to test the reaction on a fresh crowd.  We are going to record 3 new songs before our Houston show in december so keep your eyes out for that.  The crowd was rad, and everyone seemed to have a good time.  Our friend kenny dressed up like a frenchman and moshed with his video camera making fun of the mosh-ers.  They never caught on, but oh...did he ever "catch it" on film.  good times. We then got super lost on the way home and Zack almost got in a major auto accident with a drunk driver.  God was watching out for us and we were ok.  Later we got mexican food at our favorite place in Oceanside, CA.  The nice was fun, productive, and mexican-y.
mark.
11/6/04: 
Tonight was a good night at the Showcase Theatre. We had a really good set, could have been more "show-y", but we played it save and just made sure we played super solid.  And we did.  It was a good rock and roll show.  The turn out was good and we met a ton of great people.  Big shout outs to Hemingway and Cut Shallow especially.  All the bands were nice, but these guys took the cake.  Hopefully we'll be playing with them more in the future. We had some money stolen tonight at the show, and that really hurt us.  But hey, i guess our "thou shall not steal" sign in our merch box didn't do the intended trick.  So if you want to help us out, email us. But besides that, it was super fun.  The night ended up with a fun trip to In and Out with Cut Shallow.  Good people, good food.  hurrah!
mark.
10/31/04: 
Happy Halloween everyone!  I hope everyone is now as sick of candy as i am.  Let see, what to report.  oh i know...show stuff.  :)  ok.  Last night, aka the 30th, we played at Madlin's.  This was our first real run in with the "scene" of california.  There were people there until we said, "hi, we're Alico from Houston, TX"....then everyone but literally 10 people left.  So retarded.  So from now on, i'm just going to say we're from Temecula.  again, retarded.  So apparently we sounded good i hear...from the 10 people.  Tonight we played at Nikao.  Sound system was amazing, stage was rad, bands were way nice...but the turn out was a little slim.  So we do what anyone would do in that situation...play the best possible show for the few people there and make sure they have the best time ever.  So we did.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and the establishment seemed to like us as well.  It was mutual. So lately we've been promo whores.  Passing out flyers+promo cds in a cute bundle...EVERYWHERE.  We go to venues and pass them out after shows, we put up posters in the mall, flyer cars in parking lots.  Anything.  It's tough when you having to start over in a new place...but we will not be discouraged.  We are an extremely driven band and are not shy to hard work.  See y'all at the next show...regardless if we are playing or just flyering
mark. 
10/18/04: 
Today we did a professional photo shoot....in the rain mind you.   Apparently the lighting was good.  ...yes, apparently.  lol.  We found this rad abandoned house that had walls knocked out and all this brush grown into it.  Totally creepy.   Totally a place you don't want to go at night.  But mind you not, i was without fear bc i had my totally amazing stock corolla handy.  So if perpetrators were near by, we could have fled with ease....and with fancy pics of it to document.  Thank you Christie for the pics.  We'll post some soon.  Then you can see how emo we are deep down.  ok, back to our move...bad santa....that's the new scene way of saying movie, Capt Howdy.  creepy.....oh well....yehaw anyway...
mark.
10/09/04: 
So we just got done with the Wildomar show.  Man oh man, interesting place.  Let me start off saying we had a super fun time at the show.  Ok, it was tough at first because this was a STRICTLY metal venue and we, oh course, are NOT metal.  So, andrew and I wore our hoods up and dressed all in black to be cool looking and proceeded to rock, metal style.  So anyway, Other highlights...Well, we were almost late to the gig because we decided we HAD to get some new piercings before the show.  HAD too were the operative words here. So freshly garnished with Zack's new lip ring, my new bridge, and Andrew's new septum ring, we ruled.  Yes, oh yes...bloody is rock.  And we were bloody....rock...y.   I've determined all metal heads were shirts no smaller than XL too.  So for all you touring metal bands...remember that for merch purchasing.  Thanks again to the guy that head banged the whole time to our show in the front.  That and all the metal heads screaming for an encore...then moshing to easily our poppiest song.  We love y'all...metally. 
mark.
10/07/04: 
Ok, i'm addicted.  Place this game and get addicted too.  hexxagon of death
10/06/04: 
Wow. seriously, wow. So a person we won't disclose,...well...let's just say her initials are Christie....anyway, she decides to set fire to our apartment while we were away feeding orphans. It's our moral, civic duty to continue to be such model citizens...and i guess she was jealous of us being such wonderful individuals.  So she set fire to our apartment.  Not just fire, but SMOKE! And by means of a hair straightener that was slowly yet quickly melting our sink basin.  Zack and i return home from our peace corps duty to find the fire department already waiting at our humble abode.  But nooo, they didn't greet us with a smile.  Nor smores nor type of small fruit...but with a citation.  Enclosed is a picture of St.Zack next to our new "friends". 
mark.
ps- some of this was embellished. but not much :)
9/26/04: 
Andrew just made our friend Christie puke by means of a burrito. We don't like him at the moment.  I bet nor does she.  So back to business...the TFK show was last night.  Fun times.  Actually fun and sucky times.  We were super stressed out due to a ton of small things beyond our control.  First TFK missed out on their in store promotion at the C28 store again for the second time...so we saved the day.  We went up there and passed out some promo cds, talked with the customers, and played an acoustic song for the passerby's.  So back to the show.  I normally don't dig church shows like that too much bc they don't move the pews and there is no "standing room"...but man, this show was packed.  1500 people strong.  So, wow...that made up for the pews.  The kids were really rad there in Menifee, CA.  Most of the people hadn't heard our music before, so it was tough playing when no one really could care two flips about you...but it was a blast.  I've totally missed playing shows like that.  Highlights:  signing a stick of deodorant, impressing a canadian by my knowledge of where Toronto is, people asking us if we were rich bc we're from texas and "obviously" we live on an oil ranch.  The truth of the matter is all texans are rich.  If you aren't, you can't live there.  And we pour oil on pancakes.  It also dubs as sunscreen.  :)
mark.
9/24/04: 
So it's official, we are complete mooches for practice spaces. Tonight we practiced at Andrew's work after hours at this ritzy guitar shop.  It was fun, but sooo cramped.  He's was sweating the whole time, eagle eyeing us so that we wouldn't accidentally bang into a $10,000 piano. Then Zack "accidentally" opened up the fire exit door thinking it was the bathroom...alerting the cops to our whereabouts.  The cop was surprisingly nice.  He daughter takes piano lessons and Andrew tried to sell him a piano.  No go though.  bummer.  Our roomie Brandon was with us too eagle eyeing us.  What's with all this eagling eyeing stuff.  seriously, it gets old.  stop it you guys! makes me self conscience...about my eye...yea i don't' know either, it's late.
mark.
9/20/04: 
So i still don't like John Mayer.  long story...applies to an mnac before an after.  Ok let's see, we have a steady practice place now...FINALLY.  Totally a God hook up too. i'm happy.  So Zack and Andrew were wresting at our apartment the other day and well...Zack, his eye, and the side of our roommate's bed had a fight.  Let's just say Zack's eye lost and now it's super puffed up.  He got beat.  Now it's really swole...or swollen for you west coast kiddos.  We had a very successful photo shoot the other night that we're happy with.  We'll post some too.  But besides that, there isn't too much to report...mostly rumors i guess...most aren't true except that we met AC\DC and they flew us down to Jamaica to party with them...that was true.
death to smootcy,
mark.
9/16/04: 
Practice, practice, practice. It sucks coming from Texas where we had everything handed to us on a silver plate.  No worries about where to practice, no worries about promo because people knew us, yadda yadda yadda.  Oh, but not anymore. lol.  Now we hop from garage to garage to warehouse to our living room in our apt to practice.  I think we've mastered the art of "quiet practice".  Stallions. yes. So Andrew just found my rock gloves and seems excited.  Zack died his hair black and ran to put on makeup like a starving hid would run to a thanksgiving feast...and i am just happy we can make rent. So shows finally start soon.  Sept.25 is when it all kicks off, and i'm exicted.  Zack is working out amazingly and moreover than that, we really really like the boy.  He's an amzing addition to our rag time band.  Email him in fact here: zack@alicomusic.com see you soon kiddos
mark.