Sky Pilots

It’s time to hit the road!

Sky Pilots leave this weekend for their Midwest/East Coast tour. We’ve got a long drive to Minneapolis, but then it shouldn’t be that bad. We’ve rented a sporty Town & Country for the trip, and hopefully we can find a 2008 model. That’s some hot shit!

Got a few new tunes that you won’t find on the album for tour, both goovy numbers. We’ll see how they go, but there will be plenty of the mathy, completely undanceable stuff too, so don’t worry.

For the first half of the trip we’ll be flying solo, but we meet up with Township in Boston and NYC. And SF pranksters Low Red Land will caravan with us from DC to Savannah. Then it’s back home for a nice long break. Stay tuned for updates and restaurant reviews on the road. Farewell.

Sup y’all, with the equipment pictured above (Jesus Christ look at all those amplifiers), Sky Pilots, Silian Rail, and Maserati managed to accomplish some serious results.

Thank you all for coming out! And thank you to Silian Rail and Maserati for helping to bring on wide scale destruction, chaos, and generally encouraging the apocalypse to come two or three calendar days sooner. FUCK YES.

BE THERE!!!

What’s up friends? We’re all really excited about our next show in San Francisco. We’re playing with Maserati and Silian Rail at 12 Galaxies on Wednesday, September 12. Maserati hails from Athens, GA. They play wildly intense, melodic, spooky instrumental music and their rhythm section defies logic. Silian Rail also plays wildly intense instrumental music and somehow manages to pull it off expertly with just two members. We play first.

This will be our last show in San Francisco before this show hits the road in October. Speaking of hitting the road, have a look at the tour schedule. This shit is going to go off.

“Summer Absenteeism” survey found that an overwhelming number of employees have used sick time to ENJOY A summer DAY OFF

CHELMSFORD, Mass., Aug 29, 2007 — “As temperatures begin to rise, so may unscheduled absences in the workplace. Today, the Workforce Institute™ announced the findings of a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive® and sponsored by Kronos® Incorporated (Nasdaq: KRON). According to the “Summer Absenteeism” survey, an overwhelming 39 percent of employees working full time have called in sick to work to enjoy a day off during the summer vacation season.”

We concur, buy it here now and Happy Labor Day ya’ll!!

Tuesday may not be the best day of the week, but it’s a righteous night to go out and see rock music. Why? Because you leave work, pissed off that you’re only two days through yet another shitty week, you go home, you eat dinner, you go to the show, you get rocked, you get drunk. And then the next day it’s already the middle of the week. How else can we say it? Tuesday night is a perfect night for rock. But wait, what if there’s no rock show on Tuesday? Are you totally fucked?

Actually, you’re in luck.

Sky Pilots will play Hemlock Tavern Tuesday night, August 14, and will melt the front side of your week into a boozy, vaguely psychedelic-looking puddle on the floor. If Pat could bottle those puddles, he would. Then he’d force them on Bill.

Also playing:

• Birthday Suits (heavy-hitting guitar/drum duo from Minneapolis)
• Break! (from Oakland)

Get there early for the peanuts. Stay late for Pilots.

ROCK ON

Friends.

The show was nothing less than amazing. We dressed for the occasion, toasted 4th Pilot B. Sheehan, introduced to the world our new tune Mexican Disco and all around ripped some serious air. What a sweet experience it was to crank air with Thread pals in front of all our SF friends. In no particular order we thank:

• Helium Tank and Helium Hank who helped us take down the balloons.
• Thread bands (as opposed to head bands). Like an incredible dream I had once when I was cranking riffs in a sea of white headbands. See another description here
• Low Red Land. These super/forever bros rocked a sick set and warmed up the stage.
• Silian Rail. Our dear friends briefly juxtaposed Pilots’ riff rock with a quiet acoustic intro but then got down to their brutal business of meditative mayhem.
• Tartufi. Dear lord did they headline the evening. New material is some seriously tribal, psychedelic awesomeness.
• Champagne and Caviar. Backstage duo adding a touch of class to our celebratory affair.
• Drunk dude who threw up all over the green room and proceeded to tell me he was “fine.”
• Ampy. A super bro as well. At one point it felt as if the power of the bass was going to flip me off the stage.
• You. For being awesome, reading this, probably attending the show but if not still supporting (respect) in some way.

For all the reasons above and many more, we will continue to rock the Western shores of the US for some time. Now buy an album if you like and Enjoy A DAY OFF!

We will unleash our album Enjoy a Day Off on the masses this Friday, July 27 at Bottom of the Hill here in San Francisco. We’ll be joined by friends Tartufi, Low Red Land, and Silian Rail.

Showtime is precisely 9 PM!!!

We worked long and hard on this record and almost tore each other to pieces during the process. In the end it was totally worthwhile. So come help us celebrate on Friday. There will be drinks, balloons, and of course, we will play songs from the new CD. The album will also be available for purchase as will other sweet new Pilots merch.

In addition to the new Pilots CD, the second Thread Productions compilation “Dragon Slayers Volume II” (featuring loads of Bay Area bands, including the four performing on Friday) will be available for FREE. That’s right, free.

Tour of the Midwest and Eastern Seaboard in October.

Stay tuned.

Yo world, that’s right! On eagle’s wings we will rise to the occasion and rip sets all summer long. Got a basement or space that needs to be ripped? Call upon us and we will bring it, burn a set, and rise from the ashes like a mighty eagle smoking a cig and giving you a fierce “L.” Why an eagle? Because we just recently celebrated our 231st year as a nation and although it’s a paucity of time when compared to say Poland which was founded in 966 and is 1041 years old, there is still reason to celebrate. Here are a couple:

1. Currently the Best Rock and Roll comes out of the states
2. More coal reserves than any other developing nation, we just don’t have the balls to use it
3. Ampeg Amps
4. Fender Guitars
5. Ludwig Drums

Rock Forever!

So yeah. This shit is going.

Friday night came on like a worn out t-shirt. Having peeled themselves off their beds for yet another day of work, it was good to know that rock was on the rise. Sky Pilots got the call officially at 12:15 a.m. Friday morning about the possibility of playing a show that night. What was known was that it was in celebration of the Conspiracy of Beards who were having a CD release party at Amnesia at 7 p.m. and this was the after-party. The show was confirmed at 9 a.m. over e-mail and all Pilots eagerly answered the call. Work ended and each Pilot fueled for the fight. Pat and Brendan ordered Indian. Bill ate Metate and Mike ate boring refrigerator born leftovers. 6:30 p.m., show is confirmed with a cryptic message to show up at 10 and ask for Dan or Dave. The Pilots quickly tightened a couple loose screws, formally agreed to play a Black Sabbath cover, and rolled to the show in style, riding in vanny and sitting on chrome.

And then there was the Cyclone Warehouse. Proudly facing the Bay and a visible affront to the creeping progress of San Francisco’s revitalizing shipyards, initially it felt more like breaking into someone’s urban barn after hours and taking advantage of their absence to party in their sweet city space. The rumor was that this place was “legendary” but even that does not fully describe the excitable mood in the air, nor the giant growing crowd of people, nor the feeling of absolute freedom that circulated this evening throughout Cyclone. There was something too DIY about the whole evening already and believing that all of this was to good to be true, no one wanted to get too out of control or spoil this perfect secret. Soon though, this mindset was outrightly abandoned as first came shouts to move vehicles for the buidling of a giant bonfire, quickly followed by a torching rock fueled opening performance by Ghost Mansion’s very own Sky Pilots.

Tonight was a rather aggressive performance for these boys as they blazed the stage with furiously tight riffs and rode the snake when it was necessary to let the dedicated crowd breathe. Sabbath appeared followed by a punishing version of “Time Gunner,” much to the delight of our Thread productions’ super bros Low Red Land. Overall Bill, Pat, Brendan, and Mike were collectively victorious in their rock campaign and not too overwhelmed by how incredible this space was to simply play a tight rock show.

The Conspiracy of Beards, having fueled up on cold beer and awesome snacks, then regaled the crowd with a few choice Leonard Cohen tracks. Touched By A Janitor then took the stage, completely punishing every inch of Cyclone Warehouse with their spitfire guitar riffs and spastic shifts in rhythm. The crowd was enthusiastic and returned to the bonfire ready to celebrate rock freedom.

And celebratory we would remain for the rest of the evening, stuck between illegally parked cars on a newly constructed railroad bridge and a warm fire. There, in the shadows of giant overhead Gantry cranes and illuminated shipping docks, cell phones were tossed into the fire symbolizing a momentary separation from the reality that is the rest of San Francisco on this cool Spring evening. Something felt right about the entire evening, and this righteousness was solely capitulated with a late night order of 6 Tender Crisp sandwich meals from our very own BK on Bayshore. Oh and the TCs had pickles on them, making the late night food run nothing less than a total jam.

Photos from the evening’s performance.