Writing & guest starring....

Lisa Johnson & I doing what we do!!!!



We've been home for a while....writing, writing, demoing and now, just now finally everything fell into place. There's something about a record that just can't be forced. I've never felt like a song is something you yourself create. It's like it has a mind of it's own...some are better than others (for the record, everything on out new record IS AWESOME) So the story goes something like this...We did some ghetto recording sesh at AMP in North Hollywood before we left on the Street Dogs tour. It was ok....then we came back and took some time to really live and grow and work on our songwriting...We've heard that from everyone! You think that people in the business push "LIVE SHOWS"...no, you're wrong....truth be told the live show is the fun part, the REALITY is that good songs make your career...slow, fast, dance, doesn't matter as long as it is good. Think about all the bands you've gone to see where you can't wait to hear them play that one hit! Now if, in theory you work really hard to build your fan base and have lots of these jems people can't wait to hear, well that my dear translates into an actual career! You can put out a record every year and people will buy it, but if you hold off and put out some serious quality, it's like currency...like GOLD!!!! So Civet girls spent the holidays doing holiday stuff and NAMM in January....then the light went off...and it went off so fast and so bright I still can't even wrap my head around it. We started writing some of the best stuff that's ever gone through this band. And we wrote together! And shit got crazy....I'm glad it did because all I really wanted to do this time around is write the record I knew that I was capable of writing. Something true and something hard....Not a sellout record. Just pure civet! Suz and I figured out our (Dare I say it?) FORMULA for our perfect songwriting process! This is great because I feel like because we are sisters and have that unique bond we are able to push each other harder than an outside person would be able to do....

We are in the studio as I write (ok....not AS I WRITE, but last week and tomorrow ;) Our official demos turned out so well we decided to just pave our own way, and as reviews of the material started coming in there's no doubt in my mind we made the right decision. Somtimes it's really hard to be strong and stand up and take responsibility for things and be a big girl. I really truly feel like this record is going to make a lot of people really really happy (ourselves included)and it's a lesson to stand up for what you believe in and above all just go with your gut feeling about stuff!!!!! You don't need someone to hold your hand and tell you what to do, you know what to do!

Ok....now that I hope everyone is super excited about the record and I got to get out my 2 cents on it, it comes out October!!!!! Hope you guys continue with your love and support we've come to depend on, ha ha xo

In other REALLY COOL NEWS (!) I did a song on the William Control Record (NOIR)...it's just a chorus thing, but I was excited to have the opportunity to work on something of his since I really respect him as a musician. That record comes out JUNE 8th and the hot and talented Lisa "i won't hang out until suz is 21" Johnson shot all the art for it! Pick it up!!!

I'm gunna go back to blogging a lot more, i feel like now that i'm almost done writing the record I've got a lot to say and no where to channel it! AHHHH! ha ha....don't be scared....it's all good....so does that mean that the record is just the musical expression of the blog? hmmmmm.....food for thought....

The biggest little city in the world!

Ah a weekend of shows in small towns…sometimes these are the most rewarding runs! Playing for the starved masses last weekend was not only totally fun, but it was a much needed rock n’ roll ego stroke for me and the girls. It was a definite TURKEY... which is our code word for three really great shows in a row…hey if it’s good for bowling, it’s good for us!

First up was Stockton, where we played for Middah, who I kept calling Mike….i don’t know why I do this, but once I get things in my head its just really hard to get them out. The worst part is that I know him…I’ve known him for years! He came out to our first ever Stockton show where we played the American Legion Hall with The Generators and the Forgotten. The show was rad, the relationship drama on tour with me at the time SUCKED! There is nothing worse than trying to do a job and having a bf get in your way (let me clarify we are speaking EX) It’s hard to do shows with significant others because everything is magnified by a zillion…. So there we were, back in Stockton….about three hours early. This is the phenomenon in rock n’ roll that we like to refer to as “hurry up and wait”. This happens all the time, it will never change…..so we checked out sketchy Stockton as they checked out us….we went to MOO Burger and Roxie got the “NO MOO” love it! We hung out in the Plea For Peace and it started to rain! EWWW! Rain on tour = not your friend! We played with a whole bunch of cool bands…definitely rockin’ their own vibes….The MexiVandals (not their name, but def the band) opened and it was good….then Asiago (btw my fav bagel at starbees) graced us with some serious pipes and songwriting that we promptly told them they would be stupid not to take it to Tooth and Nail and make some serious x-ian rock cash! The Black Horde played too…..Now we played with them at The Blackwater Café last time we came through town and I swear they sounded like the BRONX. This time around, not so much….more “metal or die” style….Skateshoes, the singer (whose house Civet has crashed at in the past) was actually wearing a priest suit! We were up! It was an awesome show with a really really great pit as well as some tough as nails little kids and the pretty made up chicks….it’s always funny to me to see how different all our fans are….We played a great show and I almost lost my teeth to the mic…



Round 2 was amazing! We made a not so hot decision that I paid for later to brave the I70 to avoid snow….mmmm, not so much…hit the snow…needed the chains…took me like 4 hours of zombie like driving to make it over the mountain….We almost got stuck in the chain off area when our chains got wrapped around the wheel well…it was like 20 degrees, snowing and all the girls were sleeping…. I didn’t want to wake them up so I got the Fed Ex guy to help me. Had to put my tail between my legs when he said he had offered to help me put them on and I had shot him down! Why does all this stuff happen to me? I’m bound to be put in a situation where I’m humbled if I don’t watch myself. It never fails…It also helps me to be a better person on a daily basis. Note to self – take help when it’s offered the first time!


We rolled into The Nugget and decided to camp out here…this was a great casino with our number one prereq, a starbees! I also got sucked into some serious gambling while there….that never happens to me, but I really felt like this one machine kept paying off (NOT!)! We loaded in to vixens and reunited with our homie Chapin to celebrate his new ownership of vixens! This man is the ultimate enabler….he doesn’t drink, but when he starts handing everyone shots you sure feel like he does!!! We passed on a soundcheck….now this is always a dilemma ….but all of my friends in bands will agree that great soundcheck = shitty show and vice versa….so why even go there? Last nights’ show was on, we know and love vixens sound system and we knew the fans were gunna be there…we went for it!!! No check and off to a great interview with friend and uber fan Chris Payne at KR-something Reno….that was easy….the only thing I ever worry about in group interviews is us sounding kinda snobby or maybe even a little stupid…it’s just that when we are all together shit gets real funny really fast..and after a zillion of these interviews that, let’s face it…all ask the same shit, you kinda sound like a robot occasionally…..So for the record, we’re really smart, and NOT assholes…..just easily amused.
Show was off the hook at Vixens that night and Youth Brigade n’ 7 Seconds, MIsfritz played awesome as well….the pineapple vodka just tasted like just pineapple and definitely snuck up on us!!! I was (kinda) the last man standing as the girls had to rescue mission Rox and left me at the club…..my conversations consisted of this (and this is how you KNOW I was a goner) – medical marijuana curing cancer, the REAL meaning of being a punk rocker, and reintroducing myself to a guy I’ve known for years, just didn’t recognize…..duh! So finally someone came to get me (cause you KNOW civet girls to NOT walk to the hotel alone)… I had a run in with a “poison” apple and missed a few calls from the bf and was smart enough to pass out in the hotel bed on my stomach (JUST IN CASE!), although I was kinda naked at least I was safe about it!
The morning met me with a, yeah… you guessed it, wicked hangover…We hung out with Chapins’ baby and hot wife Jo for a while, then some serious Olive Garden to nurse our hangovers….the big joke at the OG was that everyone in the lobby was “going to dinner” and we were sitting there not talking, just playing on our phones and not speaking a single word to each other…I wanted to stand up and explain to all these fine people that we are on tour and we’re more than ok with silence….and that when you are with someone for days you just coexist….especially in a band setting…ask anyone! Totally not weird fine people of Reno!


Truckee was cute…small….reminded me of one of the tiny venues we played on the Guttermouth Tour in CA a zillion years ago…..lots of super slippery ice and no one to help load….live in a dive show….love it!!! The turnout was great, but the downside was that most people who were at the show the night before were there….how is this bad you ask? Uh, because they already bought the merch! We played with the super rad and stand up hilarious Saddle Tramps…We played pretty much the same set, still slightly under the weather, but it was super fun! I was so in the swing of playing shows that I wanted to keep going!! We left and hauled ass back to LA….3 days was great, but can we do some 3 weekers now?!

My Love Affair w/ Fender! (NAMM 2010)

This was our second year at NAMM…it feels really good when you play something big one year and everyone loves you enough to invite you back the next year…not that we aren’t lovable like that ha ha! We played for Fender/Gretsch which is basically the same company with one having more classic old school vibe and feel and the other one being the typical rock guitar…Now don’t get me wrong, I‘m a Gibson girl, but a fender strat WAS my first real guitar…I remember wanting one really really bad because Courtney Love played them. I started off with a Squire (Fenders' more moderately priced child) and later moved on to a real Fender. My first guitar was black and I remember having a Cramps sticker on it and a pic of Courtney Love (of course!) I played a set of two shows/back to back nights at some club in Westminster that isn’t even around anymore…with this ridiculous wanna be Kiss copy band called FiFi Larue…the shows were good, unfortunately some jerk stole my guitar when I made the mistake of not packing it in the van (at this point we’re talking mini van, not uh, van van…) My second fender went the same way…she was gorgeous, baby blue and managed to sound amazing although I was still playing out of a shot to shit Rickenbacker amp… I remember playing the 3rd or 4th annual Mad Monster Party that we used to play every year at the knitting factory… Someone stole it from the back room along with my coffin case. That sucked… and to this day I am a straight up Nazi about someone watching the gear at all times… I always just brushed off the loss of the guitar, cause after all it’s just stuff… but I’m SURE at this point in my life if I lost the Gibson I would surely lose my shit.
NAMM, oh yeah! NAMM! So Fender put us up in the Double Tree the night before so we didn’t have to deal with the NIGHTMARE that is parking at NAMM… Now if you haven’t been to NAMM it would surely blow your mind… even for the mild gear head it’s overwhelming… all the new guitars, psuesdo-rock celebs everywhere! One out of three people looks like they came from a time machine set to the 80’s… Mick Mars was there, Yngwie Malmsteen, Strung Out played, Kerry King, Slash, etc, etc...
We played the Fender stage which is inside and set up like an auditorium…it was cool, but honestly like the vibe wasn’t there… we were rocking and a lot of these people were trade show old people mixed in with our crowd… See namm is weird because you CAN'T buy tickets, so fans CAN'T get in… so when you see a whole bunch of people singing along, which thank God there were, then that means that your fans also work for companies… extra cool! So our set was good… there we’re a ton of cameras and the video looks pretty sick as do some of the photos, but truly my favorite set was the second one, down on the motherfucking floor super punk rock style. This was where we played last year, on the floor at the Kim Falcon booth…There’s just something about playing right there that has super good vibes… I was able to jump into the crowd and really “ACT OUT” I like that… that’s when I really feel it and am stoked… Chris Pontius loved it, and you know we love him! Other pseudo big fan moment was Dhani Harrison (George Harrison’s son) watching from the side of the fender stage and telling us how much he loved it when we got done… BTW he rolled up in a bullet proof escalade. Just sayin. So we played and it was great, both sets….it was only like 3:30 by that point and I was exhausted as I’m sure all the other girls were too… we walked around shaking hands and kissing babies and later after watching Strung Out’s set we headed off to a delicious sushi dinner with the Strung Out dudes, Michael Shultz (the homie) Billy the fender marketing genius and a few others… Sushi was cool, but I couldn’t wait to get some sleep and go round 2 as a spectator at nmamm the next day!
I rocked out on the Malcom Young model Gretsch which actually sounded pretty sick after I let a super tech friend rewire the sob to run hotter...I shot some stuff for Altitude TV which is now REVOLVER TV(more on this in a bit!) and the day was pretty packed, but in a good way!
The rumors were true! Rancid actually came out and played the Gretsch floor stage on Saturday… It was nothing less that phenomenal…it was good to be a punk rocker that day…I really really felt proud…it was one of those moments that really make me feel proud to do what I do and be a part of this hellcat family. I actually got teary eyed! And I wasn’t too big shot to sing along with all the other fans, cause this was real! I later ran into Corey Parks (Nashville pussy/Chelsea girls) who was there promoting her new cabinet line (super sick and white!) It’s funny because everyone is there promoting SOMETHING! It was good to see all these people (Tim, Corey, Michael) who believed in the band and gave us their love and support… that’s why we are where we are… we give them mad props and love! Viva Namm 2010!

New SONG posted I co-wrote w/ Elvis Cortez from Left Alone!

Yes, that's right....this song was about 10+ years in the making....he's always been a good friend of mine, even though we've gone long spells without talking over the years....this is probably the ONLY person in my life who was around in the beginning of civet (circa 1999) and is around now...ha ha.....so enjoy!!!!


Go check out his myspace
http://www.myspace.com/elviscortez
and support your music scene!!!



Oh and while I'm at it....I've decided after a lot of thinking to make my FACEBOOK open to the public....and actually announce it....I just feel that I get a lot more personal on that page and do constant updates and I would like my fans to have access to that...I mean....why not? You guys make this band and my projects what they are and I'm eternally grateful!!!! Just remember to behave!!! ha ha!!! Come find me!


Give me some lovin' feedback on that NEW song!!!!

"it's only been a couple months"

So much has changed in my life it's crazy, but I feel like as a person I've stayed the same....people close to me are all getting engaged/married and having babies and a part of me is screaming "I'M NOT READY TO GET OLD AND STOP LIVING"...not that I think that getting old = babies or is entirely BAD....but I really love my touring life, and my band life and drinking and hanging out and to a certain extent just my independence....I feel like I'm at a point in my life where career-wise I'm on fire and it's just getting better and better everyday, I've got a great new (which might actually be old!) outlook on the band and I feel full of energy, in control, etc.....but all around me there it is...the fucking babies, the "say yes to the dress" episodes, all the people close to me getting engaged....it's scary...Like tonight, suz and I went to Target to get me a Xmas tree and we run into Tatum, who is just gorgeous, but she's also suzi's age and has like a 4 year old....holy shit! like, when do you live? how do you pay for that? i would hate to have a child and not be able to buy him/her/it everything it needs and wants (to a certain extent)....I don't know...lots of crazy stuff to think about lately and I'm not really sure where I fit in...I'm a girl...i wanna get married, it's in my blood....but so is rock and roll.....soooooooo I guess it doesn't matter cause it's not my decision anyway! Boy does that take a lot of the pressure off!!! Yay for tradition!

Wild in Glasgow...Tonight!

Manchester, England….
You guessed it…just how they said the crowds suck here…they kinda did…or maybe it was the spice girls costumes we came out in, uh cause we didn’t give a fuck. I’m still feeling very much a girlfriend on this tour, but I feel like the more space I give myself the better I feel about everything in general…I am a real legit moving person, with a career and a history and lots of things…. Dont' get me wrong, i'm with someone for the first time in a long time, but vibing with another person while being really close space invaders everyday is kinda tough. I feel like I’m getting better. Dealing with my issues a little bit more, I need to make sure I’m not being crazy about nothing….Liza, for the record, totally gets crazy about NOTHING sometimes…ha ha…but honestly…that’s what makes you great, being slightly eccentric.

Nothing to see here

The tour itself has being going GREAT!! I’m definitely feeling the northern euro vibe like Sweden, Norway etc. a lot more than all the countries I’ve visited in the last few months….It’s crisp and everyone is really really good looking ha ha…oh and Belgium…..LOVED Belgium…I finally got to meet (and shoot with!) the one and only Cindy Frey who is not only talented and super cool, but beautiful…I’ll have some of those pics soon….I went to Vaudville 79 the store Tommy X owns…see I think they just hide all the super cool people in Belgium….He hooked us up with some clothes (that I proudly wore onstage) and his gf was at the show as well…It was cool to meet him outside of the whole US Bombs /Ex shadow….It felt good.






I’ve been drinking heavily (what’s new?!) and just having a good time in general…like I said earlier I definitely feel like this has been a trip where I’m wearing several different hats….Our merch girl bailed on the tour, so we’ve been handling all that, then I’m in the band (duh!) ha ha…I feel sooooo busy!!!! And truth be told when I’m not rocking out or hanging out I’m trying to sleep as much as humanly possible….I love love love my sleep….
Tonight we’re in Glasgow Scotland, which totally reminds me of my dad cause my family is Scottish
Is this real life? Am I really on tour in Europe for the 2nd time in like 4 months…and with my band who I love love love!? Damn!!!

Ain't no money in rock n' roll

Euro Update #1

Back in Europe…back on tour with the st dogs….shows have been really good…really really good, except for the first night, where apologies to our Berlin fans we totally shot ourselves in the foot by overpricing our tshirts….duh…ha ha….We had a wild drinking night in Stockholm followed by a equally wild night in Finland drinking again. It’s really hard to not drink around our tour and label mates, they are definitely seasoned drinkers….we definitely can’t go out at all without things getting exciting, whether it’s a bar fight or old flames, we just can’t seem to keep the drama under control….We just made the cover of our first magazine in Europe….SUE magazine and to add more fuel to the fire our magazine in all it’s glory was at the bar we chose to drown our sorrows in whilst in Finland….The thing about drinking is your perception of things totally gets skewed depending on how much you’ve had to drink….I’m always right when I’m drunk….unfortunately everyone else is too ha ha…my night was just a big rowdy messy mess of alcohol and civet/stdogs shirts…..sometimes after a night such as this it’s good cause it puts me in check…I want nothing more to go crawl back to the rock n’ roll love I came from, put all my time and effort into something that I know won’t ever disappoint me, and if it happens to, it’s never personal….it’s rock n’ roll….I want to write…I want to break away for a second and get back to the basics that feel really good..I wouldn’t be out here touring and dealing with all the bullshit if the pure act of playing and being one with an audience every night wasn’t so intoxicating. It’s never about the money or the love or the crazy hangouts, it’s always about the music and I just have to not forget that….Sweden, here I come, a little worse for the wear, but ready to rock n’ roll…..