We are proud to be a part of the most recent Caffeinated Recordings compilation, Caffeinated IV, which features exclusive tracks from a bunch of fantastic bands who have recorded there this past year. Our selection is the brand new song, “Black Sea of Trees”, please to be enjoying:

This is a crude, digital facsimile of the Still e.p.
by Small Awesome.The limited-run, hand-made CDs with machine-cut, hand-silk-screened (thank you, Night Owls Print Shop) aircraft-grade aluminum covers and hand-cut false-metal tray cards are available from the band. write faiz@stockyardinstitute.org for details.

credits

released 03 May 2012

We are pleased to announce the release show for Small Awesome’s Still e.p.:

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Thursday May 3rd
Retribution Gospel Choir (feat. Alan Sparhawk of Low)
Small Awesome (featuring Small Awesome)

@ Schuba’s 9pm, 21+
advance tix here
*******************

This was a great time! Grant MacAllister of Brooklyn Vegan took the
following photos of the evening.  Thanks, Grant!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRqrXh_xinY

Small Awesome is returning to Klas’ Restaurant in Cicero for the PRF Auktoberfyst
a 3-day music festival, and the 8th in a series of PRF BBQs.

We are playing Friday, September 30th, the second night of Auktoberfyst,
with arguably the best line-up we’ve been a part of:

Friday, September 30th, 2011 @ Klas Restaurant in Cicero, IL

• 8:15-8:45 – Small Awesome
• 9:00-9:30 – Bottomless Pit
• 9:45-10:15 – Whales
• 10:30-11:00 – .22
• 11:15-11:45 – Lines and Terminals
• 12:00-12:30 – Maple Stave

Klas, the largest Czech restaurant in the United States,
is located at 5734 W. Cermak Road, in lovely Cicero, IL.
___________________________________________________
The Thursday Line-up @ Quenchers and the Saturday Line-up at Klas are as follows:

Thursday, September 29th, 2011 @ Quenchers Saloon in Chicago, IL

• 8:15-8:45 – LGX
• 9:00-9:30 – Max Benson
• 9:45-10:15 – Audio Content
• 10:30-11:00 – Hospital Garden
• 11:15-11:45 – Nice
• 12:00-12:30 – PRF Improv Ensemble

Saturday, October 1st, 2011 @ Klas Restaurant in Cicero, IL

• 4:00-4:30 – The Viper and His Famous Orchestra
• 4:50-5:20 – Blackout Dates
• 5:40-6:10 – Spelling Bee
• 6:30-7:00 – IfIHadAHiFi
• 7:20-7:50 – Sinking Suns
• 7:50-8:45 – Life on Mercury
• 8:45-9:15 – Begin By Gathering Supplies
• 9:35-10:20 – Nixon
• 10:40-11:10 – Sirs
• 11:30-12:15 – Call Me Lightning
• 12:35-1:05 – Trophy Wives

Tickets for Thursday @ Quenchers will be $5 at the door.
Tickets for Friday and Saturday at Klas are $20 for both days, and can be purchased at the door.
Saturday’s event will be catered by the fine folks at Klas.

Jam packed!  In the weeks following, Small Awesome will be returning to Caffeinated Recordings to begin
our work on the second Small Awesome full length, while we sort out the details on the release of the first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFzGynpqPnE

[wp_bandcamp_player type=”album” id=”3972605101″ size=”grande” bg_color=”#FFFFFF” link_color=”#4285BB”]

This is a crude, digital facsimile of the Awesome e.p. by Small Awesome.

The limited-run, hand-made, hand-spray-painted CDs (thank you, Beth Wiedner) with hand-cut, hand-silk-screened wood covers (thank you, Jay Ryan) and hand-cut wood-grain tray cards are available from the band.

write faiz@stockyardinstitute.org for details.

credits

released April 15th, 2011
the AWESOME e.p.

Written and played by SMALL AWESOME
Faiz Razi (throat, ukulele, guitar)
Jim MacGregor (bass, guitar)

Recorded and mixed by Matt Engstrom
with John Barlow (lap steel)
and Jim Birch/Vanessa Smetkowski (love)
at Caffeinated Recordings, 2009-2011

***********************************************

A Review from Forest Roxx’ site:

“this little thing? it’s fucking golden. it’s so subtle. so smackdown sweet. this record. by way of reference. my first and immediate and only analogue for this upon initial hearing was goosebumps and the serpentine similar (which ranks right up there for me) [is it “serpentine” or “serpenteen?”]. but that’s relatively irrelevant. this stands (on four legs) via it’s own perfectly realized vision of ms. merit. someone should point out that this party is a duo. PS: they also put on one smoking show, should you ever be in town, when they are on stage.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRTi0eL6Xd0
Small Awesome is pleased to announce the release show
for our Awesome e.p. on Tax Day.
it is our one year anniversary as a live band,
and this show should be pretty grand.

*****************
Friday April 15th
Mike Watt and the Missingmen
with Small Awesome

10pm, 21+ @ Schuba’s
*****************

as an added bonus, Schuba’s will be screening the exceptional documentary
We Jam Econo: the Story of the Minutemen before the show @ 7pm
with a Q&A with Mike Watt following.

tix and details available for both events here.

for anyone interested in attending both the show and the screening, if you order the show ticket online, the price for the screening/Q&A is only $5.

you can pay for this at the door with your will-call for the show.

thanks!

Small Awesome has just completed the recording of our debut long-player, Still Awesome.
Still Awesome was recorded by the talented Matt Engstrom in the lovely home of Jim Birch and Vanessa Smetkowski between 12/12/09 and 12/12/10

It looks like we have a label releasing a vinyl-only pressing of the record, more on that as it’s set in marble. until then, it shall be set in manila:

we presented a round-robin show
@ Quenchers Saloon (Fullerton and Western)

featuring:
Small Awesome
Lines and Terminals
Transmontane

all 3 bands will took turns playing their fine musics
over two sets with a break in between.

Mark Oster of Union Rock Yards videotaped the whole thing. it is here. For our closing number, all three bands combined forces for L&T’s “A Little Late for Lenny”. it looked and sounded like this.

2.
secondly, the PRF Singles Club subscription series has closed and will be releasing eight 6-band, vinyl-only compilations over the next two years,.

We will be comp-rades on record #6 with
Walking Shadow (NY)
Half-Mile Fox Fur (TX)
the Gary (TX)
Police Teeth (WA)
Blood-Sucking Fiends (PA)

I have seen all of these bands live, save HMFF, and let me tell you, this will be fantastic.  very excited.
every band is submitting an exclusive song.

We will have 10 extra copies of our slab when it gets pressed, but other than that, all the records are spoken for.
thanks to those who subscribed!

We played @ Klas’ Restaurant in Cicero  Saturday, October 15th
as part of the 3-day PRF Auktoberfest.  Mr. King took this photo:

Jim Birch, Matt Engstrom and Rich Fessler did the A\V for the entire event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWvPxPrYSHw

Klas was gorgeous.  like playing inside a cuckoo clock. The rest of the show is here.

Show starts @ 2:00, Sm.Awes. will be playing @ 3:40
$15 for 11 bands, delicious lunch catered by Kitchen Sink, grilling in the evening, photo booth by Mr. King, and other incredibilites.
tickets are at the door, and it will most likely sell out, as Klas’ room isn’t huge.

Saturday October 16 @ Klas Restaurant in Cicero IL

2:00-2:30: Wereworm
2:50-3:20: Red Swan
3:40-4:10: Small Awesome
4:10-5:10: [BREAK]
5:10-5:40: Walking Shadow
6:00-6:30: Infrasonics
6:50-7:30: ZOOM
7:30-8:30: [BREAK]
8:30-9:00: Blacks
9:20-9:50: Mayor For Life
10:10-10:40: Minutes
10:55-11:40: Five-Eight
11:55-12:40: big’n
12:40-Close: DJ Panther Pants & The Ants In Pants Disco Dance Panther Dancers

***********************************
PRFAukBBQ (catchy, innit?) begins this Thursday and Friday at Quenchers.
On Friday, October 16th I will also be MC’ing for the Hype!, Live Band Karaoke Band that features,
among other incredible musicians, guitarists Brian Pennington and Peter Bardouniotis of Faiz Zeppelin.

Thursday October 14 @ Quenchers in Chicago IL

8:00-8:30: Light Coma
8:40-9:10: The Cell Phones
9:20-9:50: The Ethyl Mermen
10:00-10:30: Population
10:40-11:10: Slander Cannon
11:20-11:50: Phantom Works
12:00-Close: Lines and Terminals

Friday October 15 @ Quenchers in Chicago IL

8:00-8:30: Death Valley
8:40-9:10: Cmn ineed yr hlp
9:20-9:50: The Conformists
10:00-10:30: Red X Red M
10:40-11:10: Victory and Associates
11:30-Close: The Hype! (live band karaoke)

***********************************

Small Awesome is also participating in the PRF Singles Club, a subscription series, vinyl only compilation
with 48 bands over 8 12″ records.  each record is a limited pressing of  300 with 6 bands per record released quarterly over two years.
There are over 100 subscriptions already.  if you are interested, there is more information on the site.

We are also almost finished with our first full-length record.  details forthcoming.