bubblejacket

bubblejacket

it started in the fall of 1999, when rafiq and i met at city espresso (rip) in campbell. we dediced to jam and see what might happen.i had been doing hiphop at the time but was quickly recognizing the limits of it, sonically and arrangment wise, so i was very excited about the propspects. the jam sessions were so nice. rafiq's skills, vision, and constantly changing patterns made playing very fun for me. we basically just kinda would hook up every so often and just improvise. the improvisations were epic and life changing. the noise, the echos, the effects, the drones. it was a long way from hiphop. our first gig was at a west valley hiphop show in november of 1999, i mostly rapped, but we started the set off with a drums and guitar noise fest. a few months later: i had known that joe played guitar and decided to ask him if he wanted to come along and start jamming with us. we played at the soul hiphop show in febuary of 2000 and it was just magic. we coverd the art of storytellin pt. 1 from outkast, and me and BC straight up ripped the place on the hiphop tip. yes it was at a church! there were at least 200 300 people there. we played in front of a sea of people, which was so unprecedented for me. we got props from all the locals at the end of the show, (tapemasta steph, clever mc, noah d, some of daysmen, etc). we decided to start writing songs and practicing on a regular basis. the original vison was trip hop inspired organic jams with some attempts at jungle/drum n bass. we would practice in my mom's back yard in campbell and people would drive by and honk and damn it felt like the 70's at times. (or what i always envisioned the 70s to be like)... rafiq went to russia that summer (2000) so it was a downtime for us. Eric, joe, Bc and i did one show at the camden community center, with my eps playing the beats. it SOOOO didnt work. rafiq was the foundation, the roots, the glue, etc. in the late summer i saw a flyer for a new bi weekly hiphop open mic thing at espresso garden on bascom, called downtime. the first night i showed up with some records and was able to spin a little bit. I talked to the man in charge, the legendary chauncy p, and we scheduled a live solo performance for me. (it went nice, it was one of my first solo hip hop plus guitars plus instrumentals plus ambient things) so bubblejacket shows up for our first real gig, i think it was late sept or oct. we had gotten together and written songs, with changes, etc. they were jazzy, loungey, echo-y indie rock things. rafiq kept it boom bap on the drums and also flexed his skills when neccessary. me and joe kept things chugging along. the cafe was excellent; small, intimate, with a knowledgable audience, etc. it was amazing. it was then that i felt we were a real band, a band to be watched. of course the songs needed work, and our poise needed to be worked on, but there was something there. from then on i went kind of psycho: scheduling as many gigs as possible at the following locations: cafecito, mission city, great bear, west valley college, downtime/espresso garden. we did a show at santa clara uni, as well as at streetlight. it was possibly the greatest time of my life. our practices became tighter, the ideas better, more original, more emotional, more complex. by now it was spring of 2001. we had played sooo many shows and our songs were getting very good. i decided to drive to long beach to figure some stuff out, to confront some demons, and well it set me off on some strange path that i still am trying to make sense of. to make a long story short, i decided to move to long beach to attend college and attempt to make a miracle happen. I left the day after christmas 2001. the summer of 2002 saw us play our last show. at the gallery for the new downtime. we practiced one day before the show and made a deciscion to improvise as needed. the show turned out to be our best ever, even though we hadnt played in over 7 months. Tavius recorded it on his mini disc and it is one of the single most amazing things i have ever been a part of .

Yes.

tortoise, black thought, godspeed you black emperor, gastr del sol, the sea and cake, pep love, slowdive, aceyalone, cocteau twins, mouse on mars, stereolab, the nonce, sweet trip,The Cosby Show, venetian snares, dmx krew, ovuca, autechre, Liam Lynch, Unwound, Pete Rock, Secret Chiefs, King Kooba, Senor Coconut, Luke Vibert, Air, Guided by Voices, Premier, Skankin Pickle, Horace Andy, Joe Gibbs, the Scientist, Fugazi, Soul Coughing, Marvin Pontiac, Amon Tobin, Kid Creole, Slick Rick, Moldy Peaches, all the famous junkies of the bebop and grunge scenes, Faith No More, Man or Astroman?,nick drake,