winter yields cold hearts

so i met this boy. i really like him.

and that scares me...

Album Blog 11: We're Done! (Sort Of)

Hello ladies and gents,
please give us a round of applause because we are officially finished recording our full-length album!! Now, we did say 'sort of' in the title and I'll tell you why. It is true that we are done recording but, unfortunately, the album is still a long ways off from getting into your hot little hands. First it has to be mixed (which is happening right now as we speak), then it has to be mastered, and then it has to be physically produced!

The good news for you guys is, we're considering a few options for releasing the album on the internet before the physical CD arrives which will let you guys own it about a month before those who wait for the physical CD...isn't that awesome!!!

Stay tuned as we continue to post videos of us recording in the coming weeks!

xoxo
Half Past Two

PS: See you at JavaSkalidays tomorrow!!

Album Blog 10: New Video!!

Hey hey,
we finally finished the next video! Here it is:

i had a fantastic birthday week

i really did! let me say thank you to all of the people that made it so special... so um... THANK YOU!

i watched some t.v. tonight at my good friends, tess and tyler's, house and it made me feel lonely. i miss having a couch buddy; a nice after-work movie watching sort of person. what a sap!

i saw HIM this weekend. ugg. just seeing, talking, listening to him! it hurts so good.

and of course i have a new crush! my my, how they come and how they go. crushes are such harmless fun; i hold such anticipation for the real thing!

im ready to play some shows, aren't you?

Album Blog 9: Day Ten - Guitar Solos and Vocals

Hey guys,

We had a really long day at the studio yesterday. It was our last scheduled day so we had to do as much as possible. Luckily, we were able to multi-task for most of the day. Tyler tracked all of his guitar solos and lead parts in the main studio while Meagan and Max worked from a laptop in another room on vocal tracks.

Eventually, when Tyler was finished, Max and David started recording vocal harmonies. We still have some more to do next week including keys and more harmonies but everything is sounding awesome.

As always, there's a slideshow below.

xoxo

Half Past Two

..

consider this "emo" of me

being half interested in someone doesnt seem like enough reason for me to actually pursue that person. and then starting a forbidden crush doesnt seem very rational either.

my problem? well Number 1: i'm in love with someone that doesnt love me back. at least not like id like him to. and Number 2: i havent been meeting any body.

maybe the biggest problem is that even though im trying really hard to be cute and available, no guys are interested in me...

*sigh*

recording is fun. and as you all can see, i sleep in the studio a lot.
my birthday is on wednesday.
how do i win him back?
any ideas?

Album Blog 8: Days Eight and Nine - Horns and Vocals

Hello hello,


yesterday Max left the camera at the studio so there were no pictures to upload or put into a handy slideshow but they're here today!


The last two days were mostly devoted to horns and vocals. Yesterday, Tyler started off the day with a little bit of guitar stuff but after that it was all horns and vocals. Between yesterday and today we got all of the horns done (even solos) and big chunk of vocals. We only have to do lead vocals for one more song and then all our harmonies. Oh yeah and we still have to do keys and some guitar solos as well. Tomorrow is our last scheduled day but we'll be going in a few more times to finish everything up.


Everything's sounding great and there should be a new video up tomorrow or Monday that shows you guys all the work we did recording guitars (and then later there'll be videos for horns, vocals, and keys...sound good? Great).


xoxo
Half Past Two

Album Blog 7: Day Seven - Guitar and Horns + New Video!!

Hello all
We had a busy day yesterday. Tyler finally finished up rhythm guitar work. It took a full two and half days but he had the most to record than anyone by far.

Next we got to start on horns. We were able to get a full four songs done (minus solos but we'll do those later) which puts in great shape for finishing up horns on Saturday.

We're out of the studio today for the holiday (Happy Thanksgiving by the way!) but we'll be back in on Friday. We'll leave you with a picture slideshow and a brand new video!

xoxo
Half Past Two

..

Album Blog 6: Days Five and Six - More Guitars!!

Hello!

Sorry for no update at the end of last week but here's a double-dose.

The last two days of recording have been all Tyler and he's been laying down all the rhythm guitar goodness. First he tracked all the songs using regular power chords and now he's in the middle of going over everything with sicky sicky gnar gnar inverted power chords! Crazy! It sounds GIGANTIC!

So by lunch time tomorrow the rhythm guitar tracking should be done and we'll be starting on horns. We're moving quite along.

Check our pics for a bunch of pics and here's a slideshow as well.

xoxo
Half Past Two

Album Blog 5: Day Four - Guitars!

Hello Internet!

We had another exciting day in the studio today.  Although Max had started recording ska guitar last night, we decided this morning that the tone wasn't quite right so we fixed that up and started over from scratch.  Most of the day was spent completing the ska guitar which went into the late afternoon.

With the remaining time left, we began crafting the distorted guitar tone for Tyler to use to track the other parts of the songs.  He was able to complete one song before the day was over.

There's a slideshow of pictures below and we'll have a new video up tomorrow night.

xoxo
Half Past Two

 

Album Blog 4: More Bass and Some Guitar

Hey guys,

a quick one today cause we're really tired.

Today we finished up bass for the all the songs and started doing clean guitar. There's new pictures in our pics section but no slideshow today.

good night,

Half Past Two

Album Blog 3: More Drums and Bass

Hey guys,
we had another productive day at the studio today. We finished tracking drums and completed four songs on bass.

We had the help of Ryland Steen for drums and an extra guest Meagan Christy! She'll also be filling in on trumpet for the album as well as some vocals.

Well we're all pretty tired but we will leave you with another slideshow and our first video!

xoxo
Half Past Two

Album Blog 2: Day One

Hello!

So we have wrapped on day 1 of the recording of our album! Today was all about drums and Curtis was able to get through an astonishing amount of songs. We were worried when we broke for lunch halfway through the day because we had only completed two songs, but Curtis was able to bang out another 5 in 3 hours! Amazing!

We had some great help from the one and only Ryland Steen! He was a great help in getting the drum parts to be the best they could be.

Anyway, that's about it for today. There's a little slideshow below with pics from today. Tomorrow's update will have more pics and the first video (we hope to have a new video up every two days).

xoxo
Half Past Two

Album Blog 1: The Pre-Show

Hello guys and gals,

tomorrow is the day that we finally head back into the studio to begin working on our full-length album with David Irish and Aaron Barrett. We'll be posting blogs at least every other day that'll be full of pictures, videos, and perhaps some guest stars.

And, for those of you who haven't seen the bulletins, we're currently running a contest for some free tickets to our upcoming show with Starpool. All you have to do to enter is join our e-mailing list by entering your e-mail address into the box below and you'll be automatically entered to win 2 free tickets.

We'll have an update tomorrow night!

xoxo

Half Past Two

JavaSka

Hey everyone here's some pics and video from last night's JavaSka.

The B-Sharps' orange drummer
The B-Sharps
The Self-Interest Collective

Failed to Victory
The Thinker

Contest for Free Tickets

Also, as you may know, we are playing with Starpool at DiPiazza's on 12/5 and we have some free tickets for you guys!!!

All you have to do is send us an e-mail at halfpasttwoska@gmail.com in order to join our e-mailing list and you'll be automatically entered. We'll be picking 3 people at random to receive a pair of tickets each.

The contest ends 11/28 (the day after Thanksgiving).

Make sure you include your address so we can mail you the tickets!

SPOOKY SCARY!!!!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Count Curtis von Marrow

Awesome Show This Friday!!

Hey guys and gals,
we're playing a really cool show at DiPiazza's (one of our favorite places to play) this Friday the 24th. Not only are our good friends The Pocketeers playing the show, but there's going to be two very awesome artists headlining the show. Tippa Irie from the UK and Dr. Ring Ding from Germany! You guys do not want to miss this show. It's going to be a blast!

El Cajon Needs to Enforce a Dress Code

Tyler "Dream Yacht" Moore

Votes no NO 8 and YES on commando.

I'm a Terrible Blogger

Hi guys,

So I've noticed overtime that everyone seems to post on this thing but me, it's not that I don't want to, it's just I never have any idea what to say! BUT THE TIME HAS COME TO FIX THIS PROBLEM ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!!!!!!!

I submit to you all my new HP2 blog column, "Ask Dave Anything"

Here's how it works:

You think of a question (it can be anything, related to the band, asking for advice, although Tara's phone number is off limits)

You email said question to askdaveanything@gmail.com

I answer said question here in the blogland

 

I hope to get some good questions from you guys soon!

xoxo,

Dave

octobre

its already october?? this year has gone by so fast, it seems. it hasnt been the greatest year for me personally, but then maybe 2009 will hold many bold, uplifting surprises :)

skalloween is friday. i think i know what im going to be. its silly but... im silly.

im trying to remember if anything else is happening...

JAVASKA!

JavaSka September was another success.  Much thanks goes out to Sketchy Styles and our good friends in The Pocketeers for making it happen and props go out to Skamikaze, who played guerilla style in the parking lot after the show.  It takes a lot to out DIY a free ska show, but you managed to pull it off by "booking" yourself.  Acoustic guitars, my friends, are a viable weapon.  Plus, they wrote a song about Tara.  How can you not love that?

And here she is, in her JavaSka pose with Sketchy Styles in the background.  Chunky jewelry, never leave home without it.

I'd like to introduce everyone to our new bass player Alex.

He's not cool enough to pose with bands in the background, but he does love to roll around on the floor.  Alex is into bikes, suffers from an acute case of Gigantism, has the world's only gold iPhone (spray paint DIY eff tee dub) and will be assured a position as Road Specialist Lvl 2 if the ZomBass ever returns from Valhalla.

In other band related news, we just booked time in November with Aaron Barrett and Dave Irish at Music Inc. Studios in Orange.  Aaron has his own Wikipedia entry.  Apparently he is famous in some circles.

As for me, I'm going to be in Japan in less than two weeks.  Maybe I'll be nice and track down some Skapara vinyl for Dave.  Or maybe I'll spend all my time eating and convincing Maria Ozawa to marry me.  OR MAYBE BOTH!

Doesn't this make you want to roll your eyes??

these girls are actually popular!! who listens/buys this crap??

arg.

im kinda angry...

QBonkers, Norway, Chili, Boys

qbonkers was a lot of fun. they had root beer floats at the bar, AND PHOTOHUNT!! what an experience :)

everyday now stegan (0r martin) from no torso (www.myspace.com/notorsoska) tries to talk me into visiting norway. I TOTALLY AGREE; i want to go to norway so badly :( but its so expensive. molly and i decided that realistically we would probably go in the spring; we'll have money by then and also all of the nordic snow will have melted. but no. stegan and eivind insist upon december. but snow?? snow EVERYWHERE?? im almost too scared to go in the winter, simply because of the snow factor. has anyone ever been in so much snow?? whats it like??

i think really i just need to talk molly into it. i think i could handle the snow. a few drinks later, im sure i wouldnt even be cold!! and then, december is so close... how much money will i even need?? i guess we'll have to wait and see.

hey! you missed out on a great chili cook off at the frazier's house. im craving ian's chili, it was SO GOOD. it won you know... i called it.

oh my life!! boys. ive been boy crazy since i was 5 or 6 years old... i am just as boy crazy... still.

Sea World

I went to Sea World yesterday. Here's a couple videos I took. The first is of a walrus that kept sucking in a fish and then regurgitating it over and over again. The second one features a sea lion trying to look at some fish and me blocking it's view. I like to think I'm dancing with him.

Busy Lately

there seems to be no time as of late. there are so many shows, its making my head spin. i think i see everyone in the band more often than i see my own family :) i guess, ska now, sleep when im dead!! lol.

The Ska Parade Party a la Tara

who went?! oh man... i had sooooooooooooo much fun!! from the time i got there until the time i left, i saw/met so many amazing people!! if you were there, thanks for making it such a grandiose evening.

does anyone have any pictures?? i wanna see them!!

p.s. i think i have a crush on someone... i THINK.

Pre-Show

JAVASKA!

David has a neat part.

Tara poses neatly.

And tries her best to keep things neat.

Steven needs a better warranty.

Brandon has no pupils.

I'll leave this one up for interpretation.

Ska kids like to move and I don't like to flash.

Watch out traffic, she's driving a Segway.
Whatcha know 'bout BROPHEMISMS?

Electrical tape eff tee dub.

Band and camera focus: Off Target.

Two mic wonder.

Babies love chicken.

Everyone should come out to the next JavaSka on September 19 with Sketchy Styles, The Pockeeteers, and Half Past Six. Tell all your friends: free ska once a month at It's A Grind in Anaheim. Check it out here!

ramen noodles

ramen is only 10 cents and magically delicious.

im not moving anymore. they made up and im not going to be upset that they love eachother. besides... ill save money living at home and molly and i want to go to europe!! my parents really arent that bad.

im so boy crazy... ugg! especially this boy...

what an image...

i LOVE my friends <333

rifftastic

Our blog is officially more attractive than our myspace! Mad props go to our graphic designer/buzz generating specialist Sonia for helping us out. She likes to blog too.

I was supposed to write a bridge for some song about gambling but I starting playing Van Halen riffs instead. That gave me the idea for this intro bit with harmonics (kids love the harmonics, just ask Dave...not Diamond Dave) and I paired that up with the old bridge in 'Legacy' and turned it into a chorus. Then Snuggles called the horn line I wrote "quirky" so I ate all his M&Ms. We both agreed that the bridge is too metal.

If HP2 has any sort of unifying musical identity, it would be that our bridges are too metal. All my new material sounds like AC/DC covering 'Sean Connery,' so I suppose it would be more accurate to say that our bridges are too "hard rock(ing)."

Haha, I'm not going to post any audio teasers! But I will post this:


In conclusion I'd like to thank Van Halen, unlike Mr. Connery, for not being closet polar bears.

IM MOVING!!

so my best friend, molly, and i went apartment hunting today. we ended up just signing a lease because:

1. we LOVED the place
2. we save $300 for viewing and signing the same day.

our place has:
1. two master bedrooms
2. two full sized bathrooms
3. comes with washer/dryer
4. fridge
5. granite counter tops
6. hardwood in kitchen and bathrooms
7. new carpet
8. new paint w/ color scheme
9. on-site fitness rooms
10. pool
11. business center
12. new fixtures
13. ITS !!RIGHT!! ACROSS FROM THREE OR FOUR BARS
14. sharky can live there
15. a sweet common area (in the building)
16. walk-in closets
AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

we're really excited. we move in september 1st.

if anyone has any furniture they want to give away, we need it all!! so crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ska Through The Ages

Andy & Joey - You're Wondering Now

The Specials - You're Wondering Now

Doreen Shafer & The Skatalites - You're Wondering Now

Amy Winehouse - You're Wondering Now

Some British Dudes W/ Ukulele's - You're Wondering Now

Alright kids, now sound off:

What's your favorite version?

What do you think of the long history of ska bands going back to the roots well?

Why couldn't I find any third wave bands covering this song on you tube?

i had fun at the party i went to last night. i probably made some bad judgement calls. i guess we'll see how that all works itself out. hopefully no permanent friend damage...

happy sunday, lovers!!

-tararararara

MY TURN!!

hello colorful people of the bloggosphere!!

this is my first post!! oh im so excited :)

is everyone coming to our september 6th show?? i really want to hang out. man i love shows <333>

you know what else is going to be really awesome?? hanging out with my co workers tonight. scott and matt are having a house warming party, isnt that great?! they're even bbq'ing. nothing is better than free food, or free food that your goofy friends make for you.

i cannot wait to post again!!

-tara

A Documentary About Ska?

Well this one looks pretty cool. It's called "The Up Beat" and centers around Utah ska (of which I only really know GoGo13 (who we're playing with September 6th at the Glass House (plug plug plug))) but has some interviews with really cool people in the global ska scene like Buster Bloodvessel, Vic Ruggiero, and Bucket. I hope I can get a hold of this when it comes out. Anyway here's the trailer.



Check out their MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/theupbeatmovie

-Max

Hey Guys

Hey guys, it's Country Dave here with post number two, and I won't lie, this one is a huge bummer. A few days ago C-Pat made a big announcement to all of us at the end of practice... He then wrote out this statement to send to you guys:

Hey everyone C Pat here with some unfortunate news.

I am sad to report that I will be leaving the band. This was a very difficult decision for me but there are a lot of goals I have yet to reach and by departing from HP2 I’ll be able to take action and reprioritize my life (For example I have put school on the backburner for way too long). I have had so much fun playing with HP2 and I know they will continue to grow as a band.

My last show will be at the Chili Cook Off Sept 13 but my last actual big show will be Sept 6 at the Glasshouse in Pomona.

This band has opened a lot of doors for me personally and I have had the opportunity to meet so many great people. I want to thank everyone who has supported us this past year and a special thank you to all of my friends I have made through being in this band.

Best of luck guys,
Patrick Clancy (CPat)

P.S. I am not quitting music entirely so keep in touch with me. I will be in more projects in the future.

www.myspace.com/patrickmclancy

We're all very sad about Pat's decision but understand where he is coming from. We already have a few prospects for a new bassist but nothing is set in stone yet.

So here's what we need from YOU guys, we need you to come out to The Glasshouse and let our friend (and yours) C-Pat go out in style, crazy kids running, yelling, dancing and having the time of theirs lives!

Hope to see all you there!

xoxo,

Dave

First Post Ever!

Hi Friends!

This would mark the very first Half Past Two blog post ever!

Everyone should come to our show at the Glass House. It will be fun. Promise.

















Catch you on the flip side,
7Y13R