Fishtank Ensemble: News

2006

See the Shows Page for details. Schedule subject to change.

August 8, 2006.  2006 WEST COAST TOUR planned to start in November. While the schedule is still being drawn up, the preliminary plan is:

March 8, 2006.  URSULA'S NEW BABY!!! Ezra James Scott Martinez was born on March 6 at 4:35 pm in France. Fabrice reports that baby and mother are fine, and looking relieved that this project is finally over. Little Ezra did his first sound check and is reported to be crying on key, then was put to bed snugly in an open violin case. It's suspected that he already knows all the lyrics to Fishtank's songs and will sing before he can talk. Click here for photos.

By the way, Ezra's Zodiac sun sign is Pisces--the sign of the two fishes, of course.

January 23.  HIATUS. Fishtank are taking a break while Ursula has her baby. Fabrice and Ursula have returned to Europe, but will be back in the USA again next fall. Check back in late summer for more scheduled Fishtank shows. Meanwhile, you can catch the other members of Fishtank in their solo acts and side projects, including: Duckmandu, El Douje, Estradasphere and God of Shamisen.

January 8.  TIM SMOLENS IS BACK! Bassist Tim Smolens has rejoined Fishtank Ensemble. See the press release for more details. Please join us in welcoming Tim back to the band, and in thanking Glenn Allen for his contribution to the just-completed 2005 West Coast tour.

NEW SUPER RAOUL EDITION. A new edition of Fishtank's CD, Super Raoul, has just been released. It features a much livelier cover: the cartoon of the band that used to be inside is now on the front. It also has lettering that you can actually read improves the sound on a couple of tracks. The old one was selling very well but the new cover is more fun and engaging, which makes it a better fit with the band. But hang on to your copy of the old, limited edition--it will be a collector's item some day!

CD RELEASE PARTY. Don't miss Fishtank on January 12 at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley! This will be the last chance to see them until next fall, because Fabrice and Ursula are returning to Europe as they do every summer. Also, as many of you know, Ursula is expecting a baby. So this really is the last chance to see Fishtank for a while.

Click for larger image.
Fishtank Ensemble on Jan 20, 2006 at the Fishtank in Oakland (with guest Faisal Zedan on Doumbek).
Watercolors over ink by Dax Tran-Caffee.

2005

December 7, 2005.  WEBRING. This site is helping to launch the "Balkan Music USA Webring", linking sites that promote Balkan music in the USA. Check out the navigation box on the main page (located in hte lower right-hand corner). If you are a webmaster of such a site, please click on the "Home/Join" link or here to find out how your site can join. Help bring the world of Balkan music closer together!

POLL. What's your favorite Fishtank Ensemble song? Want to find out what other people think? The the subject of our first survey. A page for taking public opinon polls has been added (click on the "Polls" link on the main page or here). We are looking foward to hear from you!

December 5, 2005.  FREE RINGTONES You can now download cellular phone ringtones of Fishtank Ensemble music here. This program is a beta, so please send your feedback to the Webmaster.

SIGN UP FOR CELL PHONE TEXT MESSAGES. You can now sign up to have reminders about Fishtank Ensemble shows in your area sent as text messages to your cellular phone. Your cell phone must support SMS messaging, and currently we only support USA residents (sorry, rest of the world!). Go to the Contact page to sign up.

RSS FEED. This news page and the shows page are now available as an RSS (version 0.91) feed:
News: http://www.fishtankensemble.com/news.rss
Shows: http://www.fishtankensemble.com/shows.rss

This means that the information you are reading will be available from on-line news aggregators such as my.userland.com, xmltree.com, feedbucket.com, feedalot.com, feedreader.net, feedfeeds.com, 2rss.com, or by installing an aggregator plug-in in your browser.

December 2, 2005.  FREE SONG DOWNLOAD. You can now download "Suite Romaine" (or if you prefer: "Suite Roumaine") for FREE. The Download Song link on the main page will take you to a download page. The band would like to know how you hear about them, so please answer the little mini-survey if you have time. Then download and enjoy the song!

Last night Fishtank played to a packed house at the Starry Plough, a nice Irish pub in South Berkeley, and left them dancing in front of the stage. The lucky crowd got to hear both Fishtank and the Toids, an incredibly authentic-sounding group. It's not just any bill that can fill a room on a Thursday night in December in the pouring rain.

Today the band leaves for the Southern Californian leg of their tour. We wish them a good trip and better weather!

November 23, 2005.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING, FISHTANK FANS! The new CD, Super Raoul, is for sale on-line now at CD Baby. If you haven't bought from CD Baby before, it is very easy to place an order. Quantities in stock are limited so don't delay. Also, some great new shows have been added to the January schedule:

• Saturday, December 3, 2006 at Technomania Circus in San Diego, CA.
• Sunday, January 8, 2006 at Don Quixote's Restarant in Felton, CA.
• Tuesday, January 12, 2006 at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA.

November 16, 2005.  Fishtank Ensemble played to a packed house last night in Portland, with people turned away at the door! And the new CD, Super Raoul, has been selling like hot cakes, with over 20 copies sold at this one show!

Super Raoul will be on sale at CDbaby.com by the end of the week. Sorry about the delay, folks! Please don't give up--it's worth waiting for!

There have been some changes to the tour schedule: (1) The Garberville show has been moved from Briceland to the Mateel Community Center in Redway; (2) the show at the Tangier Grill in Silverlake (in Los Angeles) which was to take place on Nov. 8, has been rescheduled to an earlier date, Nov. 5. Latest updates will always be available on the Shows page. additional updates.

November 2, 2005.  THE WEST COAST TOUR starts tomorrow! The new CD Super Raoul was delayed in production, but it looks like it will just make it in time. The latest word is that it will be for sale at all the shows, and for sale on the Web in about a week.

Sept 17, 2005.  Preliminary schedule for the 2005 WEST COAST TOUR has been announced! So far shows have been scheduled for:

• Santa Cruz, CA -- Nov. 3
• Berkeley, CA -- Nov. 4
• Cottage Grove OR -- Nov. 8
• Olympia, WA -- Nov. 10
• Seattle WA -- Nov. 13
• Portland OR -- Nov. 15
• Eugene OR -- Nov. 16
• Ashland, OR -- Nov. 17
• Berkeley, CA -- Dec. 1
• Los Angeles, CA -- Dec. 4, 6, 8

July 22, 2005.  BIG NEWS! The new Fishtank Ensemble CD, Super Raoul, is finally finished. It will be released in November to coincide with the West Coast tour planned for this fall. All tour dates have not been finalized as of this writing, but are expected to include the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle areas as well as several other cities. Stay tuned for further announcements.

May 30, 2005 Fishtank Ensemble member Kevin Kmetz has won the prestigious Hirosaki Shamisen Championship Tournament in Hirosaki, Japan. Competing against hundreds of other Tsuguru-style shamisen players, Kevin won top prize in individual class, becoming the first foreigner ever to win an award at Hirosaki. The story was widely reported in the Japanese press.

2004

Also, the forthcoming CD (due in spring, 2005) now has a title: Super Raoul. We hear that the master is finished and they are working on the art work, so expect a release date to be announced soon.

Nov. 2, 2004.  THE SECRET CHIEFS 3, including Fishtank Ensemble member Kevin KMETZ, will be appearing on election night at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz, CA., in an independently produced event. 8:30 pm doors/ 9:00 pm show. Tickets $15 advance/door available at StreetLight Records on Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz or at http://www.lobefood.com. More info: (831) 426-4830.

Sept. 13, 2004. The TSUGARU SHAMISEN DUO (Kevin KMETZ and Shigenori WADA) at the Ugly Mug yesterday was a big success, with a full house and a very appreciative audience. The set included the "New Roku-dan" by Akihito NAMRUMI and a Ventures cover. Go here for more information and sound clips.

Sept. 5, 2004. Catch the TSUGARU SHAMISEN DUO (Kevin KMETZ and Shigenori WADA) on Monday, Sept. 13th at 7:00 pm at the Ugly Mug Coffee Shop in Soquel. WADA-san is visiting from Japan and this is likely to be his only US public performance. Both he and Kevin are students of Shamisen master Akihito NARUMI. The program will feature traditional tunes from the Tsugaru region of Northern Japan and jazz-like improvisation, performed on the Tsuguar shamisen. (The shamisen is a three-stringed, fretless lute, and the Tsugaru version is renoun for its large dynamics and robust sound.) Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear an authentic Tsugaru shamisen jam session!

August 14, 2004 Lefty's Head Reunion.The band Lefty's Head, which shares members Kevin Kmetz and Adam Stacey with Fishtank Ensemble, reunited Saturday night a after four year hiatus. For some reaons known only to the music gods, they chose the Ugly Mug coffeeshop in Soquel for their reunion. Despite some rough sound on the vocals and lacking a bass player and keyboard, it was a good performance.

July 19, 2004 -- Though Fabrice Martinez is still in France, the remaining members of Fishtank Ensemble will be performing at Friday, July 23, 7:00 pm at the Ugly Mug in Soquel (near Santa Cruz). Kevin Kmetz will also be appearing with special guest Kazuya on Okinawan shamisen (sanshin). The Ugly Mug serves great coffee and goodies and, appropriately enough, has a large aquarium. See driving directions, below.

June 14, 2004 -- Kevin Kmetz will be performing on the shamisen at the Japanese Cultural Fair on Saturday, June 19 in Santa Cruz, CA. The fair opens at 11:00 am and runs to 6:00 pm. Kevin goes on at 3:30 pm. Admission is free. Located in Mission Park Plaza at the corner of Water St. and Emmet St. in Santa Cruz. Map.

June 13, 2004 -- New CD! Fishtank Ensemble is taking a break from public performances in order to finish recording their new full-length CD! An early pre-mix of the as-yet-untitlted CD has been circulated and it sounds awesome! It should be availalbe this fall. The tracklist of the pre-mix (tentative!) is: