THEY RULE

I could not be more excited about sharing this first single by my band, THEY RULE.  Truth be told, we've thought of ourselves as a band for a good two and a half years, but it took this long to be ready to share the music and concepts with a bigger audience. Here's our story:

Michael Pereira and I have known each other for a hundred years, and have been performing on one another's solo projects along the way.  A few years ago, we started talking about making a record that paid homage to the music we grew up listening to in Miami, in the eighties and nineties.  We got together to see if we could make anything interesting happen during a five day writing/recording hang.  The music we made in that initial session far exceeded our expectations, and gave birth to the first four songs on our forthcoming album.  We kept going.  We have lived anywhere from nine hundred to two thousand miles apart for the entire duration of our creative partnership, a fact that has been challenging but also given way to new approaches for collaboration. 

Our project has taken us out of our everyday personas and created new characters to express our ideas through: Microphone Mike and Beatriz La Beatz.  While their story is a sort of composite of our own lives, it has become its own saga, and Mike and Bea definitely have their own relationship.  Their history will be told through the full-length album, Make-Ups & Break-Ups, slated for release later this summer.  For now, the single "Microphone Love" will give you an idea of who they are, and what they value: music and love. 

Please support independent music.  If you like the song, it's only a dollar to own it, and you'll be helping more music make its way into the world.

Thank you,

buick audra, a.k.a. Beatriz La Beatz

my first affair with a microphone was with a Soundelux
I borrowed it from a friend of mine 'cuz they cost a thousand bucks
that U195 was mine on every single track
eventually that sad day came when I had to give it back

oh my, from condenser to directional
my transducer is perfectional
I find my sweetest heaven
when I use my magic SM7

I love my microphone
it's microphone love

the first microphone that I ever owned was no-name SM58
I bought it at the strip mall RadioShack, way back
'88 was the year, to be exact
I'd sing into that microphone loud as hell, no one home

stars in my eyes, made me realize I'd never compromise...
until the day that I die
recording into a Panasonic boombox
coming up with raps in my underwear and socks
couldn't help thinkin' how it all would be
when people listened to my rhymes and they all jocked me
my microphone love is here to stay
I wouldn't be the way I am without it anyway
when I talk into it now, put these words in motion
'cuz all my raps are like love potion

oh my, from condenser to directional
my transducer is perfectional
I find my sweetest heaven
when I use my magic SM7

I love my microphone
it's microphone love

one of our own

Adam Yauch died yesterday.  I think that most of us in his fan base knew he'd been struggling with cancer for a few years, but from what I can tell by our collective reaction: none of us expected the disease to win.  Adam, better known by his moniker "MCA", was forty-seven years old.  Forty-seven.  That's three years younger than Ian MacKaye.  I don't know why that math seems crazy to me, but it does... it really does.

People die all the time, and lately it seems like the music community is losing its legends on an almost weekly basis.  Still, something about Yauch's death feels different to me.  I've spent the last twenty-four hours mulling over why that is, in between bouts of grief that bring me to tears.  The loss of a creative spirit is always profound, and I never take it lightly, but some artists are so much larger than life that they feel like visitors from other planets.  Their fame separates them from the rest of us, putting them behind a glass wall, only to be observed.

But, when I think about MCA, I feel like I lost a friend.  I know that dude listened to Bad Brains and ate vegan doughnuts just like me.  He skateboarded and painted murals on walls.  He played bass in a Punk Rock band with his two brothers, Mike D. and the King Ad-Rock.  At the height of his fame, he made mindful contributions to organizations working with homeless youth and wote activist anthems for the causes he felt strongly about.  My tribe, my people - we live like that.  We believe in the greater good and that we have a hand in making a better day for our generation and the ones after us.  We learn from Run D.M.C. and Fugazi, and everyone in between.  We believe that love and positivity will ultimately win over hate.

Our team lost a good man yesterday, and it reminds me to take the big chances for the right reasons. I am so saddened by the untimely passing of a brother, but all the more grateful for what he taught us all through his music and his actions.  It's our job to keep making new roads, with courage and love in our hearts.  Thanks for the stunning example, MCA.

Rock,

buick audra

"So as pray and hope and the message is sent
And I AM living in the dreams that I have dreamt..."

~Adam Yauch/Beastie Boys, "Year And A Day"

"I had a song to sing..."

Once upon a time, I made a record with all of my favorite people called Family Album.  This is the video that we all got together to make for the song "True Story," right around the time of album's release.  There are so many people to thank: Everyone who donated to the Kickstarter campaign, Carl Byrd and his whole crew at Carl Byrd & Co., my family of choice, and the gang who were in the video with me.  It was a lovely experience.  Thank you.

Yours in Love and Rock,

buick audra

"wish I knew what you were looking for..."

This past December, I participated in an ongoing project led by author Amanda Havard.  She penned a series of books called The Survivors, and has set out to provide her written word with an accompanying soundtrack.  She was listening to a specific pool of songs throughout the process of writing her books, and invited a handful of artists to bring our own interpretation to these works.  As soon as I saw the list, I pounced on this one.  Written by Steve Kilbey and Karin Jansson, 'Under The Milky Way' brought global attention to the Australian band, The Church.  I have loved this song for as long as I can remember, and was so happy and humbled to sing it.

Enjoy,

buick audra

one rad song

I'm super excited to tell you all about a new project of mine.  I've started a new blog where I'll be posting interviews with writers and artists about one specific song from their catalog.  The idea came to me in a flash of lightning sort of moment, and I just had to follow through with it.  As a songwriter myself, I have been studying the art of song craft my entire life by way of listening to and learning from the music that has moved me.  I will now ask the questions I've long wanted to know the answers to. 

I started with someone that I've recently developed a working friendship with, based on a collaboration of ours, Chuck Treece of McRad.  'Weakness' is a song that is near and dear to all who loved skateboarding and/or punk music in the '80's.  My interview with him is finally up for you all to check out.  More incredible artists and songs to come!

Rock, buick audra