Married Not Buried

Hello MIRKins!

This was a very busy week to be apart of the MIRK family. First off, Josh and Andy were down in the NYC at Jive Records. Josh has been dubbed the "King of The Kick" and "Mirk the Magician" in the studio. Here they are with Mickey Factz mixing it up.





We played at the Saratoga Race Track on Friday which was opening day at the track. It was hot as alllll hell outside! But Steve got a chance to show off his new drum riser which he built.



We also picked up an 8th member of MIRK.





Later that night we went packed up in Saratoga and headed back to Albany to play another show at Elda's on Lark Street. Elda's is always a good time! Thank you so much to our fans for coming out and supporting us.

The next day we were back up in Saratoga at Putnam Den. We played with our very good friends The City Never Sleeps and DJ Trumaster. Steve thought he could out scratch Tru on his iPhone...



Silly Steve...don't you know that no one beats Tru?!?



The Putnam Den is now an 18+ establishment. They take all percautions necessary (and completely not necessary) to ensure that no underaged fans get their hands on alcohol.



For those who have seen The City Never Sleeps (which should be everyone!) you know they roll with the Merchbot...but he happened to be sick that day, he got a virus.

So our own bass player Kate decided to volunteer her services and transform into The MIRKbot







Our keyboardist Andy helped out the boys with a little keyboarding!



So if you missed this MIRK show, you probably missed one of the best shows in awhile. Mike and Andy were on FIRE with their solos, not to mention the break downs and coreography.









So this weekend we will be rocking the Big Up Music Festival with our good friends Tree Shurts by their stand and van!
As always, please comment and 'like' us on facebook!

MIRK signing out

PS this is a video we tried uploading awhile ago on the "Fame-ish" post. We call this the Best Damn MIRK Video

It's just another MIRKin Monday (wooooo oooo)

Hello all MIRKin fans!

This was a pretty fun week for us all. First off, there have been some additions to the studio and the offices. Check out the sweet lamp that Josh added to the studio!














This studio is not only sounding professional, it's looking real sharp as well!
Also, our good friend Mr. Moore had added some artwork to the walls. This is guy is ridic!



It's amazing what some people can do with a can of spray paint! The best thing I can do with spray paint is disintegrate Styrofoam with it...it's pretty cool (said in a stoner voice)

Also, a nice addition to the office are these awesome lockers that were used by the Albany Patroons! They are huuuuumongous



We were also invited to guitar center to take some shots to be part of the 'local heroes' section of the new Albany Guitar Center website. We can't go to GC without jamming out of playing with all the toys...



This weekend we have three awesome shows!
1. Saratoga Raceway Friday 6/22 6pm
2. Elda's on Lark Street Friday 6/22 11pm
3. Putnam Den in Saratoga Saturday 6/23 10pm

We will be performing with our good friends The City Never Sleeps at Putnam Den on Saturday. Check out their new song that Josh collaborated on, "All The Effort".
And of course, MerchBot will be there (bleep boop whomp)


Our good friend James also took some sick pictures from our show this last Saturday at Red Square. Check em out HERE.

Josh also visited Camp Bisco with our good friends Tree Shurts and did a little solo set. Check out the UNRELEASED track he spits during THIS video.

That's all we have for you today. Thanks again for checking us out, and thanks to the MetroLand for all the special LOVE.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT::::
The name of our new album is GRIND...what kind of things do you GRIND?!?

MIRK signing out!

Marry Me Hope Solo?!?!

So if you are wondering what the title of this week's post means, our bass player Kate is mildly obsessed with international sporting events, and her queer-o-sexual status makes woman's international sporting events even more thrilling. So if someway, somehow, USA Woman's Soccer goalie Hope Solo sees this post, she just wanted to throw out a little marriage proposal. If she says 'no', then the same proposal goes out to Abby Wambach...

Now back to business...

We did not have any gigs this weekend, but no worries! This was the only weekend we have off for the rest of the summer. Check out the 'upcoming shows' section of our website to find out when and where we will be! We update our shows pretty regularly, so also like us on facebook for events and updates.

This week, we continued to GRIND our way through our album. Here is Steve doing what he does best.


One of our new tracks 'Drummer Some' prompted an air guitar session in the studio. While we all love Josh on the mic, his secret goal is to be a guitar player, Steve would like to slap the bass and I guess Mike's childhood hero was Animal from the Muppets...



This Saturday we will be back at the Red Square on Broadway in Downtown Albany. The last time we were there, an impromptu rap battle broke out right outside the venue.



This time, we will be opening for California based band, Pinot. Check out the details on the Red Square website!

For those who don't know, most of our band really enjoys going green and so do our friends over at Tree Shurts. They were rocking Camp Bisco this weekend. If you haven't heard of them, then... I don't know... you're fucking crazy




This week, our frontman Josh posted this on Facebook
(Sometimes I wish I had the balls to cut my jewfro into a mullet...Lol)

We wondered the same thing...



WINNER!

That's all we have for you today! Check out our facebook and website for more details and upcoming shows. We hope to see you there!
Help spread the LOVE

Mirk signing out

Red, White and MIRK

HAPPY 4th OF JULY MOTHA FUCKASSSS

We shall celebrate our independence from Britain with fireworks form China!

This week was relatively quiet...

On Tuesday, we did some more work in the studio, again all thanks to Andy and Irv!

On Tuesday night, some Mike Thornton poser decided to do a solo set at Justin's for the Josh, Irv and SCOOOOOOTTT birthday party. He was dissing Mike's pedal board and style real hard! I took a picture for evidence.


Congrats to Josh for getting his computer and iphone back so he can now be apart of the real world again! He will be tweeting all over the place!


(Don't forget to follow us on Twitter! @MIRKMUSIC)

On Saturday, we played at the 3rd Annual Beat*Shot Music Festival at Red Square in Albany. Mike Thornton was a little late because he was poppin mad bottles


Luckily, he made it in time for us to have a fun, yet short set.

This weekend we actually have a week off! So no shows until next weekend (July 16th) when we will be returning to Red Square (more details next week)...

So until then, we would all like to wish you a very Happy 4th of July!





(If you see The Statue of Tara, please wish her a Happy Birthday!)





(And yes...he IS single!)

Thanks again MIRK fans for checkin in! Don't forget to follow the blog, 'like' our facebook page, and comment beloooooow

MIRK signing out!

We are fam-ish

Hello MIRKins

We have completed another very busy weekend in the land of MIRK. On Friday we kicked off our 3 day gig run at The Best Damn Sports Bar on Broadway in Albany NY. Needless to say, there is not much to say about this one... Gigs like these are always good to knock us down a couple of pegs and reinforce that we are just fam-ish (hence the title of the blog).

On Saturday, we ventured back to Pearl Street to The R Bar. If you haven't been here yet, it is where The Envy Lounge used to be, but this place it waaaay nicer. It is definitely worth a trip!

If you know Pearl Street, you know it only comes alive after midnight, so we chilled on their outdoor seating before the show. But since we had been there since 7ish, we were starting to go a little crazy (evidence below).




On Saturday we returned to Elda's on Lark Street for the first time since...well...I am not entirely sure how long it's been but it definetly has been awhile. It always feels good to return to Elda's and the vibe that the crowd gives us there.
The crowd there always has the fucking feeling they were MIRKin around (evidence below)



Inbetween and around all these gigs, we have been working very hard at fixing up our rehearsal space and recording studio. We gotta give Josh props for the studio because it is AMAZING. Check out the pic below as the view from the vocal booth.



PS-If you see Josh, please wish him a Happy Birthday!

The last time we were in a studio, it was at St. Rose. We were helping out a group friend slash lady friend of Steve Struss with a class project. Not only was it a nice studio, but the boys had a super fun time doing back-up vocals.


Oh silly boys...

So this weekend, we are gracing the Red Square with our presence for The Third Annual Beat*Shot Music Festival. If you have never been/heard of this event, it is a three day event to celebrate independent musicians and artists.


Each day has a different theme. Thursday is "Djs and Dancers," Friday is "The Away Team," and Saturday (when we are playing) is labeled "Homecoming." Below is a description of what "Homecoming" means:
This is the reason why the festival was started, to showcase our local talent. "Homecoming" encourages the area’s, emcees, singers, bands, poets, DJs and axe jugglers, to come give their all to the best crowd in Albany. This is the 3rd Annual Beat*Shot Music Festival finale and we are proud to present, Hip Hop Icon and Juice Crew All-Star, Masta-Ace & Marco Polo as the headliner! Beat*Shots own, Lo-Fi Lobo will host w/ Albany legend Nate Da Great spinning!
The list of performers for the three day show is waaaay too long so check out the facebook event page for more info.

NEW ALBUM UPDATE!!!
Everything has been recorded! We are in the mixing/mastering phase of the process. Here is Josh and Mike hard at work at this tedious project


But really, we have to give a shot out to Andy, our amazing keyboardist, who has done the most work with mixing this album (evidence below).




So 'Thank You' Andy, how would we get anything done without you?

That's all we have for you this week. Don't forget to comment and share this with your friends. Much LOVE from the whole MIRK Family.

MIRK signing out

Albany is MIRK

Hello All!

Well holy f*ck sticks this was a busy week!

On Tuesday we were in the NYC for this month's Ghetto Metal. Here is our bass player Kate getting ready to go in and looking as attractive as ever!

If that doesn't turn you on then something is wrong with you...

This event was sponsored by The Source Magazine, who seemed to really enjoy us! Here is what they said...
"Mirk Music always comes correct - with soul, style, and bearing gifts...Mr. Cheeks! This team gets the "I'm focused man" award. The music, lyrics, and stage presence are equally sealed tight. If only Drake and Ryan Leslie could see this...they'd be jealous."

Our good friend Mr. Cheeks was there spittin on our new release, Beautiful Music

Ghetto Metal was also being sponsored by a new fun fruity drink! I mean, if Colt 45 wasn't already the best thing in your mouth, now it is FLAVORED! That's right! Colt 45 BLAST comes in lemonade, watermelon, grape, and pomegranate (for the fancy ones out there). And if that's not good enough, the D-O double G is promoting the sh*t out of it...and so are we!

We had Wednesday off to recuperate because Thursday, Friday and Saturday we were all booked up.

On Thursday, we were reunited with Tess and her staff from Lark Tavern (they are all over at McGeary's now) for the After Alive @ 5 show. This was a BLAST! Not only was it fun for everyone dancing and drinking under the tent, but we all had so much fun vibing off the crowd AND we were able to show off our new banner...


On Friday we went a little north to a new hot spot on Caroline Street in Saratoga called The Paddock Lounge. If you haven't been there, it really is a cool place to go check out! We had our good friends The City Never Sleeps there to get the party started. Looks like John forgot to pee before he went on stage.


Before the show, we decided to pass out some flyers on Broadway in Saratoga. Steve must have been tired of walking, so he decided to try horseback...
He didn't get very far...

We ended the long week at Graney's Stout which just opened up in downtown Albany on Broadway across from the Beir Garden. You would never guess that this place used to be a furniture store! It is gorgeous! Great beer, great staff, great crowd! We really hope to get down there again!
People were snapping pictures all night and everyone was looking SUPA fly. However, during Steve's solo, Kate seemed to have her mind on other things...


This Friday we will be christening a new bar on Pearl Street, The R Bar (the old Envy Lounge). We haven't been here yet, but check out the pics of the food they have! It looks maaaaad good!

Then on Saturday we will be making our much anticipated return to one of our favorite hot spots, Elda's on Lark.

We are continuing to stay busy and bring you as much live music as possible while we are finishing mixing and mastering our new album. You can listen to Away and Beautiful Music (2 tracks off our new album) on youtube. However, if you want to hear more now, you have to come check out the live show!

Before we sign off, we just wanted to give a big shout out to our friends over at Nippertown for their write up on us at Alive @ 5.
"Fortunately, Mirk was there to save the day. Formerly known as Mirk & the New Familiars, the seven-piece served up a fab, 65-minute opening set that neatly balanced a firm funk foundation with undeniable pop hooks."
"And, oh yeah, any band that wants to mash up Timbuk 3′s “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” with Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses at Night” is AOK in my book. Can’t wait to hear the new album…"

We hope to see you all out there dancing soon. Thanks so much for all your LOVE and support!

MIRK signing out

Even Weiner doesn't have as much web presence as us....

Helllloooo MIRK Fans!

Thanks so much for tuning in (really clicking on) the third installment of the MIRK Mondays blog. Not only have we been crazy busy, but it's about to get even crazier!

This weekend we played at IcarusDreams art gallery on Lark Street during Art On Lark. Although the weather was so-so, it didn't stop us from rocking out and from all those Indie Artists from getting even smellier than they already are.

Watch out Tokyo....move over China Town...be aware Lark Street...
The Mirk poof strikes again! This time in dinosaur form?


We have the same feelings as you do...WTF?!?
We have decided to have a comment contest. Please comment below with a 'comment' that would describe what is happening in this picture (think New York Times Magazine kind of stuff...)

This upcoming week has three MIRK shows lined up...WHAT?...THREE?!?!
That's right...
We will be invading the NYC once again at S.O.B.'s on Varick St for Ghetto Metal



For all those whom are residents of the concrete jungle, you definitely don't want to miss this!

Also, on Thursday June 16th, we will be rocking McGeary's on Pearl St in Downtown Albany for the 'After Alive @ Five Party'. For those of us that have been long time followers, you may remember our shows at the Lark Tavern (r.i.p.). Now, our good friend Tess is over at McGeary's showing Albany how it is done! Come check it out! Three hours of MIRK...BOOM!

The following day, we will be headed up north to Saratoga. The newly opened Paddock Lounge on Caroline Street will be brought down by MIRK and our good friends The City Never Sleeps.



For those who don't know, our very own bass player Kate Sgroi is a music teacher by day. This week she decided to 'school' her students in how to be a Rock Star. She reached out to her band mates for some instructional help...






Thanks so much for tuning it. Don't forget to check out our website and facebook page for daily updates.

MIRK signing out!!!