February 9, 2006
Mantits broke up. Kind of. Without going into too much detail (this kind of complaining and describing is reserved for the blog), the various member of Mantits decided that the identity 'Mantits' was problematic for him. First off, when caring intensely about the message behind the lyrics, it may not be so strategic to refer to oneself in a way which almost guarantees the classification of 'joke-band' to anyone who isn't already very familiar with the lyrics. Second, confining one's musical repertoire to acoustic guitar and vocals gets tedious after 6 years. Third, the identity felt like a cage that was repeatedly approximated in stale varieties. Fourth, playing lots of punk shows got to be incredibly demoralizing.
But fear not! Mantits will still be around in one way or another. The DIY bandits have spread word of plans to release a split 7", Mantits included. There is also well over another CD's worth of material recorded from previous sessions, waiting for a good excuse to be put together coherently, copied and distributed. The name for this eventual future CD is projected to be: QUIT WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD.
In the meantime, the particular hominid behind the project 'Mantits' is collaborating with a number of musicians to put together a CD this summer. The project is derived from the proliferation of late Mantits songs that never got to become an album, because the songs mostly aren't angry, silly or dark, and said hominid became sick of 'Mantits' before there were enough songs finished to record as a full album. At present the project includes drums, electric bass, standup bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, violin, clarinet, saxophone, piano, vocals, and digital noise. The group is looking for a trumpet player somethin' awful I tells ya. This new project is called Pretend You're Happy Must Die.
July 1, 2005
I met some nuns with a big weird kitchen that is really old and so they let me start working on the demolition part of the job. There's some more MP3s up now, and more to come. Seriously, I actually mean it now. Phew!
June 19, 2005
OKay, the CD's not out just yet. IT's been pushed back to July 1st. Just hold on, they'll be available soon!!!
June 8, 2005
The following is reposted from an email I got from Pepe of the DIY Bandits:
Dear Mantits and his friends (that means spread the word)
Here's the latest bit of juicy gossip you know you can't resist:
We sent the layout to the folks at imprint earlier today (monday)through the computer and the mastered tracks will be sent (priority)postal mail tomorrow (tuesday).
We decided to...$ 60 worth of garden tools...extra
cash...upgrade the cd insert to a 6 panel
instead of 4 panel. The lyrics were so small and hard to read we thought it better to enlarge them (adding 1 more page to the insert). Oh yeah-even more professional than you ever thought the DIY Bandits
could get and you're just a few panels away from having a major label release. But anyway on a serious note we really liked to final look and are so
damn excited that dan can't stop vomiting, cougar almost went straight and I stopped thinking of myself during masturbation and just think of the cd sleeve.
Hugs and kisses,
cavehunter/DIY Bandits
June 2, 2005
Just goes to show, ambition isn't everything. Or maybe I just need to meet more nuns. Anyway, the split CD should be out really soon. We are hoping for the 18th of this month. All we can do is cross our fingers...and play solitaire! Fun is so nice to do! :)
April 29, 2005
If I have to renovate a nun's kitchen I will have more MP3s up on this site soon!!!
April 28, 2005
Possible titles for the split CD are being tossed back and forth. There is now a printable order form on the Merchandi$e page. Any ideas for an album cover? We're at a loss. If anyone has any pictures or ideas or thoughts or suggestions, email me!!! And do it quick, before we do something awful!
April 27, 2005
The CDs are in the mail; they were sent off yesterday. This site keeps improving, now armed with guest book and feedback link (scroll to the bottom of the page, where it says "Talk to me, baby!" The Merchandi$e page is still under construction, and will be for a couple of weeks, in all likelihood. Mantits needs to have a debit/credit card where the verification number isn't rubber off and unintelligible in order to make a paypal account active. Another card should be on its way in the coming days. Anyway, who knows, there might be some progess. Come back for updates.
Another tour is in the planning stages. Late August, Mantits, JerkOff JackOff FrigFace, and Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains. Down to Gainesville, maybe out to Bloomington. Again, at the moment it is only a fiercely intended plan. JOJOFF would be a full band...
April 26, 2005
The Johnny Hobo and Mantits tracks are going out to DIY Bandits today. The CD doesn't have a title yet, and the cover art is in process of mental creation, but the music is all set to be mastered and pressed. JOJOFF has given as affirmative about his likely participation in the May tour. A new horoscopes page has been added to this site.
April 25, 2005
The MP3 page now is all legitimate, although the pursuit of happiness tracks are wma files, so the title may be misleeding. Apologies, nardface. There should be a lot more up soon, unreleased material and whatnot, and hopefully the ads will be gone too and I'll have paypal up and running...give it a few days, I have to figure some stuff out. Oh, and the golfing picture is gone. Sorry, too much space, not enough MEAT.
April 24, 2005
Not only is Mantits [finally] learning html, he also has tshirts, as well as patches and size 32 men's briefs on the way!
March 24, 2005
Mantits CDs are now available from Spare Change Records. In the near future Spare Change Records is releasing a split-release with Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains and Mantits, in asociation with the Conneticut group D.I.Y. Bandits. There will be 1000 copies pressed, and it will be $5 each. It should be awesome. There's a couple shows coming up too, so be sure to check out Mantits live.