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July 25, 2005
The album Big Top World is bringing many new friends and fans to the band, and with them, a new batch of fan questions. Here's a quick interview with drummer Joe Gutsick!

How did you first start playing the drums?
The first time I sat behind the drums was in the late 80s when my friends and I met up at Bob Medvedz's home. Bob's brother's friend had left his drum kit at their house, Patrick had brought his Washburn A20V, and Bob had a keyboard. We played an original song, "We Are Cowguys", with Dana Onifer handling the vocals. I was playing a really simple beat - I think I was playing with a wooden spoon and a drum stick. After that "jam session", I learned that my uncle not only played drums, but that he had a spare kit in his basement. I borrowed the kit much longer than he expected! We set up the Rogers three-piece kit in Patrick's garage, and Shockwave was born. I started playing by jamming mainly covers and then moving more towards originals. I learned to play by ear.

On so many songs, on all of the albums, you play some pretty complicated hi-hat and cymbal patterns. How did you develop that technique?
As I mentioned earlier, I learned to play by ear. As Shockwave was morphing into , I was listening to a lot of Stewart Copeland and Omar Hakim, so their playing styles greatly influenced me. The reggae- and jazz-infused styles of those two drummers interested me more than quarter- or eighth-note pulses on the high hat or ride. So I started to work those flourishes into our original songs. The more I started doing it, the more ingrained it became.

What is your current drum kit set-up like?
I'm still playing the same Pearl five-piece that I bought back in 1990 with one exception: the stock snare drum was replaced with an Omar Hakim signature maple snare by Pearl. I added a Pearl Eliminator double bass pedal and several Zildjian A and A-Custom cymbals. I've got a K/Z high hat mounted on a remote stand, 14" Quick Beat high hats, three A-Custom crashes, three splashes, a ping ride, and a China cymbal. All hardware is Pearl as well.

Everyone knows how you and your wife Teresa design the website and album artwork for . Tell us about the t-shirts you designed for the band in the early days.
Back when was a trio, Bob Medvedz showed me how to make silk screen templates using amber acetate. It was a pain creating screens this way because you'd have to cut out the pattern from the amber acetate and then use a solvent to adhere it to the screen. I think I made a single shirt pattern that was based off of charicatures Bob had made. It featured the three of us on a stage assuming rock star poses. I'm not sure many of those have survived through the years...

Do you play any other instruments?
I've been teaching myself bass, though I haven't been playing it much lately.

In addition to , you also recorded and performed extensively in the hardcore music scene in the Virginia/Washington DC area in the early 90's. Tell us about that.
The band was called Oedipus, and was formed by myself and singer Mike Joncas. We played for about two years and produced two demo tapes. Blacksburg didn't have a very good music scene, and its hardcore scene was pretty anemic. We mainly played shows at people's houses because clubs didn't want any moshing in their facilities. Can't say I blame them, because some of our shows got really violent. We played an equal number of covers as originals, with covers coming from bands like Insted, Agnostic Front, The Misfits, The Ramones, and Minor Threat (to name a few). Funny thing was that I didn't listen to hardcore that much when we formed Oedipus - I had moved on from hardcore to ska. Even though we never got paid, it was a fun time. Would have been nice if the area was more receptive to that brand of music, though. - Newsdesk

June 27, 2005
The new  album Big Top World is now available worldwide through all of the major music vendors.

Since the release of the album, the band have been working to make sure Big Top World reaches every corner of the globe. Patrick recently spent a week in France visiting the cities of Paris and Orleans, bringing the new album to his friends in Europe.

"The music scene in France is really interesting," Patrick told the  Newsdesk. "I spent time in Paris visiting a few small record shops and was really amazed at the amount of music available on vinyl over there. I've always wanted to put something out on vinyl, so we're considering putting together a special  album for France and the U.K. on vinyl sometime later this year. There's also the possibility of a show or two, due to the interest in the album. There is so much musical diversity in France that it's a great fit for  and what we're about. "

Back in New York, Big Top World continues to infiltrate the indie-music scene. With renewed interest in the band through the new release,  are continuing to win over new friends and fans. "We're always in discussions and open to new ideas when it comes to the labels, studios, and producers we'll work with on future projects. Right now, in addition to organizing ourselves for some live shows to support Big Top World, I'm also starting to organize the details on the next recording project.," Patrick said.

Patrick is currently working with producer/bassist James Bratton on arrangements for the upcoming recording sessions. James Bratton is a highly successful music producer whose achievements include a platinum record through sampling of his work by the U.K. electronic/industrial group The Prodigy. The original work was the single "You're No Good" by artist Kelly Charles on Next Plateau Records.

In an exclusive update to the  Newsdesk, Patrick revealed that he is currently in the process of writing a new song that will reunite Patrick and Joe with Rebekah Zelman-Doody in the studio for the first time in over 10 years. Rebekah performed with  in the early 90's during the period between the Naked Singularity / World is Gone and September  albums.

"I'm really excited about doing the new song because it will add a whole new dimension to the sound we're used to hearing on the albums. The vocals will be really wild."  

Finally, be sure to check out the current issue of Guitar World magazine for the first of a two-part interview with producer Eric Rachel from Trax East studio in New Jersey. Eric has mastered the  albums Big Top World, Coming Attractions, Ugly Songs, and September.  -  Newsdesk

March 14, 2005
The new  album Big Top World is available. Throughout March and April, all major online vendors will be adding the album to their inventories, so be sure to check with your favorite music sites for availability. The album will also be available at the famous Vintage Vinyl, in Fords NJ. Vintage Vinyl carries the entire  catalog.

With the new album out, promotional activities and live dates soon to be announced, we also have the first installment of some new questions for the band straight from bait-oven's friends and fans!

Q: Where does the inspiration for your songs come from?
Patrick: I am always working on song ideas, and I most often start with lyrics first. The music follows. Since I'm usually very busy, I actually do a lot of writing in the car, because it is one of the few places where I have the solitude to just be alone with my thoughts. All I need is the lyrical hook or the seed of what the song will grow into. Once I understand that piece of it, the rest is just building upon that foundation. I find inspiration everywhere. Some things are direct from my life, some things come from the news, or books I've read, and some things are pure fiction, but I always try to connect the ideas, images, and messages, back to my point of view. That doesn't mean that every song I write is about me! But it does mean that I try to say something in every song I write. What that something is varies, but I can't write a song that doesn't have a message in it of some kind. The message may be as simple as "believe in yourself" or "I love you" or whatever, but I try to have every lyric have some weight. It's my rebellion against the unbearable lightness of being.

Q: For a band that has released songs covering so many styles of music, what type of bait-oven songs do you like playing best?
Patrick: I'm always most interested in creating new music, but I also love going all the way back to the beginning in our song catalog. On the surface, there may seem to be a big difference in the style of music that is on our first album Cold, compared to September or the new album, Big Top World, but I think that in spirit, there is a great deal of continuity in those songs. We never put any restrictions on ourselves.  One of the great things about when Joe and I play together is that because we've literally grown up together and have played music together for most of our lives, all of our songs grow and evolve with us. We can play a song like Cold or Twenty-Fifth, and it will have those same stylistic trademarks as a new one like My Only Friend. We don't even have to think about it, it just happens.

Joe: It really depends on my mood. Sometimes I like playing the more mellow tunes like September. Sometimes I like playing songs with a lot of subtle high hat variations like How Can I. And sometimes I enjoy playing the more aggressive tunes like Twenty-Fifth or My Only Friend. Since there’s so much creative freedom when playing all of the bait-oven songs, they’re all fun to play since they’re constantly changing. So my non-committal answer: I don’t have a favorite!

Q: When you have been a musician for so long, how do you not lose interest in your instrument?
Patrick: Both Joe and I are multi-instrumentalists, so trying different instruments out is one way of continuing to challenge yourself. When I play guitar, I'm in a certain frame of mind. When I'm on piano, I think like a piano player. When I'm playing bass, I try to think like a bass player. So I try to have a distinct perspective on the song based on whichever instrument I'm playing to avoid repeating myself. I'm really getting into slide guitar, so that is something that will start to appear on the new songs and recordings. I've done solos from full-on metal shredding to blues riffs,  but I never really did any slide work until recently.  I will never lose interest in guitar, because there are no limits as to what you can do with it.

Joe: It all boils down to variety. Playing different styles of music helps keep things interesting. If I’m tired of playing rock, I’ll switch over to ska, or hardcore, or metal… boredom comes from mindless repetition.

-  Newsdesk

February 25, 2005
The new  album, Big Top World, will be hitting all of the major online retailers throughout the month of March. To mark the release of the new album, baitoven.com will soon feature exclusive interviews with Patrick and Joe, as well as all of the latest information concerning live dates and promotional events.

Stay tuned! -  Newsdesk

January 25, 2005
A Message from Patrick -

I hope everyone's New Year is off to a good start. We will be announcing in the near future a release date for the new album Big Top World. My guess at this stage is that the record will be in distribution and available to our friends and fans by early March. We'll also be announcing live shows as they are confirmed.

We'll have more surprises to reveal the closer we get to the release date. There are some exciting things happening with  and one of our favorite guitar-makers. There's also big news concerning the musicians who will join us in the live band for our tour dates. And, some of the venues that we're planning to play in, and the other bands and artists we will share the stage with, may be newsworthy... so keep checking back here at baitoven.com for all of the latest information.

See you soon! 

January 1, 2005
As in past years, reflects on the year gone by...

How was 2004?

Patrick: I logged alot of studio time working on various recording projects including the new  album Big Top World. As a guitar player, I feel like I've grown alot over the past year. As a person, I'm still roughly the same height.  

Joe: 2004 was an average year, I suppose. Definitely better than its predecessor, but there wasn't anything that really stood out as incredibly memorable. Of course, after this is posted, I'll probably think of something!

Favorite album of the year?

Patrick: My absolute favorite album of the year is The Return of the New York Dolls: Live from Royal Festival Hall. I have the CD and the DVD, and I'm obsessed with them. My next runner up is John Cale's Hobo Sapiens which was finally released in the US after almost a year of it being out in the rest of the world.

Joe: That's an easy one: was skinny dippin' in a sea of Lee with Tenacious D!!! If it were an album and not a CD, I would have work through the grooves from playing it so much. A close runner-up would be Spinal Tap's soundtrack to their documentary. Their genius is captured quite nicely on the CD, and it is a shame that the masses didn't fully appreciate them during their Smell the Glove tour.

Favorite movie of the year?

Patrick: We may have to make the movie category "favorite movie or DVD" of the year, because I don't remember going to the movies at all this year. I think I saw the last Harry Potter movie in the theater, and if that came out in 2004, then that's my favorite movie. As Hermione would say, "It was very, very good." As for DVD's, I must have watched a billion of them.

Joe: There weren't any real stand outs this year for me. Had the otherwise brilliant Sam Raimi cut out twenty minutes from Spideman 2, it would have been a contender. I guess my favorite movie in the theater was The Incredibles. Pixar really can do no wrong...so far. As far as DVD movied are concerned, that award would go to Six Days in Roswell.

Favorite book of the year?

Patrick: My new sacred text is The Illustrated Directory of Guitars, Edited by Ray Bonds. Also, Each One Believing, by Paul McCartney, and Postcards from the Boys, by Ringo Starr. I can never get enough Beatles.

Joe: Probably Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I know, I'm predictable! Holidays on Ice, by Dave Sedaris, was pretty entertaining. So is A Good Walk Spoiled, but since I have yet to finish it, I can't consider it "favorite of the year".

Your personal high point of 2004?

Patrick: As far as music goes, putting the finishing touches on the new bait-oven album Big Top World.

Joe:  I've finally started hitting more good shots than bad on the golf course, which is pretty sweet. Now if I could just eliminate more of the bad shots... From a music perspective, getting flexibility back in my wrist and starting to play drums (see my low point!), and starting to learn to play bass.

Your personal low point of 2004?

Patrick: Overall, the media culture that exists in our society is cynical and fixated on tragedy. If the aliens are learning about our civilization through the TV news, they must feel very sorry for us.

Joe:  Catching a wicked backside edge while riding my new Burton Custom board in Maryland. I forget the resort name, but the result was a spill of massive proportions that left my right arm in a cast for two months. And yes, I am right handed.

2005, What is your New Year's resolution?

Patrick: Getting back to putting more guitars solos on the records. 2005 will be 1987 all over again!

Joe: Get myself an over-sized guitar, gain 40 pounds, and be the next D! Now that I think of it, that might not be that easy... so maybe I'll just try to break 90 on the course.