Kazyak

Kazyak on Centerstage MN

2011-11-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

KAXE Interview w/ Doug MacRostie, Fall 2010

Hear Ye Travel We

2011-10-20T12:57:00.001-07:00

But what do we know about it? We’re only out here for five days a time. Some folks live the majority of their lives on the road. To a person with a home and relationships, the road is not wonderful. Wandering is wearisome, but from time to time, things happen that are worth writing down. A warning? Nah. The truth? Hardly. It’s only the stuff we can recall.

The car seat slowly morphs from a comfy chair into something resembling two stones digging, digging, digging into the buttocks. Does the car smell like coffee again? Or is that pickle flavored potato chips mixed with dog breath? No, someone just farted so now we’ll have to put the windows down again. I know it’s 36 degrees out there, but the odor is toxic. Minji rides along and pees on the fabulous yarn that Flor spins. And how do you keep a lonely dog from barking? Danny will tell you that you can tune a piano but you can’t tuna fish. Perhaps he has a point, but I eventually become jealous of how much more leg room the tuna fish has in its can. We’re always feeling late and the trailer slows us down. All of our talking heads are full of motion sickness. Our eyes are drowning in a sea of semi-trucks and earcars. This movement is called Rubber Droning in the key of ‘On the Road Again’.

While in the car we dream of being reality TV stars, outside we find reality can be both lonely and stunning—An edge-of-town gas station on a precipice. Home simply becomes the place where someone lets you shower. And the floor becomes a soft feather bed after a full day of night driving.

Are we there yet? I don’t know, are we late yet? Two hand trucks and a dozen foot pedals later we find ourselves moving again. Some rooms are full while others are barren, but every single one contains a person who likes the music. “Good job!” they say. “I’m very impressed,” they exclaim, rather impressively. “You guys could be on America’s Got Talent if only you played more Bob Seger.” Little does that guy know we had just divided our number of Bob Seger covers in half. Little do we know we can’t divide by zero…only Chuck Norris can do that. And in the name of Mr. Norris, move on.

A mile at a time. Flashing white lines and blacktop dreams. And finally, we’re there. The top of the hill. The shows are done. The money is collected. We’re sold out of CDs and we’ve talked about ourselves and our music more than anyone should be allowed to. The gas tank is empty. No more speaking. No more circus with the flashing lights. No more thudding noises. No more wailing and whomp whomp. Let’s take the day and go into the woods. A vow a silence this afternoon will do good. Let the trees do all the talking. Let the birds do all the singing. Let the sound of waves wash our eyes and let the river current carry away the stones embedded in our asses. Watch the sun set and pull our anxieties down behind the trees where they can’t reach us for the moment. Spend just one moment with no fear. Believe in it. Believe that this one coincidental moment is why you’ve come.

Unveiling of Rorrimirror: Trig & Slevko

2011-10-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, Kazyak has been performing songs from a new album in the works codenamed, Trig and Slevko. When we perform these tunes out of context they can come across as confusing, especially if you happen to catch snippets of the lyrics. In these songs we sing about monkeys, kiwis, treetops, lemurs, elephants, forests, and the most acrophobic sorts of men. Not to mention a bunch of made-up people and places. The time has come to share with you what these songs are, where they come from, and what they stand for.

Trig and Slevko is a storybook album of sorts. It’s not made specifically for either children or adults. It’s for those who love adventure coupled with visual music—like Kazyak. To be quite honest, this album is everything we like and nothing we don’t. You could say we’re not making this album for anyone else but us. Essentially, it is a tribute to our favorite adventure stories that we have loved in many forms: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and so on. We drew heavily upon those ideas and combined them with our own adventure experiences, characters, and musical creations.

The story is told by the musical score, lyrical content, narrative, as well as a small booklet of art that will accompany the album. We’ve been working with Kellie O’Keefe on some artistic concepts.

Welcome to the magical land of Rorrimirror. It’s a mirrored plane of existence where fancy things like talking animals and magical fruit live.

The protagonists are named Trig and Slevko. They may look a little like Peter and Danny…because they are…but they’re not…but they are…but seriously. The antagonist features are embodied by lemurs.

The Trig and Slevko album idea has been hatching for nearly a year now. The project was put on hold as we made our move back to Minnesota, recorded and printed A Beautiful Brontosaurus, and began booking shows. Now, as winter madness threatens to creep in for yet another season, we find ourselves ready to press record on this project.

We will continue to reveal more content as the album moves from concept to finished product. Until then, listen for the Trig and Slevko tunes at our live shows. They may sound strange when pulled from their proper place in the story, but they are our favorite song creations to date and we can’t help but desire to share them with you.

What's a Kazyak?

2011-10-20T12:53:00.000-07:00

A good interviewee never answers the question that he/she is asked, they answer the question they wanted to be asked.

Two months ago, with the launch of Kazyak.com, we took advantage of a small database system. We wanted to find out who was willing to give out personal information for our beginning marketing purposes. We want to build a demographic of who was out there listening to our music, interested in coming to future shows, and wanted to throw their support to us early on in case we hit the “big time” and in appreciation would fly them out to Paris. Here is our market analysis so far:

% of fans who are our mothers = 95

% of fans who are NOT our mothers = 2

To the rest, we have no idea how to market to you.

I’m sure things will pick up soon as we play shows.

Within our signup we asked our fans a variety of questions concerning age, fruit preference, as well as the topic of this week’s blog, “What is a Kazyak?”

The question was designed to delve into the creative minds of those who freely give out their personal information.

And now, without further delay, we present to you:

“What is a Kazyak?”

(Disclaimer) The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Kazyak or that of Ground Up Productions.

With torque and twist, yielding the breeze the Kazyak dances under orange skies, along the river and bountiful leas on its lithe leaves dew lightly lies. The bees bumble and hum among its petals. A chorus of crickets follows along. The Kazyak is plucked from brimming meadows, exchanged between friends with good words and fine song.

A Kazyak is a rare form of beast found in the northern region of Mongolia. Few have been seen by the human eye. Some claim that the existence of the Kazyak as preposterous as humans stepping foot on the moon.

All three of my sons...and many others of the family that originated in Poland...

A psychological experience.

Kayak with a typo? Also, African.

Peter Frey = my future husband. Wedding countdown (Sarah's, not ours) 4 months. Xoxo!

(Kazyak would like to remind its audience that while Peter Frey may be someone’s future husband, he may not be yours necessarily.)

Youz crazy!

Don’t forget to change your underwear.

(Kazyak would like to thank mother for the reminder)

A child who is half Uyghur and half Kazakh

I haven't the foggiest. I'll keep thinking on it though.

Well if it's anything like I remember, except better now, which I’m sure it is, you guys rock!

I'll be damned if I know.

(Kazyak does not condone vulgarities on the interwebs, gosh darn it!)

A wiener welter.

Hmmmm, I will need to give this more thought. What a sexy band poster though.

(Kazyak would like to establish that this person pressed ‘enter’ without giving it “more thought”. Clearly the mind was on the sexiness of the poster)

Good question. Perhaps it is a modern take on a kazoo.

(Kazyak would like to clarify that a modern kazoo is still called a kazoo)

Treebombaron and liquidmelt both...combined...liquibolt…yes. Kazyak is liquibolt for your temporal lobes.

(Kazyak would like to encourage this person to keep dropping bombs like this)

A yak from Kazakhstan that carries three brontosauri on his back, a whale on his tail, a dragon on his head, eggs in his ears, and a daisy in his beard while climbing Mt. Cacti.

(Kazyak would like to acknowledge this persons skill of finding plurals)

A kayak with a "z".

I have no idea guys!

(While Kazyak admits to the rise of frustration while attempting to answer this question, there is no need to shout)

An upside down kayak.

Back where it all began

2011-10-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Kazyak website. Please wipe your feet off at the door and hang your coat up. We've got cookies baking in the oven and a fresh bottle of brandy in the living room. If you stay around long enough you just may get some. Go ahead-take a look around. We're not currently touring, but if you'd like to be in touch, sign up to follow our tweets, facebook, and email list.