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Magic Bullets
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About

Description
Magic Bullets formed in San Francisco, California in 2004 with musicians primarily hailing from the Bay area who had spent most of their musically formative years playing with or along side one another in various punk rock outfits. Vocalist Philip Benson and guitarist and primary songwriter Corey Cunningham first met in 2000 and later played together in The Cosmos (a musical project of Cunningham's which released a split 7" on England's Becalmed Records with soon-to-be Words On Music artist Lorna in 2001).

After a few years Cunningham and Benson called upon friends Colin Dobrin (drums), Matthew Kallman (keys) and Nathan Sweatt (bass guitar) to form a new band to play music inspired by their favorite artists — drawing from the likes of Orange Juice, The Sound, and The Feelies, to name a few. Magic Bullets was born.

After developing an agreeable repertoire, and with the welcome addition of long time friend and musical collaborator and guitarist Ryan Lynch (also a former member of The Cosmos), Magic Bullets set out to play scores of shows in the winter of 2004/2005. Despite the youth of the band itself, the chemistry was instantly obvious; and the growing number of people present at these lively performances suggested audiences too liked the cut of their jib. Magic Bullets played with dozens of shows from 2004-2006 including those with Elf Power, Voxtrot, and Cold War Kids.

Audiences have particularly marveled at Benson's unique brand of storytelling — carefully threading the needle to stitch the frenzied wonderment of David Byrne with the impassioned croon of Ian McCullough. Benson's vocalizations include both self-reflective narrations ("My stare was there but my words were somewhere else / Self esteem can be such a tricky thing") and opaque worldly observations ("People refuse to make do when they lose / Something they thought they'd never find again / They refuse to remember way back when / That something it did not belong to them").

But Benson's towering presence does not disguise the disciplined craftsmanship of the talented quintet supporting him. Magic Bullets' music is imbued with an unaffected poignancy that enmeshes Lynch's clean, intricate guitar melodies with Sweatt's bolder, punchier, but no less melodic basslines. Kallman's Wurlitzer piano strategically provides not only a textural underbelly to the music, but also occasionally functions as the lead instrument ("Heatstroke"). Dobrin's multifaceted rhythms add unpredictability to the proceedings — having perfected the stop/start drumming style, knowing full well when silence is as powerful as a full-blown beat. Meanwhile, songsmith Cunningham's C86 chord progressions and blistering strumming patterns fuel favorable comparisons to early The Wedding Present.

The San Francisco Chronicle aptly summarized the music of Magic Bullets as drawing from "the emotional candor and jerky rhythms of the '80s post-punk era to carve a wistful but upbeat niche for itself in San Francisco's indie-pop scene."

Some of the earliest songs written by the band — later recorded for their debut record — include "Tender Throes," written in September 2004 and "Will Scarlet," written in November of that year.

In October 2005 the sextet had their first recording session of material to be included on their debut, with the stunner "Heatstroke" emerging from this Jack Shirley recorded session at Atomic Garden in East Palo Alto, California. In June 2006 Magic Bullets continued recorded six more songs at House of Faith in Oakland with Bart Thurber, with a few more songs recorded by Lev Perrey at The Emergency Room. Perrey mixed the album in Summer 2006.

a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love, is the result of these recording sessions — a bold, exhilarating record of a band traveling 60 mph in a 40 mph zone, but sharp enough to be wearing their seatbelts. The record's 10 songs make friends with the rich traditions of post-punk (Gang of Four), new wave (early Talking Heads) and C86 (The Wedding Present). a CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love will be released by Words On Music in early 2007.
Custom
Website
http://www.mbullets.com
Other Artists
Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, The Bodines
Band Members
Phil Benson, vocals Ryan Lynch, guitar Corey Cunningham, guitar Matt Kallman, wurlitzer/farfisa Nathan Sweatt, bass Colin Dobrin, drums
Influences
Orange Juice, The Feelies, The Wedding Present

Media Tracker

Video Tour Blog 2  3 months ago
Magic Bullets Radio  3 months ago
Magic Bullets: Take Heed  3 months ago
Magic Bullets: Take Heed  4 months ago
Magic Bullets: Lay Low  4 months ago
Magic Bullets: Lay Low  4 months ago

Latest Blog Posts

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Date
 
Apr 18th, 9:11pm
 
Mar 31st, 4:34am
 
Feb 13th, 9:09pm
 
Feb 3rd, 1:57am
 
Jan 26th, 3:09am

Favorites

aaron axelsen's weekly recap about stuff and things: 10.15.07
Oct 15th, 11:56pm
(updated every Monday)JUSTICE Greetings from radio station Live 105, had a blast this past week gett...
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Magic Bullets Music Profile on IMEEM

Blog Posts

blog post NEWS! BFD! JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT! SHARKS!
Category: Music news
Posted: Apr 18, 2008 at 9:11 PM
Grab hold of your ankles, all!

Lots of big-time-MAGIC-BULLETS-news is dropping out of the human race and into your minds!

I guess you could say we're picking up the crunch-time slack from the Warriors...



We'd first like to thank Jennifer Love Hewitt and the rest of CBS' hit sci-fi thrilljob "Ghost Whisperer" for playing another song off of our first record...
If you tuned in and heard it, let us know, cause we missed it and are feeling the burn!


FIRST ITEM: NEXT SHOW
Thursday, May 8, 9PM @ Bottom of the Hill, 17th @ Missouri (SF)
w/ Lemon Sun (LA) and Rosewood Thieves (NYC) ONLY $8.

Our last two shows there sold out, so tickets are available online here!



NEXT ITEM: WE'RE PLAYING BFD!!!!!!!
Saturday, June 7 @ SHORELINE

Corey, Phil, and Ryan recently graced Live 105 and did an in-studio session (currently on their website), and debuted "Upstairs Flight" (more on that soon).
Apparantely, Live 105 was so intimidated by Ryan's fingernails, they buckled and invited us to play BFD!!!

Tickets are only Ten Dollars and Fifty Three Cents, and go on sale this Sunday!

Every member of our band will be wearing various band t-shirts to get in the season spirit!


magic bullets is playing with this band

FURTHER: NEW SONG UP ON OUR MYSPACE PAGE NOW NOW NOW
It's called "Upstairs Flight"... we really hope that you enjoy it! Let us know what you think and say hi and stuff!

It will be on our upcoming full length in the coming months!


FINAL SPECIAL MAJOR NOTES:

1) Corey and Matt will be DJing around town in months to come
2) Special upcoming LA performance with the only living member of THE SMITHS who happens to share a birthday with a member of Magic Bullets (and it's not Mike Joyce; Ryan was born June 2, not June 1, dummy!)... definitely more on this later, and it's not a joke...
3) GO SHARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



All you need to see. 3 minutes and 21 seconds that you have to see. Watch the score. Whoa.
blog post What's Happenin'
Category: Music news
Posted: Mar 31, 2008 at 4:34 AM
Hi all,

We're back from our recent tour along the coast with the Blakes (as well as SXSW), and to celebrate, we're playing our REAL-DEAL, OFFICIAL All Ages Homecoming Show next Friday, April 4, at Bottom of the Hill (17th @ Missouri, San Francisco) with:

LE LOUP (Washington DC, on Hardly Art/Sub Pop)

RUBY SUNS (New Zealand, on Sub Pop)


We headline, show starts at 10PM, and it's ALL AGES.



NOT TO BE MISSSSSED!!! Last time we played here it SOLD OUT, so pick up some tickets HERE...

ALSO: we'll be chatting about all things Magic Bullets, Warriors, Sharks, Brian DePalma, Patrick Roy's son, on:



LIVE 105's SOUNDCHECK, this Sunday night (7-10PM). Tune it at 105.


3 FM or @ live105. com

WE'RE LIVE ON AIR, and Corey, Phil, and Ryan will be playing new songs accoustically...

REPOST LOU BELIEVERS... more to come







blog post Tour Blog 4
Category: Music news
Posted: Feb 13, 2008 at 9:09 PM
Current mood: weird
Phil, Ryan, and I were sitting inside Burger Bob’s in Bozeman, MT yesterday. I heard a young voice a few tables over exclaim, “The Magic Bullet!”

“All press is good press,” I thought, thinking they spotted a flyer for our show.

The ten-year-old’s buddy replied, “Yeah, there’s a lot of good food processors out there.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Hi all,

I hope this tour blog entry finds you well. I’m sitting in our Chevy Express, behind Driver Colin, en route to Missoula, MT. Corey is shotgun, playing DJ. Ryan is next to me, daydreaming; a blank journal page is on his lap. Phil and Nathan make up the back row, staring out the window and watching a “The Last Waltz”, respectively.

We’re rounding third, and have only a handful of shows remaining.

SINCE WE LEFT YOU: Our show in Las Vegas can take a long walk off a short pier; however, we were fortunate to be there for the best Super Bowl since 1994 (to me, at least). There was no way the Patriots were going to win that game, and the whole city sensed it. Don’t ask me why, then, I lost $20 on the game, but boy, was that a fun way to act dumb! Not to mention the all-you-can-stomach hot dogs, pizza, nachos, and drinks we were tipped off to at the Sunshine Station casino.

We got to recharge at home for a couple nights, as we played Santa Cruz, and then began our trek up north. My girlfriend left a bag of Honey Dijon Kettle Chips waiting for me in my kitchen. What a sweetie!

The most notable thing about our Sacramento show happened before we even walked in the venue. I grabbed two boxes of t-shirts out of the back of the van, and Colin’s cymbal bag fell out and landed square on my big left toe, just below the nail. I howled for a minute, pulled off my sock, and watched a deep purple puddle of blood rise to the surface, without breaking the skin. Then I got a migraine. The wondrous human body! It was the most painful (albeit, less bloody) thing that’s happened to me since I was jumping around my old garage for no reason (I was home alone) and slammed my head into the doorway leading into the house. I’ve been limping slightly, and the toe has changed every color imaginable.

Portland, OR is one of my favorite towns on Earth. Our old buddies Chris, Travis, and Andrew are all there, and they rally a lot of people out to our shows. The venue we played bakes every band a pizza, too! The Warrior game was on national TV that night, so it was fun to catch up a bit (despite the crummy loss). Our new songs went over really well, which left us very happy. We wish we could have spend more than 14 hours in town.

On to Bend, OR from there, as we played the town’s annual WINTERFEST! Snowboarders were doing flips and slides and tailgrabs and fishbrains all over this half-pipe just beyond the outdoor stage that was erected. We were given our own private trailer, and three suites in the nicest resort I’ve ever been to. At night, eight of us (some of The Blakes dropped by) all did an individual drawing of both Nathan and Bob (drummer of The Blakes). The different perspectives for each person were fascinating! Bob’s constant seemed to just be a lot of hair, however.

Yakima, WA came next. We played and ate at the town’s Sports Center (though, they had no satellite TV to watch the Sharks; weak!). If you’re ever there, try and beat the top score I set on Galaga ’88. The show itself went over well, as we tried out some older numbers.

Boise, ID has some of the nicest people we’ve ever come across. We played the same venue as last tour, and the turnout was about 10 times higher as prior. The sound guy played Modern Lovers and Pretty Things, too! Also when in town, you get the option of fries or tots when ordering a cheeseburger.

There’s a place called Record Exchange in town. Here’s what I picked up:

Sandy Denny Sandy LP
Terry Reid River LP
Budgie Squawk LP
Lindisfarne Nicely Out of Tune LP
John Kongos Kongos LP
James Village Fire 12”
Purple Outside Mystery Lane LP
Gram Parsons Grievous Angel LP
Michael Hurley & Pals Armchair Boogie WLP
Roger McGuinn s/t LP
Neats The Monkey’s Head in the Corner of the Room 12”

Corey bought:

Bert Jansch Early Bert Vol. 1-4 LPs
Morrisey Viva Hate LP
Gram Parsons GP LP
APB Something to Believe In LP

COOOOOOL DUDE!!!

We had an off-day after that, and what fun thing did we come up with to do? Drive, dummy! After a gnarly meal at Chili’s, we made it to West Yellowstone, MT. Nathan woke me up nineteen times from his snoring, and the hotel housekeeper chewed out Corey because we stayed all the way until checkout time (go fig!!). Our van was snowed in and stuck, to boot! It took three of us city slickers to push it out, and you’ll be able to see our strength in the next video blog, dedicated to all the lovely ladies out there.

Looks like we’re approaching our destination, so I’ll bid a fine-feathered farewell for now. If you’re in Missoula, Spokane, or Seattle, please come out and say “hi!” As for the San Franciscans, our NoisePop show has been announced: Thursday, February 28 at Mezzanine with comedy trio Human Giant (check out their show on MTV; it’s pretty good!). Then it’s off to SXSW (more to come).

Love,
Matt
Magic Bullets
blog post Tour Blog 3 - 2/2/08
Category: Music news
Posted: Feb 03, 2008 at 1:57 AM
So guess what; me back!

It has been far too long since I've last checked in.
In fact, I'm a little embarrassed. I was going to
write yesterday, but I caught wind of Pau Gasol being
traded to the Lakers for essentially some Del Taco
coupons, and got a bit frazzled. We did play the best
show of the tour yet, last night (see below).

I last left you in Pomona, which was a strange place
to play. The town seems to be going belly-up for some
reason (at least a lot of the buildings I remember
there were getting boarded up along the strip). We
did eat some delicious rice bowls, which made up for
the fact that we couldn't tell how it sounded to
everyone. Chris Clark showed is face, and we talked
about gambling. And, thanks to our pal Adrian, who
arrived looking handsome in a Magic Bullets t-shirt.

Santa Barbara held a very nice surprise for us: we got
to the venue just in time to find that Oxnard's own
MARIA was opening up! Please, pick up their 7"s/mags.
These guys sound great, and really care about what
they do.

A good crowd turned up, did a lot of dancing, and the
Blakes nailed it. The only drawback was catching "The
Big Lebowski" on Showtime after wards. It's a great
movie, of course, but Nathan will never stop talking
about it. That's annoying!

San Diego is home to one of our favorite bands, the
Prayers. We were fortunate enough to have them book
us a show in town, come to it, play it, give us money,
a place to stay (thanks Mario!), etc. Really, really,
really great guys, that we hope to play more with
soon. Track them down online!

We then shot up to play with White Williams at our
home away from home, Part-Time Punks in Los Angeles at
the Echo. Of course, it ruled, all of our friends
came, the music ruled, blah blah blah. We
experimented a bit, playing "Red Room" live for the
first time on tour; not sure if we'll be revisiting
it...

The drive to Albuquerque from Los Angeles is awful.
Spirits were very low heading to town, but the Launch
Pad and Dirty Novels were real sweethearts. They sent
us off feeling satisfied, and Phoenix was fun (though
the stage at Modified is really shaky, and the Farfisa
went out of town; no one noticed).

The actual highlight here was going to the Brunswick
Zone, a fine bowling alley in Mesa, AZ. SEE OUR
UPCOMING VIDEO BLOG FOR THE WHOLE STORY.

Before I sign-off, about that best show. I had never
been to Flagstaff, Arizona, but I'd love to go back.
The Monte Vista Lounge is a haunted hotel from the
19th century. They give the bands a free room, and a
great deal at the bar. Tons of people come out, cause
the show is free, and they ALL DANCE. And I'm not
talking about the pogo; these people fall over, and
hug each other, and exorcise some sort of demon inside
of them. People even got kicked out of the show! A
real fun time, all around. It you go, play their
MaxMachine: M BULLETS has the high score on two of its
games now. Try to beat them!

We're in Las Vegas tonight. Keep your fingers crossed
that it turns out better than last time!

Ta-ta for now,
Matt
Magic Bullets


blog post Tour Blog Numero Dos - 1/24/08
Category: Music news
Posted: Jan 26, 2008 at 3:09 AM
Hi All,

We just pulled up to the venue in Pomona. This is our
second time trying to play this place; years ago, we
had a show cancelled here. There was a contest in the
van to see if we could name any of the other bands
that were to play, too, but we couldn't come up with
any!

This thirst for knowledge lead to a heart-racing round
of Trivial Pursuit: Pop Culture (mkII) (thanks, Sue!).
Everyone did pretty well, though, I shone a bit more
from having had a handful of the questions last time I
played! OFFICIAL NOTICE: Nathan and Ryan are banned
from reading questions, because their inability to
grasp punctuation or cadences or whatever makes the
game take twice as long.

Since I last checked in, we had a great time playing
Bottom of the Hill (sold-out, which really caught us
off guard!) A lot of old friends turned up, including
my date to my high school Winter Formal in 1998.

Corey and I bet on the NFL Conference Championships in
Reno the following night, and we both lost (though,
Corey hit 5 out of his 6 parlay; just not enough
beginners-luck, I say).

The BLUES bar in Fresno treated us like kings, despite
it being in an "across the tracks" part of town. Phil
has a bum knee, and it popped out of socket while he
was dancing! It looked like Mt. Everest covered in
oatmeal, or something gross like that. We all take
turns icing it down, and it seems to respond pretty
well.

A very fine fellow from Finland named Jere was there
(in town visiting friends), and he claimed that back
in Scandinavia, our album was the #1 of his summer!
Him and his pals would meditate in the woods to it,
etc.! At the risk of sounding soft, it's because of
people like this that make it so much fun and
worthwhile to do whatever it is we do. We'll be in
Europe, soon, Jere!

Playing Bakersfield was fun. Snow from The Blakes
joined us on stage for a number, and I struck gold at
a record store. Afterwards, we watched "Forbidden
Zone" at our pal Freddy's house. Not sure if that was
a highlight for all, but I had a great time!

We're all really looking to the Southern California
shows, to see old pals (3 of the 7 traveling in the
van spent about 4 years of their life here), and to
play Part Time Punks, the best two-headed-monster
(ha!) going in LA! I'll give a full report on that
next time.

Ram on,
Matt
Magic Bullets

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Upcoming Shows

Recent Media

May 25th, 8:48pm
Not rated
Views: 31
The Upstairs Flight - Magic Bullets
(Duration: 3:35)
Apr 18th, 7:13am
Apr 18th, 6:36am
Not rated
Views: 46
Video Tour Blog 2
(Duration: 8:48)
Feb 12th, 9:10pm
Magic Bullets Video Tour Blog
(Duration: 8:11)
Feb 2nd, 4:08am
Candy Cane Lane - Magic Bullets
(Duration: 2:44)
Dec 14th, 7:34pm
Red Room - Magic Bullets
(Duration: 2:54)
Nov 14th, 8:32pm
Magic Bullets Imeem Shout Out
(Duration: 0:30)
Oct 22nd, 10:02pm
Oct 12th, 7:50pm
Not rated
Views: 227

Profile Comments

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Apr 13th, 3:17am
wow, really great stuff guys. you play with le loup and the ruby suns? no chance you'll be in DC this summer again, is there?

i'd definitely be down for that. and bring about 20 people. go play at the Black Cat. it's a pretty sweet venue.
Dec 18th, 5:00am
tQ foR tHE aDD!!!:)
Dec 17th, 1:38pm

Some friends come and go
but true friends leave footprints
in our hearts..

"THANKS FOR ADDING ME!"
muahUgs! God bless..
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Dec 16th, 10:12pm
thanks for the add!.. peace!
Dec 16th, 5:33am
Dec 16th, 4:06am
thanks for the request add..:)
Dec 15th, 7:21pm
hey hey magic bullets
just saying thanks for the add from atlanta
:]
Dec 15th, 2:02am
Dec 15th, 1:44am
fantastic sounds mates
hope 2 hear more
relli
(:
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