By: Chris Greacen - 08/15/2026
I got a call from a friend asking if I'd help record a demo for their new band. I saw this as a good chance to test out some recording techniques that I've been working on with my bands Doubleplus Alright, Elegant Trash, blert, as well as my Song-A-Day work.

We got together on a Sunday and tracked everything, then went through 3 rounds of mixing + feedback. I think we went a bit beyond 'demo' quality with these tracks - imo the recordings make a great first impression for this solid new band. I'm was happy to see that the band liked them enough to share via Bandcamp. Check it out!

Go buy it on Bandcamp: https://common-relics.bandcamp.com/album/common-relics!

By: Chris Greacen - 06/17/2026
I had the chance to record and mix the great Lost Puppy Forever at the Ivy Room in Albany, CA in March, 2026 to celebrate Scarlet's birthday. This twosome puts on quite a show and capturing it can be tricky - but I'm so happy that this came out well enough to end up on Bandcamp. Check it!

Go buy it on Bandcamp: https://lostpuppyforever.bandcamp.com/album/licks-alive!

By: Chris Greacen - 03/17/2026
Through our label, Blerito Records Doubleplus Alright released a single on all the streaming services today.

Doubleplus Alright is:

Oakland's Doubleplus Alright blasts out bite-sized morsels of high-gain pop tremor. For fans of: hooks and melody festooned with chugging guitars - Doubleplus Alright runs a little hotter than power-pop, a little cooler than *-core. Chris (songwriting, guitar, vocals) & Nik (bass) met long ago in Manatee (SLR 113, 161), Chris plays guitar in blert as well as Elegant Trash, and he runs the annual Song-A-Day songwriting project. Chris also works with the bay area promoter Lee Hoffman’s Bang The Bay as the recording engineer responsible for all live recordings. Mark (drums) has been in a zillion bay area bands.

We find that we sorta fit into alternative rock and punk genres. We say sorta because it’s an imperfect fit: too poppy for punk, too much chugging for power pop… maybe you’ve heard this one before? Presently we choose to flex the freedom that comes from genre-bending music. We’re as happy to play the diy punk backyard show (e.g. Hank’s bbq) as an alt-rock bill at a Bay Area club.

February Burn is:

One good example of how we flex our genre misfit is February Burn - a song that Chris wrote as part of his Song-A-Day project (http://songaday.netscrap.com). It’s a slow and steady crescendo that starts with acoustic guitar and voice and blooms with explosive drums, guitars, and bass. This mirrors Chris’ writing style as song ideas often arrive while strumming in his living room. Then as the ideas develop, the band digs in.

Warm up the good old band
before it gets out of hand
We’ll make a brand new start,
something you can’t tear apart.
The February chill,
let your heart do what it will.
It takes a tender hand
and someone who understands
how terrible the curse
you cannot reverse.

Oh the February Burn!
Let your heart do what it yearns.
Oh the February Burn!

Why is February Burn so damn short?

A good question. Blame Chris. He’s been writing very spare but rocking pop songs for a while. It started with blert’s Leave The Lights On and continued through much of his Song-A-Day writing.

The idea is this: write a killer melody and just enough arrangement to get the idea across, to get a foot tapping, to get that hook deep into the ears of the listener - then booom! It’s done, move on. Enjoy it for what it was.

Tony Molina was an inspiration, as was the SST catalog from our youth: concision, brevity, leanness.

The thing to keep in mind is that there’s a LOT more where this came from. Expect more short-form epic songs from Doubleplus Alright.

February Burn cover art is:

A detail of a collage called Transmission by the master of mail art and collage, Serse Luigetti. Chris befriended Serse through a facebook group focusing on asemic art. Chris feels that Serse’s art captures the mystery, beauty, and confusion of modern life.

Serse’s art is used with permission by the artist.

More about Serse Luigetti:

• https://www.redfoxpress.com/dada-luigetti.html
• https://artistmatter.crosses.net/serse-luigetti/
• https://theindianapolisreview.com/featured-artist-serse-luigetti/
• https://gammm.org/tag/serse-luigetti/

By: Chris Greacen - 03/04/2026

Lee Hoffman's Bang The Bay books rock and punk shows at venues around the bay area. Between his Solar Van Saturdays at Point Emery and Rocky's Beach near the bay and his Wednesday night residencies at the Ivy Room in Albany and now the Fab Mab in San Francisco, Lee books MANY bands per month.

For the past year and a half, I've been helping to capture and mix recordings of all the Bang The Bay shows. This involves connecting a computer to the venue's mixer via usb to capture good quality multi-track recordings of each performance. Afterward, I take these recordings and mix them much like one would mix a studio recording - balancing the instruments and voices to yield a rocking record of the show. I'll write another post about the work that goes into mixing these recordings.

Many bands, many shows

Lee is a busy guy and connects with a ridiculous number of acts based in or coming through the bay area. In the year and a half that I've been working on this I've had the privilege of hearing about 200 acts and about 340 sets (many bands have played several times). A typical show at the Ivy Room will have 6 or 7 bands, each playing about a 35 minute set. Lee books two-to-three shows per month at the Ivy Room, plus one at the Fab Mab, and one or two Solar Van shows each month.

I'll try to keep this spreadsheet updated as we produce more recordings.

A few of these acts are solo singer/songwriter types, but most are full bands - punk rock, alternative rock types. This has allowed me to see and hear a serious swath of the bay area music scene. You'll be happy to know that the bay area scene is thriving - chock full of great bands. I've been lucky to hear many of them.

What's it mean?

For a booker who aims to put on live events, this is kind of a game changer for their model. Live shows are really fun, but they only last a moment in time. Sure everyone has a small recording and movie studio in their phone that could capture the event. A phone-quality recording at least. As nice as these devices are the quality is of the audio they capture is still just so-so.

A good recording of a live performance can bring a good moment to a much larger audience. It's a much more permanent and tangible product of something that takes a lot of work. Bands will practice for many hours and spend time promoting their appearance before packing up their gear and heading to the club for their moment of glory. They try to bring their best. It would be really cool to have a high quality recording that captures that moment.

This playlist is embedded above features many of Lee's live recordings. Or view this on YouTube.

All this happens with the each bands permission of course. There's a high degree of partnership between band, booker, venue, and audience. This only works because everyone wants it to work.

Compilation in the works

At this point with 300+ recordings we're ready to start to share more. We'll be putting a best-of compilation together. We could slice a collection like this in a couple ways, but at this point we're thinking that we will start with a 'best of Ivy Room 2024/2025' and see where that takes us.

I'll write a few more blog posts covering what makes a good recording, what makes a good performance, and why the bay area is seriously amazing.

Stay tuned!

PS the photo collage at the top features these bands: (all shot by me)

1. Tektonic, Sparkle Plenty, Super Apes, Nick from Phantoms Forever, Louiza, The Rinds
2. Ultrafiend X, Stone Dog, Ultra Sounds, Sacripolitical, The Diversions, Ansible
3. Right Proper, Lost Cosmos, Out Of The Ring, Angry Aztecs, Can't, Baltic Kiss, Sleepers A.D.
4. Family Obligation, Dark Satellite, Somebunny Else, Fancy Dad, The Hajj, Davinski And The Haute Pantzz, Cuva Bimo

By: Chris Greacen - 11/18/2024
Doubleplus Alright is psyched to have their song Feelin' It included in a fantastic compilation that just arrived on all the streaming services. This Is A Compliation Vol. One includes songs from some of the best independent punk, rock, and alternative bands playing in the bay area right now.

If you want to know the state of music in the bay area today listen to every bit of this thing asap.

Through Lee's Solar Van Saturday and Bang The Bay events, Doubleplus Alright has been able to see and get to know folks in a bunch of great bands: Family Obligation, Dark Satellite, CuVa Bimö, Fuzz Kit, Delta Wave, The Strange Ones, and of course Elegant Trash. Great music all around of course, but more importantly great people. Worth following all of these bands.

Couple notes on our song - we recorded our song Feelin' It at our home in Oakland Music Complex with our previous drummer Jackson. This song is from the first batch of Doubleplus tunes that Chris wrote back when we formed the band (contemporary with Um, No, Turn It Around, Bye Bye Bye). Jackson turned it up several notches on this tune with his background vocals and a killer drum fill at the very end.

Hoping to share much more music with you.

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