We are currently very busy here in tramland. We are working on some music for our great friend Tyler for his wonderful PSA to be viewed nationwide come this summer. The government is putting lots of $$$ behind it, so i hope it turns out well. The link for the awareness is daretoprepare Tyler is in return helping us out with our first ever music video which is to be shot in Vegas on May 12th and 13th. We are also in the midst of booking a summer tour! So check back soon for the dates dudes.

Also! one of our songs will be featured in in this years cinevegas. More info on that coming soon. We’re also finally up on iTunes, so peep dat, and snag the delicious album art.

love.

This past weeks shows were fantastic. Thanks to all who made them special. Opening for Mickey Avalon was a small dream materializing into a beautiful, awkward reality, and the closeness that we felt in the Shines household garage was very special. (and extremely fun)

-chaddy

The Bottom of the Sea (self-released)

The Tramlines’ full length debut easily sails above the local rock rabble just by being in touch with current music. The band’s teenage members display encyclopedic knowledge of indie rock past and present and synthesize their own sound from it. This is good because their studiousness pays off in fine moments of Decemberists/Black Heart Procession-style baroque fatigue, where the whole song appears to be sighing like it knows what war-torn year this is. But so much of the album sounds like a project for an AP course in independent music. They’re doing everything right: the touch of psychedelia, the pensive lyrics. But urgency, together with sophistication, made indie rock the style to study. And a desperate need to articulate something or do something new is what gave the broken voices, awkward clangings and reelings of their influences beauty and strength. When The Tramlines learn to fu*k it up a little, they’ll be a dangerous, mature force.

Las Vegas City Life Magazine

BEVERLY BRYAN

The Tramlines sound is heavily reliant on a steady dynamic build that graces over their songwriting like an approaching storm. This atmosphere is created using guitars, organs, pianos, mandolins, and various other sounds that blend to create a beautiful, forceful energy that only these five people could create, but willingly let everyone else experience.

Early in 2005 The Tramlines independently released an EP entitled “I Have a Vision”. This EP was everyone’s first taste of an interesting new take on the “pop song”, and left listeners anticipating more.

On February 21st, 2007, The Tramlines delivered and satisfied listeners with their independently released first full-length album entitled “The Bottom of the Sea”. “The Bottom of the Sea” is a weathered sailor strumming an acoustic guitar during a hurricane. It is a turbulent trip into human emotion backed by an orchestra of ghosts who want nothing more than to feel those emotions again.

The Tramlines:

Chad Felix – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboard
Tyler Mckusick – Guitar, Vocals, Keyboard
Dillon Shines – Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals, Mandolin
Cory Van Cleef – Bass, Keyboard, Percussion
Michael Catalano – Drums, Vocals

Multihued indie rock that’s by turns driving and delicate, “Sea” benefits from three guitarists crafting swelling pockets of drama and dissonance.

The songs here are constantly pivoting in new directions: “Jewelry,” for instance, starts as a plaintive acoustic daydream, then the guitars kick in, and the track starts to rumble like an angry fault line.

There are plenty of other compelling moments, such as the pretty, kaleidoscopic swing of “How My Story Started (And Why It’s Never Ending)” and the haunting, violin-laced “A Sunken Ship,” making this ship far more seaworthy than its title suggests.

By Jason Bracelin for the Las Vegas Review Journal

The Tramlines first full-length album. Written and Recorded by The Tramlines throughout 2006-2007. Mixed and Mastered by Ed Goodreau of Mission 30 Studios. Special thanks to Owen Gee for the beautiful artwork.

Tracklisting:

1. The Bottom of the Sea

2. Paradise

3. We Don’t Grow Up

4. Jewelry

5. How My Story Started

6. A Sunken Ship

7. Sleepwalking

8. Something Special

9. Sail! Sail! Sail!

10. Confident

Tracklisting:

1. Bodybags

2. We Don’t Grow Up

3. I Have a Vision

4. Nightmare Girl

we are gonna build an empire
with walls so high they blend into the sky.
and everyone will want it
but the price they’ll have to pay is way to high.

we’ll be millionares locked in a castle.
we’ll be billionares in the belly of the whale.
we’ll be trillionares when you remember to miss us.

and we wont have to go anywhere.

and if this ends, we know I’ll lose it.
my face will crack, and my eyes will always squint.
cause we’re the only ones that have it,
and without it, I’m just a little kid.

I’ll be the only one locked in that castle.
I’ll be the only one at the bottom of the sea.
I’ll be the last one to stand up and volunteer

cause I won’t have anywhere to be.
no, I won’t have anywhere to be.

“Paradise”

paradise…
is often mistaken,
for an island off the coast,
or a private beach alone.
but I’m here, to tell you its different,
no, it’s neither of those.
its the times you spend close…

close…

paradise…
it’s sadly forsaken,
for a pill you take alone,
not a wife, a kid, a home.
but I’m here, to tell you to watch it.
you may enjoy it on your own, but soon you’ll leave us all unknown.

close…
close…
oo…oo….
close…

“We Don’t Grow Up”

there was a flash so magnificent,
the dust had cleared, the noise had left.
I couldn’t believe I was the only one left.
I saw a girl she sang a song,
“what has happened? what is wrong?”
so I asked her to follow me, I asked her to follow me.

Whatever you say, we’ll all be okay, we’ll all be okay.

so we walked across the barren land,
the pessimist on the right and the hopefuly on the left
I couldn’t believe we were the only one’s left
the pessimist she shouted,
“We don’t grow up, we just blow up!”
So I asked her to follow me, I asked her to follow me.

Whatever you say, we’ll all be okay, we’ll all be okay.

We don’t grow up, we just blow up.

“Jewlery”

girl, get yourself a map.
we’re going on a journey.
to paris, costa rica, and germany.
and we wont need much money,
we’ll sell all our jewlery.
we’ll trade all our riches
for hospitality.

so next time you see me don’t stand up and shout.
and we’ll get together and remember how we have no idea,
what this world is all about.

we paid our dues to stonehenge,
in england.
and rode a tiny canoe,
through the amazon.
we hiked the sahara’s,
and climbed us some pyramids.
we joined all the locals, in the festivities

so next time you see me dont stand up and shout.
and we’ll get together and remember how we have no idea,
what this world is all about.

“How my story started”

if education was ever to me whatever it was ever supposed to be,
then im positive that everyone else is feeling just as confused as me.
late papers mean nothing
late papers mean nothing
late papers mean nothing
and it’s clear, it’s clear that

if information was an artform 2 and 2 could equal 5, 6, 7 or 8
my memorized rules would mean nothing to me,
and our success, our success would be determined by ingenuity.
not by how well we cheat.

harvard is a school. but i…

if education was ever to you, whatever it is they promised to do.
then I’m positive that you should know exactly what it is you wanna be
but your future means nothing
and your future means nothing
your future means nothing to you,
and its clear, it’s clear that

if happiness was a math equation
what you put in would always work its way out.
my tears my smiles mean nothing to her.
and our success, our success should be determined by how hard we work..

harvard is a school. but I’m an institution

“A Sunken Ship”

there is a sunken ship
at the bottom of the sea.
it’s where, you’ll find.
my clothes my watch and all my money.

there is a sunken ship
at the bottom of the sea.
it’s where, you’ll find.
my clothes my watch and all my money.

and thats why i never ever have a sense of time.
and thats why i never ever have a sense of time
and thats why i never ever have a sense of time
and thats why i never ever ever have a sense of time.

“Sleepwalking”

the things
that keep
me down during the day,
and late up at night…

ooo…ooo…

are the things
that keep
you there, in my mind,
but out of sight

ooo…ooo…

they’re not fears of death but fears of life!
they’re not fears of death but fears of life!

im not right with this…
im not right with this…
but ill try to sleep on it…
try to sleep on it…
i’ll sleep right through it.
and repeat.

but I
have learned
to “live what i love”
cause my time’s almost up.

ooo…ooo…

and I
can’t waste
waste another day,
trying to figure you out

ooo…ooo…

I just feel like sleepwalking!
I just feel like sleepwalking!

I’m not right with this…
I’m not right with this…
but I’ll try to sleep on it…
try to sleep on it…
sleep right through it.
and repeat.

“Something Special”

you’ve got to file-in, you’ve got to file-out
put your hands up! and shout it out!
cause someone’s got a dotted line, pointed right between your eyes.

you’ve got to play the game.
at least for a little while,
cause someone’s got a better cut, and I know they ain’t done much.

but I’m not scared.
no, I’m not scared of anything at all.
and I’m not mad, I’m just upset a little thats all.

bad karma is coming your way
bad karma is coming your way
bad karma is coming your way, and I’m excited for that day!

the weather’s changin’ from blue to grey
the weather’s changin’ from blue to grey
the weathers changin’ from blue to grey, and I’m excited for that day!

it’s shadowin’ you!
the cycle’s rollin’ around!
it’ll beat you up!
and pound you into the ground!

you’ve got to file-in, you’ve got to file-out
put your hands up! and shout it out!
cause someone’s got a dotted line, pointed right between your eyes.

you’ve got to play the game.
at least for a little while, or we’ll go insane.
cause someone’s got a better cut, and i know they ain’t done much.

but I’m not scared.
no, I’m not scared of anything at all.
and I’m not mad, I’m just upset a little thats all.

prepare for a let down.
prepare for a melt down
prepare for a malfunction.
it won’t stop. spinning around!

it’s shadowin’ you!
the cycle’s rollin’ around!
it’ll beat you up!
and pound you into the ground!

“Sail! Sail! Sail!”

sailing hard, to the east
the waves kept crashing, but they wont stop me.
we lost a friend, overboard.
but i sail for shore, cause thats where you are.

its been seven long months, but we’re finally here.
we reached the shoreline.
but you weren’t there.
my eyes they swelled up,
some guys got mad.
so i dropped that anchor,
and i held on, with all that i had.

i didn’t make it, thats just my luck.
but i swallowed my visions, and i threw them back up.
head back to the ocean,
the wide open seas!
im sailing for new land!
and thats where you’ll find me!

“Confident”

I’m tired
of being.
confident.
so I smash it,
into pieces.

and I bury,
I bury,
it in the sand.
cause I’m leaving,
here without it.

so I gathered
all my money
I took to the streets.
it wasn’t rainy,
it wasn’t sunny,
but it sure beat being
in one place.

March 5th, 2007: The University Theatre - Las Vegas, NV - 7:00 P.M. - $5

March 10th, 2007: The E-String Bar & Grill - Las Vegas, NV - 7:00 P.M - $5

UPCOMING SHOWS:

April 4th, 2007: The University Theatre - Las Vegas, NV - 7:00 P.M. with MICKEY AVALON

May 15th, 2007: The University Theatre- Las Vegas, NV - 7:00 P.m. with DEAR AND THE HEADLIGHTS