To make a long story short, the origins of Fashion Design began in a roach infested hovel south of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The rest of the story involves a newspaper ad, a filth-ridden room filled with equipment (some of it musical), insect collections, and an Australian bassist specializing in Norwegian metal. The bassist was since replaced by Sandee and at that point the lineup solidified and will likely never change. The music is based around housing psychedelic sounds and intricate musical/percussive lines within altered pop structures. They are a band of energy and unpredictability.

Cast:
Sandee (XX), who plays bass and sings, was born in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1979.
Megan (XX), who plays guitar and sings, was born in Oxford, UK in 1980.
Luke (XY), who plays guitar and sings, was born in Schenectady, NY in 1979.
Kuki (XY), who plays drums, was born in Sydney, Australia in 1976.

Blackstrap is the sort of band that could only come out of a certain time and place. A couple of old rockers, having sold out to semi-lucrative day jobs, assume the past is behind them and start settling down in the semi-prosperity of Durham, North Carolina. The century turns, the economy pops, terrorism happens, the Patriot Act is passed and suddenly those old punks find their phones tapped, their wages cut, and their anger back.

A singer a fraction of their age, with no previous musical experience, joins them. Within a few weeks everyone is on stage, annoying fence-sitters and scaring small children. Since several members having moved into the child rearing phase of their lives, they're especially good at the latter.

Yes, Blackstrap reinvents that old-time feel-disillusioned sound of countless unsuccessful punk, cow punk, post punk, soft rock and nu-wave bands from Republican administrations past, and reminds us that if fighting the Man is hopeless, it's still a lot of fun, and more satisfying then deluding yourself that you're changing the system from the inside.

www.blackstrap.org

From the dark and distant past comes the primal sound of Jaguaro. With beats stronger than ten gorillas and a guitar more savage than a sabretooth tiger, joyous cacophony and untamed energy, Jaguaro seeks to unleash the throbbing force of Nature sealed within the breast of humanity!

http://www.myspace.com/jaguaro