Hands Up (DeadKidSyntax Remix) Music Video

Here is the brand new video for Hands Up (Dead Kid Syntax Remix). This was directed by Phineas Larynx and stars David Downey, Jr. as numerous deranged characters none stranger than himself. See poorly maintained teeth spit slick verses and witness horrible haircuts reinvent themselves with quick flicks of electric razors as electronic beats pervade and persuade your suede, cotton, leather, plastic, organs and souls.

If it ain't the type of art, thats a freshly removed heart, still connected to the chest, through the veins and plate of breast, bleeding beating for the judgement, there's no way that I could love it. It has to be exposed; My poems are prose without the clothes.

That's what we decided to go for when Phineas and I discussed this project. Props to Judson De La Wickham for remixing the song and to Topher M. Lewis and Randy Ziady-Huling for creating the original with me.

(I couldn't get the proper version to play on this blog so go to youtube and watch it to see it in all its glory.)

Shanti Knapp

One needs a team of people to make a creative project successful; it helps when those helping are creative themselves.

-A. Wiseman

Shanti Knapp is someone I have gotten to know through the years and over the past couple, witnessed him transform from a photographer in the beginner stages to a bad ass visionary mastermind. Shanti is someone who expresses the innermost reachings of his soul through his photography so we collectively decided that his captures would best represent our first album The Friday Morning EP. (as far as I'm concerned, baring your soul is what its all about if you are a true artist!) We are lucky to have Shanti as part of the WWAP family and look forward to future creations, collaborations and frankensteins.

Shanti has also taken photos at various shows of Woke With A Plan, David Downey and The Drugs and many other local and big name acts. We have long been planning a WWAP photo shoot that should soon come to fruition and we recently completed a quick promotional shoot for David Downey Jr.'s Phineas Larynx project.

Shanti recently participated in an exhibit at The Sonoma Arts Council in Santa Rosa. As part of our ongoing work he asked me to write his biography for the show. It was an honor to do so and of course we had to go for something non-traditional. Here it is in its entirety so now you MUST CLICK YOUR MOUSE and travel over to Shanti's website. See the visuals that inspired the words...and oh yah...hire the dude.

For Shanti Knapp at The Sonoma Arts Council 2010

It's right there in front of us only we don't see it unless we look or if we really need it--it appears. Bees on flowers, eyes yearning, forgotten graffiti, music, faces, friends, performers, inspired by mom, hearts and guitars, hands grasping, worlds calling, feet follow, lost in thoughts, what are you thinking?, not much, passage of time, crumbled metropolis, hope through hopelessness, heard once that desert peoples can see for miles, no cities to obstruct the vision, eyes adjust, ready, aim, focus...

a slight wrinkle at the edge of spectacles

entangled in tentacles

of auras and vibrance

it's tough to deny this

right outside your eyelids

so mundane '9 to '5's become less inspired

good times shooting pool shooting the breeze riding the breeze seeing where it goes and capturing it along the way.

i swear i am telling you right now that THIS is what i have to give you

no more

and no less

so

take it

Hi, My name is _____ and I AM AN ARTIST!

-David Downey, Jr.

President Kennedy

Today is the 47th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. When I first got into this rap/music game JFK was the name I decided to use for myself. The reason I did this is because I was always upset about the circumstances and conspiracies surrounding the assassination. While I no longer use the JFK alias I still have strong feelings about what happened.

My feeling was and still is that the public world really lost much of our mental freedom on that day. There is no way that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

I remember how my Grandmother would talk of The Kennedys as if there was some magical air of perfection surrounding them. She had seen John and Jackie at different gatherings in the Boston area and had a clear admiration for how they carried themselves. American Royalty.

When I worked as a bank teller I had the pleasure of having Harrison Livingstone as one of my customers. I learned through conversation that he was the author of some of the most popular JFK assassination conspiracy novels out there. He was a bit of an eccentric so we hit it off. He gave me copies of his books and autographed them for me. He told me that young people don't usually care about JFK and he felt that I could help him maintain the search for truth.

Now that current generations have our own JFK assassination in 9/11, it seems as if the truth about what happened will forever be buried in a pile of bullshit on the grassy knoll.

If you are ever in Massachusetts, I highly suggest that you check out the JFK museum and learn more about what type of man he was. I am not going to spend time talking about his accomplishments--look it up.

What I will do is share with you this song I made years ago. WWAP member Random Ran made the beat and its actually one of our earliest collaborations. In honor of the real JFK here is a free download of JFK (come on). This is off my first solo cd Live From Camelot...Enjoy and send a good thought out into the universe today for our fallen president. At the very least you will see how much our skills have improved since the early days...and oh yeah, Screw you Illuminati!

-David Downey, Jr

Hands Up Remix

We are pleased to share this disgustingly sick remix of Hands Up from our friend Judson De La Wickham aka Canyon Rivers aka Deadkidsyntax (like I said previously, you are not a real indie artist unless you have multiple aliases and projects going simultaneously). This song is an excellent remix, one because its slamming and two because it puts a totally new spin on the lyrics. Jud is an accomplished madman of a producer based out of LA and also a longtime friend of WWAP DJ/Live Painter-Random Ran. Do yourself a favor and click on the links so your ears can feel what your eyes are reading.

Thanks to Jud for doing this song and we look forward to more collaborations in the future as David Downey, Jr. is an absolute beat fiend. Until then you can download Hands Up (Deadkidsyntax Remix) for FREE!!!

and remember...EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU SHOULD PUNCH YOUR BOSS AND MURDER YOUR JOB TOO!

-David Downey, Jr.

Mr Dark Keys spotted in Sausalito!

Woke With A Plan beatmaker, producer and ASR-10 aficionado Topher M. Lewis recently had one of his compositions used as the opening music for The Sausalito Film Festival. The song Cognitive Miser was originally released in 2002 on the album Broken Record. Now we all know that you are not a "real" indie musician unless you have multiple aliases, groups and projects going simultaneously. Staying true to that meme, Lewis has used the moniker Mr Dark Keys for years and has a treasure trove of soon to be released instrumentals guaranteed to leave you spellbound. Be sure to follow Mr Dark Keys on myspace and facebook and of course remember to follow his alter ego Topher M. Lewis in Woke With A Plan. I promise, your ears (and breasts) will thank you.

The Rap Money is Gas Money Tour

The Rap Money is Gas Money Tour is rolling through San Francisco and Woke With A Plan is happy to announce our participation in support of Abadawn, Sarx and Name The Uncanny. We recently performed on the same bill as Abadawn at Club Six and let me just say that it is not often you get to witness a skilled rapper rock his set then go into a cover of "Closer" by NIN. Pretty sick, you don't want to miss it so come on out and support this tour. These guys are driving down from the Seattle/Portland area and on their way to LA so lets pack the house. Gas is expensive!

Local Chip-Hop masterminds A_Rival will also be rocking the room so prepare for the house to be brought down. If you haven't heard of these guys you need check out their 8-bit remake of Nuthin' But A G-Thang and see how talented this crew is. Internationally acclaimed B-Boy Jimmy Hits is the DJ for A_Rival so look for him to flex his skills on both the tables and the floor.

We will be doing "our usual unusual" with a few new wrinkles to the set and the song arrangement. One of our newer pieces is live painting where David Downey, Jr. scribbles some doodles and Randy Ziady Huling spends the rest of the set turning it into a thing of beauty while all along Topher Lewis orchestrates the symphony like a brain surgeon lobotomizing and re-animating unknowing patients. Mannequin heads, TV's tuned to strangeness, illumination and other theatrics are guaranteed! On a side note, WWAP frontman David Downey, Jr. is planning a temporary move to Boston so this may be your last chance to see us for a bit. Come on out, have a beer, reminisce, be entertained and let loose. We will actually be removing our beating hearts and leaving them on stage during the show so this will be monumental!

Live DJ sets by Jimmy Hits, Prefix and WWAP's own Random Ran!

Tuesday 9/14/2010 406 Clement St San Francisco 9PM $8 21+

-David Downey, Jr.

The Dark Room at Club Six

Woke With A Plan will be performing this Friday July 23rd inside of The Dark Room at Club Six.

Menno-P will be starting things off and if you haven't heard of this San Fran MC then you have to check out his fresh video with the crazy looking monkeys from the 50's on bikes. Its like a warped sci-fi version of the Dennis The Menace show with some ill hip hop behind it. You can check out "Eyewitness" right here.

After Woke With A Plan manipulates time and creates an alternate universe through TV, antique clocks and possessed heads, we will return you to the present tense for local bay area legend--Dublin.

Dublin has been rocking mics and representing SF for years earning the respect of every person that has had a chance to see him live. Dublin just returned from an East Coast tour with the illustrious Brass, Bows and Beats symphony so now is your time to see this cat locally before he blows up internationally and you have to pay double the ticket price to scalpers. You might have also heard of him from the Jazz Mafia, Shotgun Wedding Quintet or his newest release Ease The Pain.

Next up we have Abadawn from Camobear Records. Abadawn is on tour from Portland OR and has a reputation for putting on an energetic and LIVE live show. I hadn't heard of Abadawn before this gig was booked but checking out his myspace and hearing the song Greasy Burr made me an instant fan. I think I played that song like 20 times so when its played live I'll be that dude in the front row bugging out and repeating the lyrics.

We also want to thank Dave Blank aka Dark Alley Ethics and Level for putting on this show and giving us all an opportunity to gig. This is one of the best lineups I have ever had the pleasure of being associated with so please show your support for Woke With A Plan and these other acts. We promise to leave blood, guts, brains, hearts and other organs on the stage steaming from their fresh removal...but no tears. (rappers don't cry)


Hope to see you this Friday July 23rd at Club Six. 60 6th St. SF 9PM

-David Downey, Jr.

Gallons of Fuel

What is going on right now with the oil spill in the gulf is sickening and totally fucked up. A few years ago I recorded this song called Gallons of Fuel for one of my upcoming solo cds entitled The People Aquarium. WWAP's own DJ Plutoe (Random Ran) made this beat and the song has been sitting in my itunes catalog with only about 5 different people ever hearing it.

This version is unfinished, unmixed and may never see the light of day other than this blog and through this free download. It just seems like a proper time to share a song when we are going through such a serious environmental crisis. Hope you enjoy it (the song not the crisis), thanks for reading this blog and for following our music! Here is Gallons of Fuel.

-David Downey Jr.

We are...

decrepit statues, broken relationships, dreams of flying, alien visions, psychotic multiple personalities, bird communication, rusty playgrounds with steep metal slides, words of vitriol, misguided energy, dreams deferred, marijuana, dolphins rescuing humans, insight of spiders, job disillusionment, untranslatable instructions, forced hypnotism, insane neighbors, passive aggressiveness, aggressive aggressiveness, complicated interactions, not holding back, absolute power without corruption, rock proof glass houses, early bird worm hoarders, silent objections, mental assassinations, undiscovered planets, squeaky swingsets, dusty nooks, painstaking detail, franklin mint manufactured plates of unknown heroes, bounced checks, climbing trees and hiding, hearts torn out, roadkill reanimated, the secret sauce, workplace sabotage, calling in sick, going in sick, driving recklessly, walking carefully, shooting your mouth off, excess, ambience, creation, transference of energy, ancient thought patterns, the superconsciousness, the ability to fly, your first forgotten dream, your first remembered nightmare, what you wanted to be as a kid, who you are as an adult.

-David Downey, Jr.

David Downey and The Drugs Live at The Rocks

This Thursday May 2oth, Woke With A Plan frontman David Downey Jr will be performing with his posse of lunatics The Drugs. Playing in support of longtime North Bay mainstays High Intent, this gig promises to be an action packed roller coaster ride of bangin beats and conscious lyrics.

For this potentially dangerous prescription of The Drugs, Downey will be joined by Derailed Freight Train, DJ Plutoe, Rose Logue and possibly Ehnertia. This regimen will likely cause extreme heart palpitations, spontaneous dancing, binge drinking, hallucinatory visions, increased sex drive, heightened sense of ninja skills and Beatle-mania like hysteria. We are currently awaiting approval from FEMA and the CIA before we can release our product for mass consumption but are currently allowed to dose you in small venues.

We hope to see you there. Feel free to bring children with fake ids, grand-parents and aliens. We will rock their respective world!

High Intent and David Downey and The Drugs @ The Rocks. 146 Kentucky St. Petaluma

-David Downey, Jr.

All Over A Girl

Woke With A Plan recently performed at Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland which is a dope spot if you have not checked it out. Its a coffee shop that has good beer on tap, an outdoor patio in the back where you can smoke and the staff is cool as shit. Martin Sole and Alice Hejna started up the night up with soulful sets of folk rock before WWAP dimmed the lights only to illuminate briefcases and alien heads while some 70's sci-fi movie with Charlton Heston lived on in our TV set. We will never tell what the movie was or if the aliens head was returned to its body and planet...

You will just have to come on out to the next show and see what is in store.

Until then here is a free download of the song All Over A Girl(Live @ Mama Buzz)

-David Downey, Jr.

Woke With A Plan Live at Mama Buzz

Woke With A Plan will be performing this Wednesday, March 31st at Mama Buzz Cafe in Oakland. Also on the bill is folk/rock singer Alice Hejna who has been touring the west coast from Paris, France and local SF folk/soul singer Martin Sole. This is an early gig, starting at 6 and ending at 9 so you can check us out for a cheap $5 bucks and still be able to get a good nights sleep in preparation for April's Fool's jokes.

On a side note, David Downey Jr and The Drugs rocked the House of Shields in SF on the 26th. Costume changes, glowing mannequin heads and pure unfiltered energy made the set incredibly unique and it will only get crazier as this was the groups debut. Derailed Freight Train injected ambient flavor with his electric guitar and Random Ran owned the tables while David Downey, Jr. jumped around like a madman covered in ants ranting lyrical poetry. Pictures will be available soon.

We hope to see you this Wednesday at Mama Buzz!!! Be there...

-David Downey, Jr.

David Downey Jr and The Drugs

Woke With A Plan frontman David Downey Jr has recently undertaken an additional project--David Downey Jr and The Drugs.

David Downey Jr and The Drugs is pretty much going to be a live circus with Downey as the rapping ringleader. Long inspired by his talented circle of musician friends while contemplating more ways to put on a great live show, Downey decided to combine the two. The Drugs will be a revolving cast of instrumentalists, fire breathers, singers, escape artists, rappers, bearded ladies and extra terrestrials. For the first show it will be Downey performing songs with the eternally dependable (WWAP member Randy Ziady-Huling) Random Ran, Ehnertia (Sunset Leagues) and Derailed Freight Train (Burning Token Records) . The idea is for Downey to lead the show while still allowing opportunities for the various members of The Drugs to take center stage.

The first chance the world has to see David Downey Jr and The Drugs live is THIS FRIDAY THE 26th at The House of Shields in SF. Alice Hejna and Blair are also playing.

-David Downey, Jr.

Woke With A Plan & Derailed Freight Train

Woke With A Plan is pleased to announce and share with you our recent collaboration with Derailed Freight Train aka Damian C. Cohn for his upcoming EP "Back Seat Driver"(produced by WWAP's own Topher Lewis). This song was recorded in one session using a 20 year old Yamaha Portasound Voice Bank PSS-270 (the one you got for your 10th birthday) for the main beat.

Here is Voodoo Doll for your listening pleasure.

Multi-instrumentalist Derailed Freight Train has been a longtime contributor to the Northern California music scene through his various innovative undertakings including the euphonic Scattershot-Theory, sample smorgasbord Overturned Big-Rig, The Brozone on KBRO and The Petaluma Radiophonic Workshop.

Great things often gain mystique once they are gone, growing more legendary with each fond remembrance. Such is The Petaluma Radiophonic Workshop. Set in a dilapidated old farmhouse on a secluded road in Petaluma CA, The Workshop served as a mecca for local artists and musicians to gather and create. Wall to wall cables and strategically placed microphones left The Workshop completely wired for recording and eclectic instruments abound encouraged all-nighter parties/jam sessions. You just can't describe the feeling of taking a piss then looking up to find a microphone and realizing that your bathroom experience has been recorded or trying to keep tune on a vintage organ while some of The Bay Area's most respected musicians are rocking out beside you. Encounters with an unrelenting, invading possum (immortalized here) and a half-feral cat named Tagger proved to visitors that the workshop was just as much a magnet for wild animals as it was for eccentric musicians.

On Sunday nights Cohn would open the doors (they were never locked anyway) to host The Brozone on KBRO FM, a weekly radio show focusing on a variety of revolving topics and including an ever-changing lineup of musicians, personalities and friends. No topic was too absurd and no sound too ridiculous for the circus The Brozone would often become. Cohn presided over this harmonic carnival like a mad scientist watching his experiment animate, mutate and turn to ash all in the course of a night. Seasoned maestros and inexperienced beginners mingled together to absorb the magic and bask in the creative glow.

Sadly, The Workshop no longer exists in its original form but Cohn has continued to produce The Brozone from temporary locations vowing to return the The Workshop to its former glory once a suitable space has been discovered.

Be on the lookout for Back Seat Driver and future collaborations between Woke With A Plan and Derailed Freight Train!!!

-David Downey, Jr.

Woke With A Plan at Jasper O'Farrells

Woke With A Plan will be performing songs from The Friday Morning EP on Saturday January 30th at Jasper O'Farrells in Sebastopol.




-David Downey, Jr.

The Violent Kind

Happy New Years from Woke With A Plan! It was a busy December for WWAP as we focused on recording two new songs for the upcoming indie film The Violent Kind, which is scheduled to premier at The Sundance Film Festival. We hope you enjoy this free download of the first song Heads Up


-David Downey, Jr.