The Touchies (“slang for cuddling with your special someone”) were launched in late 2008 by Anthony Stanze (AKA Anthony Touchie) on lead vocals and guitar, and Mishey Moreno (AKA Mishey Touchie) on bass and backing vocals. The duo has played together locally since 1995, originally known as Happy Endings, a band later rechristened the Esthas. “That [name] was our tribute to Fox 6 News anchor Estha Trouw and her awesome pixie haircut,” according to Stanze.
Having just been nominated for a 2011 San Diego Music Award for their newest album Friends of the Friendless, they'll embark later this month on a ten day west coast tour.
"We're a non signed band, and don’t come wealthy, well known families, like a lot of other bands," Mishey tells the Reader. "So we have to pay for everything ourselves. It actually makes some things quiet humorous, especially when it came to recording our double album. I think in total we spent over $5,000, but it took seven months to do it, simply 'cause we had to save up money to do each step."
"We first had to save up to buy protocols. Then we had to save up to buy the interface. Luckily, we had all the mics , cables and stands, and studio monitors from our old bands Happy Endings and The Esthas, when we recorded on a little zip disk 4 track recorder back in 2001. Then, we had to save up to buy one of the most expensive things ever created, the darn plug ins for ProTools. Then, a couple months of saving for the mastering, printing the CDs, the artwork, etc."
"The whole process was hilarious, waiting for payday so we could buy a $200 EQ plug-in or something."
The tour starts July 28 in Eugene Oregon and wraps up August 6 at the Double Down saloon in Las Vegas. Says Mishey, "The last few months since the CD release, we’ve been saving up the same way for the tour!"
The Touchies (“slang for cuddling with your special someone”) were launched in late 2008 by Anthony Stanze (AKA Anthony Touchie) on lead vocals and guitar, and Mishey Moreno (AKA Mishey Touchie) on bass and backing vocals. The duo has played together locally since 1995, originally known as Happy Endings, a band later rechristened the Esthas. “That [name] was our tribute to Fox 6 News anchor Estha Trouw and her awesome pixie haircut,” according to Stanze.
Having just been nominated for a 2011 San Diego Music Award for their newest album Friends of the Friendless, they'll embark later this month on a ten day west coast tour.
"We're a non signed band, and don’t come wealthy, well known families, like a lot of other bands," Mishey tells the Reader. "So we have to pay for everything ourselves. It actually makes some things quiet humorous, especially when it came to recording our double album. I think in total we spent over $5,000, but it took seven months to do it, simply 'cause we had to save up money to do each step."
"We first had to save up to buy protocols. Then we had to save up to buy the interface. Luckily, we had all the mics , cables and stands, and studio monitors from our old bands Happy Endings and The Esthas, when we recorded on a little zip disk 4 track recorder back in 2001. Then, we had to save up to buy one of the most expensive things ever created, the darn plug ins for ProTools. Then, a couple months of saving for the mastering, printing the CDs, the artwork, etc."
"The whole process was hilarious, waiting for payday so we could buy a $200 EQ plug-in or something."
The tour starts July 28 in Eugene Oregon and wraps up August 6 at the Double Down saloon in Las Vegas. Says Mishey, "The last few months since the CD release, we’ve been saving up the same way for the tour!"