Last week the Weekly Volcano took a huge step. You probably noticed. We’re bigger now, and we cover news. We’re a big, sexy, alternative press paper Tacoma can call its very own.
Let’s be honest. One of the reasons the Weekly Volcano could take such a huge step is the overall progress of Tacoma. Tacoma’s been movin’ on up like the Jeffersons for as long as Bobble Tiki has written about the 253. T-town has reached a point where the politics, culture, news, music, and arts demand a paper of this girth. The Weekly Volcano couldn’t have made this step without such progress from the City of Destiny.

Audio proof of Tacoma’s emergence and budding new identity as something other than the Northwest’s favorite Almost Live punch-line, can be found at Bob’s Java Jive this Friday, Feb. 15. Team Unicorn Records will be throwing the party, and they’ve invited musical guests Murder Party, Red Sea Sharks, Wallpaper and Darren Selector to take over the pot with them. (Not your pot, the coffee pot. As in the Jive. Silly stoner.)

Team Unicorn Records, judging by the bands they work with, is one of the most exciting “labels” Tacoma has to offer. There was a time when Bobble Tiki started covering music in Tacoma when the idea of a label (using the term loosely, in a very indie sense) working with bands as talented as Mama Loves Daddy, Paris Spleen, the Elephants, Friskey, the Drug Purse, and the Shadow People would have blown Bobble Tiki’s mind.

It’s present day reality with Team Unicorn Records.

Their party at the Jive Friday will be one of the coolest things in town this week. Easily. This week Bobble Tiki caught up with James Jenkins, the leader of Tacoma indie band Mama Loves Daddy, and one of the main people behind Team Unicorn Records.

BOBBLE TIKI: Who and what is Team Unicorn Records?

JAMES JENKINS:  We are essentially a loose organization of friends trying to help each other get our music out there. I am currently booking as many out-of-town groups as possible, hoping to make enough connections to set up a tour belt across the states so that everybody goes on roughly the same tour and we can keep things as efficient as possible. We are not exclusively a record label. We all share gear, carpool, record in each others homes, do each others artwork, play shows with each other, and generally do anything we can to make things easier for everybody.

TIKI: How does your operation operate?

JENKINS: The records coming out this year will all be printed at a local print shop (Thingmakers). Then we will get everybody together (about 20-25 of us), form an assembly line and tape, fold, tray, stuff, shrink-wrap and box all of the records. We want to do everything DIY with as high of a standard as possible.

TIKI: What records will come out this year?

JENKINS: New records from Paris Spleen, The Elephants, and Mama Loves Daddy are currently in the works. Paris Spleen’s is done and is going to press soon. The Elephants and Mama Love Daddy’s (albums) are still being worked on.

TIKI: What is the goal of Team Unicorn?

JENKINS: We are trying our very best to stimulate the local music scene and bring as many out-of-town bands in as possible.

TIKI: Why should people be interested in the Team Unicorn Party at Bob’s Java Jive this Friday?

JENKINS: If you like music and want to experience new sounds in Tacoma, you absolutely must come to the Java Jive. It is THE place to get drunk and listen to music. Everybody knows this, but we seem to have forgotten. The more people we can get to leave their house and support touring bands, the more bands will want to come to Tacoma, increasing the likeliness of being taken seriously as a city with awesome potential to have a lively music scene. Don’t waste your time trying to dress and eat like you are from Seattle. You are not. Get f***ing real. Get really drunk, piss in a trough. Go to Bob’s Java Jive.
   
As is customary, Bobble Tiki really doesn’t care what you do this weekend because he doesn’t even know you. Sorry. Facts are facts. Unless you can start holding a place for Bobble Tiki at Chambers Bay golf course now for the 2015 U.S. Open, Bobble Tiki probably has no interest in meeting you. Serve yourself Breakfast with Bobble Tiki six days a week at www.weeklyvolcanospew.com, and consider yourself close enough to the legend that is Bobble Tiki.

[Bob’s Java Jive, Murder Party, Red Sea Sharks, Wallpaper and Darren Selector, Friday, Feb. 15, 8 p.m., $3, 2102 S. Tacoma way, Tacoma, www.myspace.com/teamunicornrecords]

Bobble Tiki is going out of his head via e-mail at bobbletiki@weeklyvolcano.com