This is long overdue.
Winston- Salem was one the oddest dates we played. The venue was basically a shack in a field. It looked like a shed that had a roof at one point, but then they sprayed for termites or something and put up one of those big blue and white striped tents over the whole place and afterwards someone said, you know what....just leave the top, we need a roof. I have no idea if this is how things actually transpired but it makes sense in my head. One whole side of the building was wooden slats spaced a good 6 inches apart from each other with chicken wire above the slats. I asked someone who worked there what they did when it rained. His reply..."Shit gets wet." Priceless.
Kyle and I went out to eat at a BBQ joint which was amusing because he and I have a running bet that he can't go vegetarian. We have broken it up by week so if he makes it a week without eating meat I owe him $5 and if he eats meat by accident or otherwise, I get $5. There was literally only one thing that he could get at the restaurant that didn't have meat in it but when his salad came, it had bacon bits all over it. Five bucks, thank you very much Kyle. The show was pretty good, and Patrick and I got up on stage with the band during one of the new songs, "A little bit of you in everything". The song is introduced nightly by Matt as a song to show off you best dance moves so Patrick and I did just that. They might not have been the prettiest but hey, I'm 6'4'' and he's 6'8'', what can you expect?
After the show, there was a light sprinkling going on outside but it stopped about halfway through load-out. A big group of us then walked to the hotel to shower but when we got there, Sara wanted to head back to the bus so Matt and I walked her back and then had a really good talk on the way back to the hotel and sat outside the hotel until people were done showering. Matt has a thing about always being the last one to shower so after he was done, we went back to the bus and played a few games of Mario Kart on Nintendo in the back lounge.
Asheville was a really, really cool little town in the mountains in North Carolina. We played at a venue called The Orange Peel which is very nice. It's a modern venue with really nice gear and a great stage. The show was later than usual so I had more time than usual to walk around and take pictures. The city was kind of like Santa Barbara in a lot of ways with restaurants everywhere and some interesting architecture. Having lived most of my life in California, I was really amazed at how many brick buildings there are in the rest of the country.
Matt lived near Asheville for about a year and so he talked a lot about that to me the night before and at the show. He talked about a very old Clydesdale horse that lived on the farm next to him that he used to go feed and hang out with. It was a period in his life where he was kind of re-collecting himself after some of the Weezer stuff ended and it was clear he was happy to be back there. The show went well and the room sounded really good and were were able to do the video Nat King Cole intro rather than just the audio one which is really nice. Matt also asked me to find a clip to play during the new song "A little bit of you in everything" and I found a really good clip of Nat King Cole's whole band playing that works really well with The Rentals up on stage. Afterwards, we went to a little French cafe and I called Emily at which point we figured out we were on complete opposite sides of the world from each other. After having a drink, we headed back to the bus and a number of us talked for a while before heading to bed.
The next night we were in Charlotte, Matt's dad was at the show, and it was Aaron's (the lead singer of Copeland) birthday. When Copeland took the stage, they all had party hats on and they brought out balloons, it was pretty awesome. The show felt a little weird, the crowd was very loud but also a little rude and it put an odd feeling on the show. Matt's family enjoyed the show and after the show I got some food from a restaurant next door and hopped on the bus to go to Nashville.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Northeast
Hello all. It's been almost a week since I posted an update and it's been a crazy week. Last Tuesday we played at Mr. Smalls which was a Catholic Church until about 6 years ago when it became a live concert venue. It also, as I said, has a hostel for bands coming through and a recording studio, it's a pretty amazing venue. The part of Pittsburgh we were in was really small and the town flooded a few weeks prior so a lot of the businesses were still cleaning out from that.
During the change over between Copeland and the Rentals the monitor engineer left the stage open. I'll backup a little here and explain. Monitors are the speakers on stage that point at the band so they can hear themselves. They are also much closer to the microphones than the house speakers so they are far more prone to feedback. During a changeover, one should always mute all of the mics on stage because people are moving mics back to where they were placed during sound check. This was not done and while Shon and I were on our knees one foot from a speaker re-arranging things on the stage a mic fed back into the monitor we were kneeling in front of. It was the loudest thing I have ever heard and made both of us deaf for about 20 seconds. After that we were walking around and had some hearing loss. I made a comment at the monitor guy and walked out. We did the show and it was pretty odd because over a certain volume things just kind of shut off in my head. I wore earplugs for the entire show and while I slept. After the show I went up to the monitor guy and yelled at him for a little while at which point he claimed that we had caused the feedback so that was annoying. The next day Shon and I made appointments with an Audiologist in Baltimore to get checked out. She said that we were both fine and after about 45 minutes of hearing tests she said that our hearing was exactly where it should be. It was great to have that assurance and also the record of the tests in case we need to take legal action. So that was a pretty crazy 2 days.
Club Sonar in Baltimore was an interesting venue, they have a brand new system that was bought partially to my specifications. I made sure to wear my earplugs again for the whole show and my hearing was back to normal by Wednesday night. Kyle and I took a walk around Baltimore for a bit. During said walk, we decided to make a bet. Kyle is going to go vegetarian for the rest of the tour. For every week he goes vegetarian, I owe him $5 and every week he "accidentally" eats meat, he owes me $5. We went down to the waterfront, he got some clothes and I took a tour of a WWII submarine. I also saw a holocaust memorial in my adventures. The show went well but since they had only gotten their new sound system the night before they were tuning the system which includes playing music really, really loud. So loud in fact, that we could hear it through out the walls of the club the walls of the tour bus and in our bunks so it was a little hard to fall asleep.
Thursday was the longest of the long days and, one of the biggest stops on the tour. Our day started off with an in studio performance at AOL studios. AOL does streaming video performances so we did four songs, an interview and a photo shoot. The load in started at 7:30 a.m. so it was a short night sleeping and then after the performance was done, Kyle drove me with the gear over to the Nokia Theater in Times Square around noon. That 10 block drive took us 45 minutes. Once I got there, I met with the NY stagehands union which is like working with disagreeable pre-schoolers. First, they don't listen to you, so you say, here's how we do this and they say, well....we're not gonna do it that way, we're gonna do it this way. Second, they are so strict about their break times that literally as soon as were were ready to do sound check, the monitor guy went on lunch and was replaced by someone who didn't know what was going on so then I spent 45 minutes explaining to him how things were set up some of which he insisted on changing because it wasn't how he thought it should be done and by then, the other guy was back and he had to be filled in. Thirdly, they make you take a break from the board for one hour before they open the doors so I couldn't do anything at the last minute to prepare for the show. I am convinced that the airline industry, cell phone providers, insurance companies, and large sections of the US government are all run by the NY stagehands union. After sound check the band asked me to meet with them and address any issues I had been noticing and we talked about them which was really cool. It's nice to work with a group that allows me to interact with them so much because not all bands are that way. We had 1800 people at the show and among them were my friends Ben, Nadia, Emily, and Sam. The show went well and a friend of the band, Paul was there to help me out with sound. Paul has done front of house and recording with Tracy Chapman, Los Lobos, numerous string quartets and other groups. He is a fantastic engineer and it was great to have his ears there as well. It was great to have that many people at a show and great to see my friends. Ben, Nadia, Sam and I went out for a while and the Ben, Sam and I got a bite to eat and met up with the band at a hotel where they charge you $9 for a beer and $18 for a Jack and Coke. Needless to say I didn't get anything to drink and then the band shared a cab back to New Jersey to the tour bus. We got there at 4:30 a.m. making it a 21 hour day. It was great to see all of my friends in New York, thank you all for coming out. It was great to see you, and thank you so much for your support.
Friday we were in Cambridge Massachusetts. We went from 50 foot ceilings and a ballroom to 10 foot ceilings in a basement. My Aunt Janet, Uncle Peter, cousin Tyler and Tyler's friend Hope all came out to the show so I got to have some dinner with them and then they stayed for the entire show even though we started a hour later than we had been. The show was the best of the tour we all thought. The energy at the show was great since the band did not play in Boston last year and it was great to have all of those people compacted into a small space, it made the show feel much more intimate. The crew there was great, everyone was really friendly and extremely helpful, it made the night go really well and Matt's voice was back in full swing for the first time on this tour. The Wardwells seemed to have a really good time and it was fantastic to have them out. I missed the Petersons but I know you were all there in spirit.
Saturday we were in Philadelphia where is was unbearably hot. It was in the 90s with around 85% humidity. The venue was really cool, three stories tall with 2 balconies. The system was not all that powerful but the band was sounding great at sound check. I had a Philly cheese steak and then took a walk down to Independence hall and the Liberty Bell. The entire sidewalk in front of Independence hall is blocked off by Rangers but I got some cool pictures and it was a great building to see. I mean, to think, right there is where Nicolas Cage found one of the final clues in the movie National Treasure was amazing...oh and the Declaration of Independence is pretty cool too. I have a whole new level of respect for the founding fathers after spending a day in Philly with weather like we had. If it had been me, I would have ripped off my powdered wig and split after the first draft. Anyway, the walk was nice and then we had another great show. The Rentals also skipped Philly on their tour last summer and we had the same kind of energy that we did in Boston. At times I felt like the system wasn't going to be loud enough for all of the people but that made the show even better for me knowing that we were pushing that hard to give these fans a great show. After the show I got another cheese steak and realized my iPod was still on the soundboard. Many of you know I have a bad habit of losing iPods so I was very relieved to learn that the venue is FedEx-ing it to me tomorrow.
Yesterday was D.C. and I got to have dinner at Ben's Chili Bowl which is a Washington D.C. institution. I highly recommend it the next time you are in D.C. My time with Sarah was short but sweet due to a fire in one of the Metro tunnels. We also saw a wrecked Police car on our walk. Not something you see everyday. My friend Laura Langmore and her boyfriend, Julian both came out to the show which was great. I grew up next door to Laura and her family, she is a very good friend who I have known literally, my whole life and it was great to see her and meet Julian, truly, a great guy. We had a drink downstairs at the 930 club and then went upstairs for the show. The 930 club is pretty awesome. Not only do they have 3 balconies, a basement bar, and a nice main room. They also have a mobile stage!
******************************************GEEK SPEAK******************************
The entire stage is on wheels and can be moved forwards or backwards depending on the size of the audience pre-sale. But wait, you say, how does that work for the lighting and the sound if you move the stage? Excellent question. Half the P.A. is stacked on the stage and the other half is hanging, with the lights, from a large box of truss work. This truss hangs from rails and is on what we call creepers so they can, with motors, move that roof with the stage forwards or backwards. It is amazing!!! While I am in geek mode I am also going to say that I am no longer a big fan of the Yamaha PM5D as a digital console. It sounds too digital and the Midas boards just blow it away.
***********************************END GEEK SPEAK********************************
The show in D.C. was good with a lot of banter from Matt in between songs since his sister was at the show. The crowd was small but that is typical of Sunday night shows. Laura and Julian stayed after the show for a bit to hang out and then the band retired to the bus to visit with each other.
For most of the people who have come to the shows to see me there has been a moment where they ask what the band is like. This moment always falls after the initial excitement of seeing each other and giving them a tour of what this life is like and involves a slightly panicked look that says wait a second, I should have asked this earlier...what have I gotten myself into? It has really happened with everyone from people younger than me, to people, well, not younger than me. I always try to ease their images of mohawk driven speed metal by explaining that there are 7 people almost half of whom are girls and that we have guitars and drums but also a viola and trombone. This usually sets people at ease but there is still a look of, a viola???? a trombone???? What did I get myself into? The band, I feel, does put on a great show and I have felt that everyone who has come to the shows has genuinely enjoyed themselves which is a huge part of what makes this such an enjoyable experience for me. I wanted an opportunity to be around people who were really enjoying themselves each night both on stage and in the crowd. Just being in that environment everyday is a great experience and to be someone who helps facilitate it is even better. There is a lot to do each day and not all parts of it are fun but to get to be around that positive environment each night for four hours is pretty great.
Today has been fairly uneventful, we got to Oxford, North Carolina around 2 this afternoon, got some food, Matt, Jon and I cleaned the bus and cleaned out the fridge, then Matt, Kyle, Patrick and I played Frisbee golf which involved a hole in one by Matt, Kyle, and Patrick. We played teams and Patrick and I lost but it was a great way to spend 2 hours of this evening. Now my longest blog yet is coming to a close and I do not want to go this long again without updating this. Tomorrow we are in Winston Salem, into the south we go, wish me luck!
Thank you again to everyone who has been coming out to the shows it is so wonderful to have you all there and it means the world to me.
During the change over between Copeland and the Rentals the monitor engineer left the stage open. I'll backup a little here and explain. Monitors are the speakers on stage that point at the band so they can hear themselves. They are also much closer to the microphones than the house speakers so they are far more prone to feedback. During a changeover, one should always mute all of the mics on stage because people are moving mics back to where they were placed during sound check. This was not done and while Shon and I were on our knees one foot from a speaker re-arranging things on the stage a mic fed back into the monitor we were kneeling in front of. It was the loudest thing I have ever heard and made both of us deaf for about 20 seconds. After that we were walking around and had some hearing loss. I made a comment at the monitor guy and walked out. We did the show and it was pretty odd because over a certain volume things just kind of shut off in my head. I wore earplugs for the entire show and while I slept. After the show I went up to the monitor guy and yelled at him for a little while at which point he claimed that we had caused the feedback so that was annoying. The next day Shon and I made appointments with an Audiologist in Baltimore to get checked out. She said that we were both fine and after about 45 minutes of hearing tests she said that our hearing was exactly where it should be. It was great to have that assurance and also the record of the tests in case we need to take legal action. So that was a pretty crazy 2 days.
Club Sonar in Baltimore was an interesting venue, they have a brand new system that was bought partially to my specifications. I made sure to wear my earplugs again for the whole show and my hearing was back to normal by Wednesday night. Kyle and I took a walk around Baltimore for a bit. During said walk, we decided to make a bet. Kyle is going to go vegetarian for the rest of the tour. For every week he goes vegetarian, I owe him $5 and every week he "accidentally" eats meat, he owes me $5. We went down to the waterfront, he got some clothes and I took a tour of a WWII submarine. I also saw a holocaust memorial in my adventures. The show went well but since they had only gotten their new sound system the night before they were tuning the system which includes playing music really, really loud. So loud in fact, that we could hear it through out the walls of the club the walls of the tour bus and in our bunks so it was a little hard to fall asleep.
Thursday was the longest of the long days and, one of the biggest stops on the tour. Our day started off with an in studio performance at AOL studios. AOL does streaming video performances so we did four songs, an interview and a photo shoot. The load in started at 7:30 a.m. so it was a short night sleeping and then after the performance was done, Kyle drove me with the gear over to the Nokia Theater in Times Square around noon. That 10 block drive took us 45 minutes. Once I got there, I met with the NY stagehands union which is like working with disagreeable pre-schoolers. First, they don't listen to you, so you say, here's how we do this and they say, well....we're not gonna do it that way, we're gonna do it this way. Second, they are so strict about their break times that literally as soon as were were ready to do sound check, the monitor guy went on lunch and was replaced by someone who didn't know what was going on so then I spent 45 minutes explaining to him how things were set up some of which he insisted on changing because it wasn't how he thought it should be done and by then, the other guy was back and he had to be filled in. Thirdly, they make you take a break from the board for one hour before they open the doors so I couldn't do anything at the last minute to prepare for the show. I am convinced that the airline industry, cell phone providers, insurance companies, and large sections of the US government are all run by the NY stagehands union. After sound check the band asked me to meet with them and address any issues I had been noticing and we talked about them which was really cool. It's nice to work with a group that allows me to interact with them so much because not all bands are that way. We had 1800 people at the show and among them were my friends Ben, Nadia, Emily, and Sam. The show went well and a friend of the band, Paul was there to help me out with sound. Paul has done front of house and recording with Tracy Chapman, Los Lobos, numerous string quartets and other groups. He is a fantastic engineer and it was great to have his ears there as well. It was great to have that many people at a show and great to see my friends. Ben, Nadia, Sam and I went out for a while and the Ben, Sam and I got a bite to eat and met up with the band at a hotel where they charge you $9 for a beer and $18 for a Jack and Coke. Needless to say I didn't get anything to drink and then the band shared a cab back to New Jersey to the tour bus. We got there at 4:30 a.m. making it a 21 hour day. It was great to see all of my friends in New York, thank you all for coming out. It was great to see you, and thank you so much for your support.
Friday we were in Cambridge Massachusetts. We went from 50 foot ceilings and a ballroom to 10 foot ceilings in a basement. My Aunt Janet, Uncle Peter, cousin Tyler and Tyler's friend Hope all came out to the show so I got to have some dinner with them and then they stayed for the entire show even though we started a hour later than we had been. The show was the best of the tour we all thought. The energy at the show was great since the band did not play in Boston last year and it was great to have all of those people compacted into a small space, it made the show feel much more intimate. The crew there was great, everyone was really friendly and extremely helpful, it made the night go really well and Matt's voice was back in full swing for the first time on this tour. The Wardwells seemed to have a really good time and it was fantastic to have them out. I missed the Petersons but I know you were all there in spirit.
Saturday we were in Philadelphia where is was unbearably hot. It was in the 90s with around 85% humidity. The venue was really cool, three stories tall with 2 balconies. The system was not all that powerful but the band was sounding great at sound check. I had a Philly cheese steak and then took a walk down to Independence hall and the Liberty Bell. The entire sidewalk in front of Independence hall is blocked off by Rangers but I got some cool pictures and it was a great building to see. I mean, to think, right there is where Nicolas Cage found one of the final clues in the movie National Treasure was amazing...oh and the Declaration of Independence is pretty cool too. I have a whole new level of respect for the founding fathers after spending a day in Philly with weather like we had. If it had been me, I would have ripped off my powdered wig and split after the first draft. Anyway, the walk was nice and then we had another great show. The Rentals also skipped Philly on their tour last summer and we had the same kind of energy that we did in Boston. At times I felt like the system wasn't going to be loud enough for all of the people but that made the show even better for me knowing that we were pushing that hard to give these fans a great show. After the show I got another cheese steak and realized my iPod was still on the soundboard. Many of you know I have a bad habit of losing iPods so I was very relieved to learn that the venue is FedEx-ing it to me tomorrow.
Yesterday was D.C. and I got to have dinner at Ben's Chili Bowl which is a Washington D.C. institution. I highly recommend it the next time you are in D.C. My time with Sarah was short but sweet due to a fire in one of the Metro tunnels. We also saw a wrecked Police car on our walk. Not something you see everyday. My friend Laura Langmore and her boyfriend, Julian both came out to the show which was great. I grew up next door to Laura and her family, she is a very good friend who I have known literally, my whole life and it was great to see her and meet Julian, truly, a great guy. We had a drink downstairs at the 930 club and then went upstairs for the show. The 930 club is pretty awesome. Not only do they have 3 balconies, a basement bar, and a nice main room. They also have a mobile stage!
******************************************GEEK SPEAK******************************
The entire stage is on wheels and can be moved forwards or backwards depending on the size of the audience pre-sale. But wait, you say, how does that work for the lighting and the sound if you move the stage? Excellent question. Half the P.A. is stacked on the stage and the other half is hanging, with the lights, from a large box of truss work. This truss hangs from rails and is on what we call creepers so they can, with motors, move that roof with the stage forwards or backwards. It is amazing!!! While I am in geek mode I am also going to say that I am no longer a big fan of the Yamaha PM5D as a digital console. It sounds too digital and the Midas boards just blow it away.
***********************************END GEEK SPEAK********************************
The show in D.C. was good with a lot of banter from Matt in between songs since his sister was at the show. The crowd was small but that is typical of Sunday night shows. Laura and Julian stayed after the show for a bit to hang out and then the band retired to the bus to visit with each other.
For most of the people who have come to the shows to see me there has been a moment where they ask what the band is like. This moment always falls after the initial excitement of seeing each other and giving them a tour of what this life is like and involves a slightly panicked look that says wait a second, I should have asked this earlier...what have I gotten myself into? It has really happened with everyone from people younger than me, to people, well, not younger than me. I always try to ease their images of mohawk driven speed metal by explaining that there are 7 people almost half of whom are girls and that we have guitars and drums but also a viola and trombone. This usually sets people at ease but there is still a look of, a viola???? a trombone???? What did I get myself into? The band, I feel, does put on a great show and I have felt that everyone who has come to the shows has genuinely enjoyed themselves which is a huge part of what makes this such an enjoyable experience for me. I wanted an opportunity to be around people who were really enjoying themselves each night both on stage and in the crowd. Just being in that environment everyday is a great experience and to be someone who helps facilitate it is even better. There is a lot to do each day and not all parts of it are fun but to get to be around that positive environment each night for four hours is pretty great.
Today has been fairly uneventful, we got to Oxford, North Carolina around 2 this afternoon, got some food, Matt, Jon and I cleaned the bus and cleaned out the fridge, then Matt, Kyle, Patrick and I played Frisbee golf which involved a hole in one by Matt, Kyle, and Patrick. We played teams and Patrick and I lost but it was a great way to spend 2 hours of this evening. Now my longest blog yet is coming to a close and I do not want to go this long again without updating this. Tomorrow we are in Winston Salem, into the south we go, wish me luck!
Thank you again to everyone who has been coming out to the shows it is so wonderful to have you all there and it means the world to me.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Big ballrooms
Our Detroit show went well but it was really, really loud. The room used to be a concert hall and was built before any kind of amplification so the acoustics were made for un-amplified sound. Add us into that equation and you get really loud loudness that sounds like an arena. There was almost a second delay from sound coming off the stage, bouncing off the back wall, bouncing off the front wall and then hitting people again. We also had our first digital board of the tour, there are little motors on everything so stuff moves by itself, I like it a lot and it looks really cool but some people just look at it and say "oh, neat". *sigh* I guess there should have been a nerd alert before that but oh well.
We had a very smooth, very quick sound check Columbus. The venue used to be a movie theater and we had a good turnout. The dressing rooms were upstairs, up a iron spiral staircase....so that was neat. Urban Outfitters was having a sale so a bunch of us got some jeans, I also got a shirt with a little bird smoking a cigarette on the front, wearing a hat and Lauren got a multi-colored sparkly beret that she loves but Matt thinks it is ridiculous. I'm really digging for stuff here. We had a day off in Wheeling West Virginia yesterday. We had thunderstorms for most of the day and sat inside watching movies and doing website work, answering emails etc.
We just pulled up in front of the venue in Pittsburgh which used to be a church. They have a hostel for bands to stay in that holds 8 people in 5 rooms that used to belong to the nuns and monks of the church. I can't wait to see the inside.
We had a very smooth, very quick sound check Columbus. The venue used to be a movie theater and we had a good turnout. The dressing rooms were upstairs, up a iron spiral staircase....so that was neat. Urban Outfitters was having a sale so a bunch of us got some jeans, I also got a shirt with a little bird smoking a cigarette on the front, wearing a hat and Lauren got a multi-colored sparkly beret that she loves but Matt thinks it is ridiculous. I'm really digging for stuff here. We had a day off in Wheeling West Virginia yesterday. We had thunderstorms for most of the day and sat inside watching movies and doing website work, answering emails etc.
We just pulled up in front of the venue in Pittsburgh which used to be a church. They have a hostel for bands to stay in that holds 8 people in 5 rooms that used to belong to the nuns and monks of the church. I can't wait to see the inside.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Oh me Oh my Ohio
I had no idea that Cleveland was such a cool city. I got to walk around for a while right after sound check and I really liked the feel of the city. The football and baseball stadiums are right downtown. The waterfront was nice and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is right on the water as well. There was all kinds of art all over the city. Lots of sculptures and a lot of decorated guitars in honor of the Hall of Fame. There is a gigantic "FREE" stamp sculpture right across the street from, ironically, the Department of Justice Building. The show was great, the House of Blues venue was really nice and it sounded great. The Rentals made up a song about me on stage. Matt told people to turn around and wave to me and then he explained how many of us on the tour are growing facial hair and he commented on how mine was not quite all in yet and then broke into a song which pretty much involved my name and "don't want to mess with". It was a great show and the first one of this tour where the band looked like they were really just having a great time on stage.
Yesterday our show in Kentucky (right across the river from Cincinnati) got cancelled due to "technical difficulties" so we had the day off. A group of us went to see the Simpson's movie which was a let down and then we went to a boat show and sat in a hotel room for a couple hours recording station IDs. Station IDs are when you are listening to the radio and you hear, "Hi, this is The Rentals and you're listening to KITS" or whatever so I recorded 120 of those yesterday with the band and then went out. We went to a house that was built by the inventor of the Tommy Gun in Kentucky 2 blocks from the Ohio River. The owner put a ballroom in the back of his house for ballroom dancing and it is now a venue. It's funny to walk into a house, go down the front hall, and step into a concert venue. In the front living room there is a bar and Greensky Bluegrass was performing last night. They are a 4 piece bluegrass band, banjo, mandolin, guitar, upright bass and one mic that they all sing into. It was amazing, we were in this historic house with pictures of Southern gentlemen on the walls such as Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, and Abe Lincoln, listening to bluegrass. As Dan the drummer said, "This is scratching me right where I itch." It was such a great contrast coming from 33 inputs on a soundboard and recording radio IDs which feels incredibly corporate to me, to go to 4 guys with one mic hanging out in the living room of a house playing music. We stayed there until close and then hung out with the guys for a bit.
Today we are in a giant ballroom in Detroit and all we need is some people. I'm off to dinner, take care party people.
Yesterday our show in Kentucky (right across the river from Cincinnati) got cancelled due to "technical difficulties" so we had the day off. A group of us went to see the Simpson's movie which was a let down and then we went to a boat show and sat in a hotel room for a couple hours recording station IDs. Station IDs are when you are listening to the radio and you hear, "Hi, this is The Rentals and you're listening to KITS" or whatever so I recorded 120 of those yesterday with the band and then went out. We went to a house that was built by the inventor of the Tommy Gun in Kentucky 2 blocks from the Ohio River. The owner put a ballroom in the back of his house for ballroom dancing and it is now a venue. It's funny to walk into a house, go down the front hall, and step into a concert venue. In the front living room there is a bar and Greensky Bluegrass was performing last night. They are a 4 piece bluegrass band, banjo, mandolin, guitar, upright bass and one mic that they all sing into. It was amazing, we were in this historic house with pictures of Southern gentlemen on the walls such as Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, and Abe Lincoln, listening to bluegrass. As Dan the drummer said, "This is scratching me right where I itch." It was such a great contrast coming from 33 inputs on a soundboard and recording radio IDs which feels incredibly corporate to me, to go to 4 guys with one mic hanging out in the living room of a house playing music. We stayed there until close and then hung out with the guys for a bit.
Today we are in a giant ballroom in Detroit and all we need is some people. I'm off to dinner, take care party people.
Shampoo
So as I was saying the other night, Shampoo is an amazing thing. Not all of them mind you, but the tiny travel sized companions you take with you on vacation purchased from drug stores for 99 cents or, in my case, have saved up from the last 5 years of stocking stuffers. Mom, my hair is clean thanks to you. But even all of this isn't what I want to say about Shampoo. Have you seen the Seinfeld episode where Kramer is driving around New York? Kramer doesn't usually drive and the gas light comes on so he starts to look for a gas station but can't find one. Eventually, he decides he is going to see how far he can drive before the car runs out of gas and a few scenes later he is cheering the car on as it seems it will never run out of gas. Now here I am on tour with an ample supply of 99 cent mini shampoo bottles that seem to be bottomless (two weeks on the same bottle). I consider myself a liberal shampoo user and yet, each day when I expect my little Pert Plus bottle to run out, it continues to yield it's green liquid. Pantene, your day will come. I'm not sure when, I think sometime soon, but then again.....
Friday, August 17, 2007
More Midwest Madness
Minneapolis was really cool at the radio station and then we played at First Avenue. The crew there was really good at what they do but they were none to plussed by the fact that I wasn't there until 1 and a half hours after load in started because of the radio gig so there was a little smoothing over to be done. We had a descent show. The energy from the band was nothing to write home about and the sound was alright. We got some food after the show and it was a fairly uneventful night.
The next day, Monday, we had a studio performance at Daytrotter Studios in Rock Island, Illinois. It was a very different experience from the Public Radio performance. The Public Radio performance was a very polished experience and we went direct for most of the instruments which means that we used as many acoustic instruments as possible and no amps. At Daytrotter we used all amps and did a full setup in the equivalent of a garage studio and we were told that bands often get scared when they come in and see the size of the room but things usually work out. Our set ended up turning out really well as he said it would, and then we hung out around Rock Island. We had dinner, and Kyle and I advanced a number of shows for the tour. I ate at my first Bennigans which is only relevant because of the reference to the Butters themed episode of South Park. We ended up eating there twice and I don't need to eat there again soon.
Tuesday we had a show in Chicago. I was sharing a hotel room with our merchandise guy, Patrick and my alarm for the 6:30 a.m. bus call did not go off and his alarm was set for p.m., not a.m. so we got a call at 6:25 a.m. and ran down to the bus. To our credit, we were there by 6:31 a.m. but I couldn't fall back asleep for an hour and a half because of the adrenaline. When we got to The Metro in Chicago we had a good sound check and then I ran around Chicago taking pictures of Chicago and Wrigley Field for an hour while Copeland sound checked. My friend Jason Frank show up for the show and hung out for a pretty decent show. Our Viola player, Lauren had her parents there and they had an after-party for us.
****************************GEEK SPEAK**************************************
The Metro had a Midas Heritage 2000 and a new EV system. It sounded really good and the Midas EQ was so much better than a Allen and Heath or Soundcraft board.
****************************END GEEK SPEAK*********************************
After the show I grabbed a drink with Jason and my friend Annie Gloyn who I have not seen in almost 6 years. It was great to get to spend some time with them and it is always great to have relationships drop right back into a comfort zone even after having not seen each other for so long. After Annie and her boyfriend took off, Jason and I went to the after party. Lauren's parent's house was amazing, her dad is an architect and they had some originals Dali etchings, a Miro, and a Renoir. They were pretty amazing to see and her parents were so welcoming towards all of us.
Last night, we were in Sauget, IL. Sauget is 3 miles from St. Louis right across the Mississippi. We played at a venue called Pop's which is open 24 hours a day 364 1/2 days a year. They close for half a day on Christmas Eve. If you have seen the Blues Brothers, think the stage in the bar in that movie, but without the chicken wire. It was full of a lot of truckers and factory workers when we got there around noon and there were warnings on the news for people to stay inside because it was 108 outside. When I asked the house techs what the industry was around there they said; paint, fertilizer, and pretty much anything that causes a lot of pollution. Awesome. We actually had a good turn out to the show but then again, there wasn't a lot to do around there either. It reminds me of some advice I heard years ago from someone in the record industry, "If you want to be successful, go somewhere where you are the only thing in town and get everyone behind you". To any aspiring bands out there, if you can deal with bars, strip clubs, and pollutants, Sauget is the place for you.
***********************************GEEK SPEAK*******************************
I was compressing the vocals as groups of backup and lead vocals and I recently changed to female and male vocals which works much better.
**********************************END GEEK SPEAK****************************
I am going to hit the sack since it is 4 in the morning but I have one thing to talk about in regards to tonight when I post tomorrow.... Shampoo.
The next day, Monday, we had a studio performance at Daytrotter Studios in Rock Island, Illinois. It was a very different experience from the Public Radio performance. The Public Radio performance was a very polished experience and we went direct for most of the instruments which means that we used as many acoustic instruments as possible and no amps. At Daytrotter we used all amps and did a full setup in the equivalent of a garage studio and we were told that bands often get scared when they come in and see the size of the room but things usually work out. Our set ended up turning out really well as he said it would, and then we hung out around Rock Island. We had dinner, and Kyle and I advanced a number of shows for the tour. I ate at my first Bennigans which is only relevant because of the reference to the Butters themed episode of South Park. We ended up eating there twice and I don't need to eat there again soon.
Tuesday we had a show in Chicago. I was sharing a hotel room with our merchandise guy, Patrick and my alarm for the 6:30 a.m. bus call did not go off and his alarm was set for p.m., not a.m. so we got a call at 6:25 a.m. and ran down to the bus. To our credit, we were there by 6:31 a.m. but I couldn't fall back asleep for an hour and a half because of the adrenaline. When we got to The Metro in Chicago we had a good sound check and then I ran around Chicago taking pictures of Chicago and Wrigley Field for an hour while Copeland sound checked. My friend Jason Frank show up for the show and hung out for a pretty decent show. Our Viola player, Lauren had her parents there and they had an after-party for us.
****************************GEEK SPEAK**************************************
The Metro had a Midas Heritage 2000 and a new EV system. It sounded really good and the Midas EQ was so much better than a Allen and Heath or Soundcraft board.
****************************END GEEK SPEAK*********************************
After the show I grabbed a drink with Jason and my friend Annie Gloyn who I have not seen in almost 6 years. It was great to get to spend some time with them and it is always great to have relationships drop right back into a comfort zone even after having not seen each other for so long. After Annie and her boyfriend took off, Jason and I went to the after party. Lauren's parent's house was amazing, her dad is an architect and they had some originals Dali etchings, a Miro, and a Renoir. They were pretty amazing to see and her parents were so welcoming towards all of us.
Last night, we were in Sauget, IL. Sauget is 3 miles from St. Louis right across the Mississippi. We played at a venue called Pop's which is open 24 hours a day 364 1/2 days a year. They close for half a day on Christmas Eve. If you have seen the Blues Brothers, think the stage in the bar in that movie, but without the chicken wire. It was full of a lot of truckers and factory workers when we got there around noon and there were warnings on the news for people to stay inside because it was 108 outside. When I asked the house techs what the industry was around there they said; paint, fertilizer, and pretty much anything that causes a lot of pollution. Awesome. We actually had a good turn out to the show but then again, there wasn't a lot to do around there either. It reminds me of some advice I heard years ago from someone in the record industry, "If you want to be successful, go somewhere where you are the only thing in town and get everyone behind you". To any aspiring bands out there, if you can deal with bars, strip clubs, and pollutants, Sauget is the place for you.
***********************************GEEK SPEAK*******************************
I was compressing the vocals as groups of backup and lead vocals and I recently changed to female and male vocals which works much better.
**********************************END GEEK SPEAK****************************
I am going to hit the sack since it is 4 in the morning but I have one thing to talk about in regards to tonight when I post tomorrow.... Shampoo.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Hot and Sticky
That sums up the mid west venues we have played so far. Almost 100 in Omaha yesterday and close to 90 today. Omaha was an awesome show. By far my best yet, everything just fell into place and the show was really easy to mix. The band played a really good show as well and the crowd was into it but they were really loud in between songs. The venue was great, we were only the 8th band to play there and they have free on-site laundry and a great shower! That was amazing. It felt like home. Go upstairs, do a load of laundry, go downstairs, check some email and set up, go upstairs to check laundry, realize you have 4 new pairs of pink socks because your maroon sheet died them even though it's been washed numerous times, curse the sheets, sound check. Just another day. The lighting was also amazing there.
Apparently the city was very eager to develop that area so they threw a few million dollars at the club to build it. The downside is that there used to be a lead smelting plant nearby so you can't have a residence below the 3rd floor and you cannot have any green space (no lawns). Union Pacific Railways apparently released the land to the city under the condition that they could not be held liable for any health problems that occur. So there's that. I wouldn't want to work there but it was great for a night.
Now we are in the Twin Cities. There was a radio interview on Minnesota Public Radio this morning. This is the same studio that Garrison Keillor does his show for those in the NPR know. It's a pretty big deal, a BEAUTIFUL studio, and the board is only one year old and costs over $1.4 million. So cool. After that we were whisked by taxi from St. Paul to Minneapolis for sound check and that went well so we'll see how the show goes. I'm off to explore.
Apparently the city was very eager to develop that area so they threw a few million dollars at the club to build it. The downside is that there used to be a lead smelting plant nearby so you can't have a residence below the 3rd floor and you cannot have any green space (no lawns). Union Pacific Railways apparently released the land to the city under the condition that they could not be held liable for any health problems that occur. So there's that. I wouldn't want to work there but it was great for a night.
Now we are in the Twin Cities. There was a radio interview on Minnesota Public Radio this morning. This is the same studio that Garrison Keillor does his show for those in the NPR know. It's a pretty big deal, a BEAUTIFUL studio, and the board is only one year old and costs over $1.4 million. So cool. After that we were whisked by taxi from St. Paul to Minneapolis for sound check and that went well so we'll see how the show goes. I'm off to explore.
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