Hey everyone! Just thought we’d share with you the nightmare that has been the past 48 hours for us . . . It’s a pretty good story and we’re looking to get some mileage out of it. In my honest opinion, it reads something like an overwrought black comedy about the throes and consequences of journeying in blizzards with terrible luck as a near constant companion. We felt sort of postmodern, talking about how this “tour” felt like someone writing a really bad movie script, trying to think of more ways to screw up everything for the protagonists. At some point, though, the line was crossed and the script became a bit tasteless, and thus stale in its repetition and uninspired plot devices. Anyway, enough metaphysical meandering: on with the story (be mindful it was freezing cold during this whole ordeal, just to add to the general discomfort).
So, we leave for Cleveland last Friday, feeling good and looking forward to seeing the east coast. Even better, we’d just made sure our van was in top condition, paying $1400 for a thorough tune-up. As per ourselves, we’d forgotten our merch display in Madison, but John Paul from We the Living was nice enough to take care of that for us and had it waiting for us at his place mid-way through Wisconsin. Our first stop, then, was to pick up our merch display. After driving for about 2 hours and nearing JP’s house, our speedometer started freaking out. It was kind of like when folks talk about seeing a UFO and instruments start going crazy because of mysterious electromagnetic forces . . . so we got our hopes up thinking maybe we’d meet some aliens. Of course, that was irrational, and not the explanation, considering the speedometer didn’t settle back down. After about five minutes, we decided it couldn’t be aliens because we couldn’t possibly be that interesting to any extraterrestrial beings. Then, out of nowhere, it righted itself for a while. It was then that we noticed a strange sort of burning smell, so we decided to call a mechanic friend. He told us that when you have a new tail pipe installed a strange smell often accompanies, and thought maybe it was a computer error causing the problems with the speedometer. The explanation was simple enough and accounted for our van’s issues, so we figured he was right and decided to just get as far east as possible and get the van looked at in the morning.
After following some botched Mapquest directions we finally found JP’s place, got our merch display, and got back on the road. At this point we were close to Madison, Dan was pretty tired from driving, and it was getting late (not to mention the overdrive in our transmission turned off and the check engine light was on), so we pulled over and checked into a Super 8 (our hotel chain of choice . . . it’s cheap and has free wi-fi). Dan and I took “find a repair shop and get the damn van fixed” duty, as Mark was planning on driving the next day (Mike I have no excuse for, but it’s not like you need three people to find a repair shop). After trying to sleep for four hours, Dan and I got out of bed, sleepless, and, in the freezing cold (something weird with our heater), got dressed and went to the front lobby. We learned Evel Knievel died, ate a breakfast of toasted wonder bread and English muffins, and started calling repair shops. There was one about 200 yards away at a gas station, and since we couldn’t get them on the phone, we walked over to see when they opened. It was bitter cold (like 10 degrees maybe, with a wicked wind chill), and it was a brutal walk. After learning we were 20 minutes early (the shop opened at 7), we resigned ourselves to passing some time in the lobby, eating more free “breakfast,” and watching Sports Center. At 7, we went to the repair shop, only to learn that the shop is by appointment on Saturdays, and the mechanic had no appointments, so he wouldn’t be coming. Disappointed, we went back and confirmed an appointment at another shop, but it was a few miles away. Since we couldn’t leave the van there and walk back to the hotel, we had to get everyone going early (like 7:45) and get over to the other shop.
Once there, they told us that they weren’t sure when they’d be able to look at it, but it would be $87 an hour. This was also disappointing. It hadn’t gotten warmer, despite the recent appearance of the sun, and though we were hungry, we couldn’t bear walking a couple miles in the cold for the marginal reward of a BK breakfast (though this may be debatable). Thus, we read to pass the time, and after a reasonable wait, they got to checking our van. To sum it up, the first words out of the mechanics mouth were “Bad news, guys.” Fantastic. Apparently, when the last shop put the new tail pipe on, he didn’t quite connect the pipe to the exhaust or something, and it overheated the back half underneath the van and incinerated the speedometer sensor and a transmission sensor. It had started to snow, and there were reports of a huge storm blowing our way from the west, and with a van in need of repair, we figured we should make a decision quickly. It would be two days before this particular shop could fix us up, and expensive, so the mechanic told us it would be best to get home as quickly as possible. The snow was coming down pretty quickly by this point, but the van still worked, and we decided to go for it.
After a BK breakfast (I suppose it had to happen), we got going. However, the storm created an evil Lord of the Rings style mist around us, and we couldn’t really see more than maybe 30 feet in each direction. It was like driving through the mountain pass in the Misty Mountains, and we kept expecting an Abominable Snowman or a Yeti to come screaming out of the haze to kill us. Or a semi-truck. Needless to say, it was a somewhat terrifying experience, driving through that blizzard, and I’m amazed Mark wasn’t more fazed than he was. A hundred miles later, the transmission decided it had had enough, and that’s not the sort of thing you want to push too hard, because it is spiteful creature. The jolts were unnerving, and the exit could not have come any sooner. We got down the exit ramp, got the van far enough to coast it into a gas station, and as soon as we pulled in, the van died. This was the best luck we’d had all day. After waiting on the phone with AAA forever, they told us a tow truck was on its way to take us back to the Twin Cities. This was exciting.
Ten minutes later, AAA called back to inform us that 17 cars crashed into each other and all tow trucks would be busy “cleaning that up.” This was depressing on many levels. We found a guy to take us back the next day (Sunday), so after hanging out in the van and the gas station for a couple of hours trying to figure out what to do, we learned there was an old motel within walking distance, and the guy who was towing us was going to stop by and get our van to the motel. This might be the best thing that happened the whole trip (not having to freeze to death, that is), if that puts things perspective.
The hotel was reminiscent of the Bate’s motel, Psycho-style, and the sign out front actually read “closed” (we have footage of this, it will be in a vlog). We were scared for our lives. At any point we were ready for an axe-murdering psychopath to burst into the room and end all this, but luckily it didn’t happen. Instead, we visited the bar and found happiness for a little while (though this came at the price of trudging through snow, and a hangover for some today). We had to be up fairly early today (Sunday) to make sure we caught the tow-truck driver’s call, and because Dan’s very generous friends Jeremy and Stacey were coming to haul our trailer back home (tow truck companies don’t really take vans and trailers . . . we would have needed two and we can’t afford that). I woke up early, the others slept, so I passed the time at the bar watching Final Destination 2 (not recommended). Around 1 or so everyone showed up and we got on the road. We assumed we’d be home in a couple hours, which was exciting, and it seemed that our misadventure would soon be over. Not so.
Our tow truck driver had to stop at a weigh station, and since he was following us, we didn’t catch this and pulled up to the next exit to wait. A few minutes later we get a call, from a police officer, saying our tow truck driver had some legal issues that would take 45 minutes to resolve. We found this mildly annoying, but all things considered (and what we’d already been through), we figured we could put up with it. We explored a Wal-Mart to pass the time.
Thirty minutes later we get a call saying that our tow truck driver isn’t legally allowed to take us into Minnesota, his license is temporarily suspended (for ten hours . . . go figure), and that we should come back to the weigh station. Awesome. And ridiculous. We head back, learn that we have to find a company “legally” allowed to take us home. This proves difficult. And takes a long time. After a few hours, we find one, but it has to come from Minneapolis, and will cost us $380 or so (this is on top of the $500 we paid the first guy . . . this will all be rectified in our favor, or so we hope). At this point, we just want to go home, so we bite the bullet and get on our way.
Anyway, we’re hoping to get our truck fixed early tomorrow and get back on the road (we’ve already missed something like three shows, all of which we were looking forward to, and want to miss as few as possible in the coming week). Wish us luck, and hopefully we’ll be back out rocking soon. What’s kind of ridiculous is that we ostensibly drove to Madison to sleep in a hotel, and then got towed home, and it cost us a lot of money. And we still haven’t played a show. Thanks for reading this novel of a blog!
- Joe
Monday, December 3, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
No Fly Zone (Tour Journal #1)
Hey everybody,
Here's a little tour update for all two of you who might stumble upon this little blog site:
We left home last Wednesday, the 24th, at some ungodly hour (11 am) and got truckin' to Lincoln, Nebraska. The drive was fairly uneventful -- Dan was a trooper and took the whole 7/8 hours head on (even through the boringness of rural middle America). The rest of us read books ("Glamorama" for Mark, "Confederacy of Dunces" for Mike, and "American Psycho" for me), which is something of anomaly for us (we usually watch movies, VHS-style). Suffice to say, with that much drive time, we've scorched through a few books each (we're sort of on a Bret Easton Ellis binge, with the two aforementioned titles being passed around in addition to "Rules of Attraction." Unfortunately, John Kennedy Toole only wrote two books, and we're without the other title).
We played Box Awesome in Lincoln, made a few new friends, and got to stay for free w/ the Schwandt boys' great uncle Alton, who was more than hospitable. Nothing like a delicious hot breakfast to get the day started.
From there, we headed to Kearney, NE, and passed the day with some beers, busking, and promotion. It was our day off and we had two days in Kearney, so we checked into a hotel for mighty cheap. We hit some fun bars, met more fun people, etc. Little did we know what was in store . . .
We played Copperfield's Friday night in Kearney, and realized when we got there that the promoter had put us on a local, Heavy Metal Battle of the Bands bill. We'll let you fill in the blanks . . . suffice it to say not many were interested. Our favorite part of our Kearney stop was getting our oil changed and watching an edited version of "Training Day" late on USA. Yeah.
Next, we headed to Colorado for our gig Sunday at the Larimer Lounge. We spent Saturday night in Loveland, CO w/ Dan's 2nd cousin and had a beautiful mountain view, plenty of ice cold keg beer, and even a jacuzzi to relax in. Fantastic! Relaxation, cool mountain air . . . not much is better. We watched "Almost Famous" and were inspired. Colorado is awesome.
Sunday we actually showed up in Denver, and walked around looking for our record in stores, passing out fliers, and catching "Rocktober Fever." Unfortunately for us, everyone in Denver was concerned with the World Series elimination game for their hometown Rockies, so no one was much interested in music. Even so, we made a few new friends and really enjoyed ourselves. Denver is a pretty awesome city.
That night we shot down to Colorado Springs to stay with Mike's friend Zach, an Olympic weightlifter, and stayed at his place for the next couple of nights (we love all of you for helping us save money on hotels . . . fantastic). We were treated to a tour of the Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, some fantastic lasagna, and an awesome ghost expedition up into the mountains. Apparently, back in the 50's or 60's a bus load of kids was crushed when a cave collapsed on their bus in the middle of a mountain pass. These days, they say if you go in to a cave in the dark, turn off your headlights and car, and put it in neutral, the kids help your car through the cave to safety (they don't tell you that the cave is on an incline . . . but bear with me here . . .). We tried one cave to no avail, but decided, What the hell, let's do the other one, too. After all, we did have a cat (Sushi) with us to detect paranormal activity (she never seemed too worried).
In the second cave, we stopped, went through the procedure, and started rolling (incline), and didn't see any ghosts. We were quite disappointed. Then, both mysteriously and ominously, we heard what sounded like a small child sobbing, over and over, for about 30 seconds. All of us heard the same sound, at the same time, and it was creepy. Can't say we're all convinced of the existence of ghosts, but it was an awesome paranormal experience.
Next day we drove through western Kansas to Lawrence. It was windy, the view never changed, (insert more cliche middle America driving irritations), and it was definitely not exciting. There were a few pretty bluffs after the first six hours, and some pretty cool clouds, but that's once we got into the eastern half.
Once we got to Lawrence we unloaded, etc. and played a fun show at the Replay Lounge. It definitely wasn't packed, but we had a great reception and look forward to our return to Lawrence. It was a cool little town and we hope to see more of it on our next visit (not to mention stay in the haunted hotel . . . yeah we're kinda weird . . .). We're in Tulsa for Halloween, which is where I'm writing from now, and tonight seems like it'll be a fun time. Next up is Eau Claire on Friday with our buddies in So It Goes, so it's bound to be a wild and crazy time. Rock music!
- Joe
Here's a little tour update for all two of you who might stumble upon this little blog site:
We left home last Wednesday, the 24th, at some ungodly hour (11 am) and got truckin' to Lincoln, Nebraska. The drive was fairly uneventful -- Dan was a trooper and took the whole 7/8 hours head on (even through the boringness of rural middle America). The rest of us read books ("Glamorama" for Mark, "Confederacy of Dunces" for Mike, and "American Psycho" for me), which is something of anomaly for us (we usually watch movies, VHS-style). Suffice to say, with that much drive time, we've scorched through a few books each (we're sort of on a Bret Easton Ellis binge, with the two aforementioned titles being passed around in addition to "Rules of Attraction." Unfortunately, John Kennedy Toole only wrote two books, and we're without the other title).
We played Box Awesome in Lincoln, made a few new friends, and got to stay for free w/ the Schwandt boys' great uncle Alton, who was more than hospitable. Nothing like a delicious hot breakfast to get the day started.
From there, we headed to Kearney, NE, and passed the day with some beers, busking, and promotion. It was our day off and we had two days in Kearney, so we checked into a hotel for mighty cheap. We hit some fun bars, met more fun people, etc. Little did we know what was in store . . .
We played Copperfield's Friday night in Kearney, and realized when we got there that the promoter had put us on a local, Heavy Metal Battle of the Bands bill. We'll let you fill in the blanks . . . suffice it to say not many were interested. Our favorite part of our Kearney stop was getting our oil changed and watching an edited version of "Training Day" late on USA. Yeah.
Next, we headed to Colorado for our gig Sunday at the Larimer Lounge. We spent Saturday night in Loveland, CO w/ Dan's 2nd cousin and had a beautiful mountain view, plenty of ice cold keg beer, and even a jacuzzi to relax in. Fantastic! Relaxation, cool mountain air . . . not much is better. We watched "Almost Famous" and were inspired. Colorado is awesome.
Sunday we actually showed up in Denver, and walked around looking for our record in stores, passing out fliers, and catching "Rocktober Fever." Unfortunately for us, everyone in Denver was concerned with the World Series elimination game for their hometown Rockies, so no one was much interested in music. Even so, we made a few new friends and really enjoyed ourselves. Denver is a pretty awesome city.
That night we shot down to Colorado Springs to stay with Mike's friend Zach, an Olympic weightlifter, and stayed at his place for the next couple of nights (we love all of you for helping us save money on hotels . . . fantastic). We were treated to a tour of the Olympic Training Facility in Colorado Springs, some fantastic lasagna, and an awesome ghost expedition up into the mountains. Apparently, back in the 50's or 60's a bus load of kids was crushed when a cave collapsed on their bus in the middle of a mountain pass. These days, they say if you go in to a cave in the dark, turn off your headlights and car, and put it in neutral, the kids help your car through the cave to safety (they don't tell you that the cave is on an incline . . . but bear with me here . . .). We tried one cave to no avail, but decided, What the hell, let's do the other one, too. After all, we did have a cat (Sushi) with us to detect paranormal activity (she never seemed too worried).
In the second cave, we stopped, went through the procedure, and started rolling (incline), and didn't see any ghosts. We were quite disappointed. Then, both mysteriously and ominously, we heard what sounded like a small child sobbing, over and over, for about 30 seconds. All of us heard the same sound, at the same time, and it was creepy. Can't say we're all convinced of the existence of ghosts, but it was an awesome paranormal experience.
Next day we drove through western Kansas to Lawrence. It was windy, the view never changed, (insert more cliche middle America driving irritations), and it was definitely not exciting. There were a few pretty bluffs after the first six hours, and some pretty cool clouds, but that's once we got into the eastern half.
Once we got to Lawrence we unloaded, etc. and played a fun show at the Replay Lounge. It definitely wasn't packed, but we had a great reception and look forward to our return to Lawrence. It was a cool little town and we hope to see more of it on our next visit (not to mention stay in the haunted hotel . . . yeah we're kinda weird . . .). We're in Tulsa for Halloween, which is where I'm writing from now, and tonight seems like it'll be a fun time. Next up is Eau Claire on Friday with our buddies in So It Goes, so it's bound to be a wild and crazy time. Rock music!
- Joe
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tasty Music Video
So here's the music video I talked about on the last blog. It's a fun, crazy ass video that should not be viewed if have epilepsy. Leave us some comments about what you think!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Leaves Are A Changin'
Well holy shit! It's been quite a while since our last blog post. Not that there's been nothing going on, we just haven't taken the time to organize our thoughts into written form. In other words, laziness and procrastination come to mind. Either way, we have been continuously filling our fall schedule with dates all over the midwest and we are extremely excited to be playing cities we've never been to before. Unfortunately, at the same time it's hard to break into new markets where no one has heard of your band, but with every swing through we are seeing more and more faces. We're taking that as a great sign of what's to come. We are going to basically be in tour mode for at least the next year to really give this CD a chance, and by then, we'll also have an enormous amount of new song ideas for the next record. As of now, we are constantly writing new material, and we are all very pleased with the direction that we're going in. We are actually planning on premiering one or two new ideas in the next month so keep your eyes and ears attentive for that. In other news, we are about post an amateur video that we made for our song Atomism just for something fun to watch. Be careful though, it may induce seizures! I'll post that on here by the end of the week. For now check out our new video blog and help us out by giving us some new VHS tapes!! (You'll understand when you view the blog)
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
That's what a fool believes, Loggins!
Hello avid WLR blog readers (I count 2 of you),
I'm writing from beautiful Washington Island in Door County Wisconsin, home of the (in)famous Schwandt family cabin. We're taking this week to relax, write music, grill lots of meat, and sip the occasional beverage (that might be a tad understated). Our plan is to demo up a whole slew of new songs as we continue writing the next record in our bit of downtime here. We're exploring the musical realms we didn't really touch on Atomism and are happy with the directions we're pursuing. If all goes well, we may even have a new track to premiere at the Minnesota Music Festival.
In more timely news, we've recently hired a national booking agent who is currently putting together a tour for us. The plan is to start regionally and hit the Midwest hard for a few weeks, then branch out accordingly and spiral on to the coasts. We'll take a bit of time off for Christmas, but other than that it will be hard touring all year. That means there will be plenty of opportunity for anyone who hasn't been able to catch a show due to geographical restrictions to come see us. Also, you have no further excuses. Come rock with us, please! Oh, and now that our CD is released "nationally" (as of today . . . also, nationally is mostly regional for now, except Virgin megastores everywhere), you can tell all of your friends and family in other states to grab our record! For those in the Midwest/Minnesota/Twin Cities who've had trouble getting the record (or were just too lazy to drive downtown), it's now in every Best Buy in the region, so no more excuses! Help spread the love (and help us pay the bills).
Hopefully we'll see you all soon either at the Fine Line August 30th, Eau Claire on September 1st, Madison on 9/20, or at the Minnesota Music Fest on 9/22. We have plans to have some fun out here on the island, so if anything interesting happens, we'll have some stories for you. Just ask!
Anyhow, check out Dan's new haircut and Mark's first foray into hairstyling (vlog #5).
Much love,
Joe
I'm writing from beautiful Washington Island in Door County Wisconsin, home of the (in)famous Schwandt family cabin. We're taking this week to relax, write music, grill lots of meat, and sip the occasional beverage (that might be a tad understated). Our plan is to demo up a whole slew of new songs as we continue writing the next record in our bit of downtime here. We're exploring the musical realms we didn't really touch on Atomism and are happy with the directions we're pursuing. If all goes well, we may even have a new track to premiere at the Minnesota Music Festival.
In more timely news, we've recently hired a national booking agent who is currently putting together a tour for us. The plan is to start regionally and hit the Midwest hard for a few weeks, then branch out accordingly and spiral on to the coasts. We'll take a bit of time off for Christmas, but other than that it will be hard touring all year. That means there will be plenty of opportunity for anyone who hasn't been able to catch a show due to geographical restrictions to come see us. Also, you have no further excuses. Come rock with us, please! Oh, and now that our CD is released "nationally" (as of today . . . also, nationally is mostly regional for now, except Virgin megastores everywhere), you can tell all of your friends and family in other states to grab our record! For those in the Midwest/Minnesota/Twin Cities who've had trouble getting the record (or were just too lazy to drive downtown), it's now in every Best Buy in the region, so no more excuses! Help spread the love (and help us pay the bills).
Hopefully we'll see you all soon either at the Fine Line August 30th, Eau Claire on September 1st, Madison on 9/20, or at the Minnesota Music Fest on 9/22. We have plans to have some fun out here on the island, so if anything interesting happens, we'll have some stories for you. Just ask!
Anyhow, check out Dan's new haircut and Mark's first foray into hairstyling (vlog #5).
Much love,
Joe
Monday, July 30, 2007
Holy Shit...It's already August!
Hello friends-
Well, the summer is starting to wind down a bit for us White Light Rioters, and we are taking some time to get well prepared for what hopes to be a crazy fall! The local release went splendidly and we have made a lot of new friends and fans over the last month promoting it. Thanks to all the people that have helped us get this far!! But now we are on to a much bigger task, trying to recreate the same support in other cities as we get set to release the CD nationally on August 21st. We are in the midst of organizing a fall tour to support the release and we are keeping our fingers crossed that everything works out! If you have friends or family in other towns around the region, make sure that they know about us when we come through. Other than planning the tour, we just launched our college radio campaign and have already debuted in the top 200. So if you are in other cities, call your local public radio stations and request White Light Riot!
In other news, we have been taking some time to focus on writing some new material so that we already have a head start on the next album (hopefully we're not getting ahead of ourselves). But for me personally, I have finally jumped on the band wagon and dug into the Harry Potter series. I have long criticized friends and family that have been freaking out over the books, always way too overexcited when one of them is released, and I never wanted to fall prey to its rampant popularity. However, when this last book was released, and I saw the effect it had on readers everywhere, I said, "What the hell" and picked up book one. I have now finished the first three books and it has only been three days. I no longer care what anyone thinks; this shit is bad ass.
As the dates start coming in for the fall tour, we'll stay more on top of updating our blog (as there will be more to talk about). Until then, enjoy the latest video blog, which is a couple weeks old.
Cheers,
Mike
Well, the summer is starting to wind down a bit for us White Light Rioters, and we are taking some time to get well prepared for what hopes to be a crazy fall! The local release went splendidly and we have made a lot of new friends and fans over the last month promoting it. Thanks to all the people that have helped us get this far!! But now we are on to a much bigger task, trying to recreate the same support in other cities as we get set to release the CD nationally on August 21st. We are in the midst of organizing a fall tour to support the release and we are keeping our fingers crossed that everything works out! If you have friends or family in other towns around the region, make sure that they know about us when we come through. Other than planning the tour, we just launched our college radio campaign and have already debuted in the top 200. So if you are in other cities, call your local public radio stations and request White Light Riot!
In other news, we have been taking some time to focus on writing some new material so that we already have a head start on the next album (hopefully we're not getting ahead of ourselves). But for me personally, I have finally jumped on the band wagon and dug into the Harry Potter series. I have long criticized friends and family that have been freaking out over the books, always way too overexcited when one of them is released, and I never wanted to fall prey to its rampant popularity. However, when this last book was released, and I saw the effect it had on readers everywhere, I said, "What the hell" and picked up book one. I have now finished the first three books and it has only been three days. I no longer care what anyone thinks; this shit is bad ass.
As the dates start coming in for the fall tour, we'll stay more on top of updating our blog (as there will be more to talk about). Until then, enjoy the latest video blog, which is a couple weeks old.
Cheers,
Mike
Sunday, June 24, 2007
CD Release Party
Hey everyone,
Just a quick note to thank everyone for coming out and partying with us for our CD Release last night. We had a blast playing with the Villains of Verona, and of course, our good friends The Alarmists. We look forward to July 20th for The Alarmists' CD Release at First Ave., and hopefully a jaunt down to Chicago to play with the Villains on their home turf. Thanks to everyone who purchased CDs (you support our livelihood and our ability to tour/record/keep making music) and t-shirts, etc. Also, thanks to all of the additional musicians who played with us (Ari Herstand on trumpet, Jessy Greene on violin, Andrew Schwandt on Tenor Sax, and especially Mr. Matthew Schwandt on keys, tambourine, and whatever else we could find for him to play) -- you all helped fill out the sound and re-create the record live for everyone to enjoy.
We're going to try and keep booking shows to keep up this busy schedule. Tell all of your friends about this record and help spread the word -- remember, it can be ordered online and purchased on iTunes now, so until the national release in August there are still plenty of opportunities to get your own copy of the record.
This week is a bit more relaxed, as we've only got one show this Friday at the Cabooze opening for Ike Reilly. We're also hoping to go have a grand BBQ at Brent Sigmeth's this weekend, so if that happens we'll be sure to post some pictures of the shenanigans.
- Joe
Just a quick note to thank everyone for coming out and partying with us for our CD Release last night. We had a blast playing with the Villains of Verona, and of course, our good friends The Alarmists. We look forward to July 20th for The Alarmists' CD Release at First Ave., and hopefully a jaunt down to Chicago to play with the Villains on their home turf. Thanks to everyone who purchased CDs (you support our livelihood and our ability to tour/record/keep making music) and t-shirts, etc. Also, thanks to all of the additional musicians who played with us (Ari Herstand on trumpet, Jessy Greene on violin, Andrew Schwandt on Tenor Sax, and especially Mr. Matthew Schwandt on keys, tambourine, and whatever else we could find for him to play) -- you all helped fill out the sound and re-create the record live for everyone to enjoy.
We're going to try and keep booking shows to keep up this busy schedule. Tell all of your friends about this record and help spread the word -- remember, it can be ordered online and purchased on iTunes now, so until the national release in August there are still plenty of opportunities to get your own copy of the record.
This week is a bit more relaxed, as we've only got one show this Friday at the Cabooze opening for Ike Reilly. We're also hoping to go have a grand BBQ at Brent Sigmeth's this weekend, so if that happens we'll be sure to post some pictures of the shenanigans.
- Joe
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
ATOMISM IN STORES TODAY
Well friends,
The day has finally arrived. Our CD is now available in stores all over Minneapolis. In particular, the Electric Fetus, CD Warehouse, Down in the Valley, Cheapo, and Treehouse records. Borders may also start carrying it as well. Unfortunately I Tunes is still not up yet but we have been promised that it will be up very shortly. Either way, we are extremely excited to finally have our full length out there, so excited that we planned a little in-store performance this evening at the Electric Fetus. It's going to be pretty stripped down from our normal sound, which could make it quite interesting actually. So if you have the time, you should stop by. If for any other reason just to pick up the new album! Check out the City Pages tomorrow, Pioneer Press on Thursday, and the Star Trib on Friday to check out some stories/reviews of our new album. We're keeping our fingers crossed that they like it!! Either way, I hope to see a lot of familiar and new faces on Saturday. We have been putting a lot of planning into this show, and we think that it will definitely be one of our most memorable, so we hope you make it down. Until then....
-Mike
The day has finally arrived. Our CD is now available in stores all over Minneapolis. In particular, the Electric Fetus, CD Warehouse, Down in the Valley, Cheapo, and Treehouse records. Borders may also start carrying it as well. Unfortunately I Tunes is still not up yet but we have been promised that it will be up very shortly. Either way, we are extremely excited to finally have our full length out there, so excited that we planned a little in-store performance this evening at the Electric Fetus. It's going to be pretty stripped down from our normal sound, which could make it quite interesting actually. So if you have the time, you should stop by. If for any other reason just to pick up the new album! Check out the City Pages tomorrow, Pioneer Press on Thursday, and the Star Trib on Friday to check out some stories/reviews of our new album. We're keeping our fingers crossed that they like it!! Either way, I hope to see a lot of familiar and new faces on Saturday. We have been putting a lot of planning into this show, and we think that it will definitely be one of our most memorable, so we hope you make it down. Until then....
-Mike
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Promo Video and Video Blog #2
Hello Friends-
Well, we're getting closer with every day to our CD release and we are super anxious to get it out there. Joe's younger brother, Jim, and his friend Ian created a little promo video for the release as well and it turned out pretty cool. Check it out and let us know what you think. Also, we completed Video Blog #2 for you to take a look at. Talk to you soon!
-Mike
Well, we're getting closer with every day to our CD release and we are super anxious to get it out there. Joe's younger brother, Jim, and his friend Ian created a little promo video for the release as well and it turned out pretty cool. Check it out and let us know what you think. Also, we completed Video Blog #2 for you to take a look at. Talk to you soon!
-Mike
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Another New Song
Hello Friends-
We have decided to post another track from our upcoming album, Atomism, on our myspace site and it will also be posted on our regular website by the end of the day. The song is called Midway Souvenirs and it is a departure from a lot of the other songs on the album, but still seems to fit in very nicely. It's more of an epic style track, but we wanted to write something like that for this album and I think we did a decent job. Go check it out!
http://www.myspace.com/whitelightriotmusic
Until next time, be sure to come down to Finnegan's Summerfest on Saturday! It will be a rip roaring rock fest. Say that three times fast...
Mike
We have decided to post another track from our upcoming album, Atomism, on our myspace site and it will also be posted on our regular website by the end of the day. The song is called Midway Souvenirs and it is a departure from a lot of the other songs on the album, but still seems to fit in very nicely. It's more of an epic style track, but we wanted to write something like that for this album and I think we did a decent job. Go check it out!
http://www.myspace.com/whitelightriotmusic
Until next time, be sure to come down to Finnegan's Summerfest on Saturday! It will be a rip roaring rock fest. Say that three times fast...
Mike
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
And we're moving on all cylinders...
So in the last week, we've gotten quite a lot accomplished setting up this CD release and we're getting more and more stoked with every passing day. We hope that it all lives up to our own expectations and those of everyone that's been waiting for us to release this CD. I, for one, cannot wait to share it with everyone. But, the real reason that I'm writing right now is to let you know that we have just posted a brand new website for everyone to check out. We are very happy with how it turned out and we are going to keep it regularly update with new content.
http://www.whitelightriot.com
Additionally, we have just started doing some video blogs, which we also plan on keeping up with as often as possible. Check it out and we will hopefully be seeing a lot of people at the upcoming Finnegan's Summerfest. This is going to be a crazy show and for more info on the twenty one bands in attendance, check out
http://www.finnegans.org
Until then, here is our first video blog. Enjoy.
-Mike
http://www.whitelightriot.com
Additionally, we have just started doing some video blogs, which we also plan on keeping up with as often as possible. Check it out and we will hopefully be seeing a lot of people at the upcoming Finnegan's Summerfest. This is going to be a crazy show and for more info on the twenty one bands in attendance, check out
http://www.finnegans.org
Until then, here is our first video blog. Enjoy.
-Mike
Saturday, May 19, 2007
CD RELEASE!!
Good news everyone!
We've finally secured a date for local release of our debut LP Atomism! It will be available at select locations in the Twin Cities, as well as on iTunes and our website, on June 19th, 2007 (we'll soon know more details about where else it will be avilalble). We're also planning a national release for August, but we wanted to treat our hometown and let everyone here have a sneak peak, though everyone everywhere can order it on iTunes or on our website. The album was recorded at Pachyderm Studio during the fall and early winter of 2006, and after months of waiting it will finally be locally available (full album information follows at the bottom of this post).
That said, we've scheduled our CD release show to be held Saturday, June 23rd at the Fineline in downtown Minneapolis. We've asked our friends in the Alarmists to join us in the celebration, and we're also having a great band from Chicago come up called the Villains of Verona. The event is 18+ and starts around 8 p.m. We'd love to pack the place, so be sure to clear this date now and tell all of your friends! We're very excited and hope that everyone can make it down.
Also, thanks to everyone who came out to the Red Carpet last night. There weren't too many of you, but we played one of our better sets and had a great time with those of you who stayed around to socialize, etc. We had a crazy night getting home, and almost didn't (Mark took a wrong turn and we had to do a lot of guessing to find the freeway . . . but all worked out well in the end).
Atomism Info:
Produced by: Brent Sigmeth and White Light Riot
Engineered by: Paul Marino and Brent Sigmeth
Mixed by: Brent Sigmeth
Mastered by: Bob Ludwig
Recorded at Pachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, MN from 9/06 through 12/06
Tracklist:
1. Charlatan
2. Atomism
3. Out of Sight
4. Dive
5. Transit State
6. Grey Divide
7. In a Shotgun Whirlwind
8. Midway Souvenirs
9. Tourniquet
10. Choice Theory
11. Our Formative Capital
12. Forever In the West
- Joe
We've finally secured a date for local release of our debut LP Atomism! It will be available at select locations in the Twin Cities, as well as on iTunes and our website, on June 19th, 2007 (we'll soon know more details about where else it will be avilalble). We're also planning a national release for August, but we wanted to treat our hometown and let everyone here have a sneak peak, though everyone everywhere can order it on iTunes or on our website. The album was recorded at Pachyderm Studio during the fall and early winter of 2006, and after months of waiting it will finally be locally available (full album information follows at the bottom of this post).
That said, we've scheduled our CD release show to be held Saturday, June 23rd at the Fineline in downtown Minneapolis. We've asked our friends in the Alarmists to join us in the celebration, and we're also having a great band from Chicago come up called the Villains of Verona. The event is 18+ and starts around 8 p.m. We'd love to pack the place, so be sure to clear this date now and tell all of your friends! We're very excited and hope that everyone can make it down.
Also, thanks to everyone who came out to the Red Carpet last night. There weren't too many of you, but we played one of our better sets and had a great time with those of you who stayed around to socialize, etc. We had a crazy night getting home, and almost didn't (Mark took a wrong turn and we had to do a lot of guessing to find the freeway . . . but all worked out well in the end).
Atomism Info:
Produced by: Brent Sigmeth and White Light Riot
Engineered by: Paul Marino and Brent Sigmeth
Mixed by: Brent Sigmeth
Mastered by: Bob Ludwig
Recorded at Pachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, MN from 9/06 through 12/06
Tracklist:
1. Charlatan
2. Atomism
3. Out of Sight
4. Dive
5. Transit State
6. Grey Divide
7. In a Shotgun Whirlwind
8. Midway Souvenirs
9. Tourniquet
10. Choice Theory
11. Our Formative Capital
12. Forever In the West
- Joe
Monday, April 30, 2007
Radio Free Current
Howdy all,
I'm writing to let you all know about Radio Free Current, which is more or less geared as a "takeover" of Minneapolis/St. Paul's 89.3 FM, The Current, by its loyal listeners. You can sign up on The Current's page to request songs, including White Light Riot's own Bitter Beginning, Stars, and Out of Sight from the Dark Is Light Enough EP. A bunch of listeners and bands also created homemade spots for the station which will be played all day. Of course, we made our own as well. We went more for the odd approach, so hopefully you'll enjoy that, especially Dan's best shot at a radio voice. Check it out here. More than anything, by signing up/requesting/listening, you're supporting a great local institution; after all, even if you don't like everything they play, at least The Current gives a lot of indie bands a shot to be heard somewhere other than their hometowns, as well as giving great exposure to local acts. They've been great to us, so we're just asking all of you to help support, too.
In other news, we should have a new video up soon from our show last Tuesday at the Varsity. I saw Nate, our video guy, working on it a bit and it's in the same high-contrast vein as the newest pictures, so it looks pretty awesome. We did a little acoustic set down at the 50 office on Friday as a celebration for all the interns who finished up their internships, and hopefully we'll be able to post a clip of that, too, for something different.
We've been writing like madmen lately and have about 13 new song ideas in various stages of development, so we're already hard at work on the follow-up. I'm pretty excited about a few of them -- exploring new sounds, etc., but that's maybe a bit preemptive, huh? Enjoy May, everyone, and we'll see you around. I'm sure we'll be out on the patio at Brit's or Stella's pretty often, so if you wanna buy us drinks, come on down!
- Joe
I'm writing to let you all know about Radio Free Current, which is more or less geared as a "takeover" of Minneapolis/St. Paul's 89.3 FM, The Current, by its loyal listeners. You can sign up on The Current's page to request songs, including White Light Riot's own Bitter Beginning, Stars, and Out of Sight from the Dark Is Light Enough EP. A bunch of listeners and bands also created homemade spots for the station which will be played all day. Of course, we made our own as well. We went more for the odd approach, so hopefully you'll enjoy that, especially Dan's best shot at a radio voice. Check it out here. More than anything, by signing up/requesting/listening, you're supporting a great local institution; after all, even if you don't like everything they play, at least The Current gives a lot of indie bands a shot to be heard somewhere other than their hometowns, as well as giving great exposure to local acts. They've been great to us, so we're just asking all of you to help support, too.
In other news, we should have a new video up soon from our show last Tuesday at the Varsity. I saw Nate, our video guy, working on it a bit and it's in the same high-contrast vein as the newest pictures, so it looks pretty awesome. We did a little acoustic set down at the 50 office on Friday as a celebration for all the interns who finished up their internships, and hopefully we'll be able to post a clip of that, too, for something different.
We've been writing like madmen lately and have about 13 new song ideas in various stages of development, so we're already hard at work on the follow-up. I'm pretty excited about a few of them -- exploring new sounds, etc., but that's maybe a bit preemptive, huh? Enjoy May, everyone, and we'll see you around. I'm sure we'll be out on the patio at Brit's or Stella's pretty often, so if you wanna buy us drinks, come on down!
- Joe
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
And things finally start rolling...
I now realize that the only way this blog is going to be worth a damn is if it is constantly updated, and I will try my best to make sure that one of us at least posts once or twice a week. But, I figured that there's no better way to get back into this than with some good news.
As you may or may not know, we have had a finished record (mixed, mastered, packaged) since the beginning of February and have eagerly been awaiting its release. In the last week, we finally are starting to see some light at the end of that tunnel. Our label is finishing negotiations with a great indie distributor (can't say who yet for legal reasons) and then things are really going to start moving. Once the deal is locked down, we'll cement our release date (which is looking like end of July or early August), and then we'll get our asses on the road. We will of course be launching the tour and the CD in the beautiful town that birthed us at our favorite of local venues, the Varsity. We are going to try and make this a major event, and we are going to have numerous guest musicians joining us fully recreate the new CD, Atomism, from front to back. We'll also have a few surprises to make for a memorable experience.
In the meantime/downtime, we have been writing a bunch of new material to put toward the pool of our next album (I guess it's never too early). But maybe it's too soon to talk about that seeing as no one has even heard our first full length. Either way, we are really excited about what's to come.
So like I said, I am going to try and stay on top of blogging and letting people know what's up in White Light Riot land, and as soon as my blog-impaired self learns more about posting, I'll be adding video clips, pictures, and other pieces of entertaining info. Until then, hope the Spring is treating you well.
Mike
As you may or may not know, we have had a finished record (mixed, mastered, packaged) since the beginning of February and have eagerly been awaiting its release. In the last week, we finally are starting to see some light at the end of that tunnel. Our label is finishing negotiations with a great indie distributor (can't say who yet for legal reasons) and then things are really going to start moving. Once the deal is locked down, we'll cement our release date (which is looking like end of July or early August), and then we'll get our asses on the road. We will of course be launching the tour and the CD in the beautiful town that birthed us at our favorite of local venues, the Varsity. We are going to try and make this a major event, and we are going to have numerous guest musicians joining us fully recreate the new CD, Atomism, from front to back. We'll also have a few surprises to make for a memorable experience.
In the meantime/downtime, we have been writing a bunch of new material to put toward the pool of our next album (I guess it's never too early). But maybe it's too soon to talk about that seeing as no one has even heard our first full length. Either way, we are really excited about what's to come.
So like I said, I am going to try and stay on top of blogging and letting people know what's up in White Light Riot land, and as soon as my blog-impaired self learns more about posting, I'll be adding video clips, pictures, and other pieces of entertaining info. Until then, hope the Spring is treating you well.
Mike
Monday, March 12, 2007
New Blog
We have a new blog everyone!! We are going to be posting on here pretty frequently so you can see what's going on in White Light Riot's world from everyone's point of view in the band. Right now, we are STILL waiting to even get a release date for our CD, which has been done for three months, and hopefully we'll get some good news soon. We know you're all waiting to hear it and we are excited for you to get that chance. Check back soon as we'll continue to post as often as we can!!
Mike
Mike
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