Hey all,
So, it's been a couple three weeks since our last post, and, in accordance with my promise of writing more blogs, I'm going to do a little recap of January and update you all on our plans for the near future.
January has been pretty home-oriented and we haven't ventured forth too far, for the most part. It's given us some time to catch up with friends and ruminate on the "Master Plan" with all parties involved, but we're missing the road and are looking forward to February where we have plenty more dates. We started the year off by playing at MacPhail to welcome in their new building and new performance center. It was an opportunity to play in front of the high school crowd, something we don't get to do enough. High school kids are often the most devoted fans, so we definitely look forward to playing some more all ages shows in the future. The following week, we braved some bitter temperatures (-12 air temperature with a -45 windchill) and rocked up at Concordia College in Moorhead. Mike and I got yelled at by a basketball practice for apparently interrupting their practice (who knew walking by on the other end of the court during a huddle counted as interfering with the scrimmage?), which was kind of annoying, but otherwise the show was a blast. We stayed warm in our free hotel room with plenty of Captain Morgan, which seems to be the WLR booze of choice for the past six months. There's some choice footage of the night that may or may not end up in a Vlog . . . we shall see . . .
After that show we headed down to Madison to play with our buddies The Box Social at Cafe Monmarte. It was possibly the tiniest stage we've played yet, but the sound was very decent and we had a good time. Our good friend Natasha put us up for the night and we had a pretty wild party that ended at 8:00 a.m. in typical WLR fashion. Apparently we're bad at going to bed. My brother Jimmy accompanied us and shot some footage, along with our traveling buddy/"tour manager" (though he does no actual duties) Ryan Anhorn, who is always good for about a thousand laughs. After about four hours of sleep we got up, drank a bunch of water, got on the road home, ate some greasy burgers, downed more water (and vitamin waters), and finally got to St. Paul by about 5:30. We had a demo appointment with Mr. Paul Marino at Fuzzy Slippers studio, and got to work tracking about 6:30.
We whipped through six new ideas, getting drums, bass, guitars, down and even laid some piano and mellotron tracks into the mix. We might go do some vocal work in the next couple weeks, but don't get too excited because we won't be posting any of this material . . . It's just a bit of tease to let you all know we haven't gotten lazy with our time off. We have plenty more ideas to work up, and we plan to demo once every couple months for the next ten months or so before heading back to the studio to work on album 2.
Last week we had some meetings to discuss new photos and videos, and we're planning on getting to work on those soon. We've got a pretty funny Tim and Eric Awesome Show: Great Job! style one worked up for Out of Sight, and we're hoping to shoot that this weekend if possible. The other video ideas should coalesce in the coming months, so keep your eyes open for those.
This last weekend we went down to Schaumberg in Illinois to play a show with Eve 6, which was definitely an experience. They ended up being really nice, down-to-earth guys, and even got us some free pizza. The crowd was responsive, the room was packed, we had free booze and the whole experience was pretty awesome. It was great to see how humble the Eve 6 guys were, and made us all the more intent to keep our own egos in check. We headed out of town to one of our favorite Super 8's in Elgin, IL, and headed out early the next day to get to Lutsen, MN to play Papa Charlie's on the ski mountain there.
We had to play three 50 minute sets, and since our usual set is 45 minutes, we had to learn a bunch of covers and play all of our old material to cover the allotted time. We ended up doing some New Order tunes, some Clash, Beatles, Stones, Bowie, etc., and it was fun to throw some other songs into our repertoire. We got money to spend at the bar, free hotel rooms, and free lift tickets for the next day, so we were hell bent on having a great time up there. The weather was fantastic, too, which only added to our enjoyment. We managed to find a pretty kickin party and again were up until about 8 a.m., playing Catchphrase, Guitar Hero, hot-tubbing, and drinking. We dragged our asses out of bed after about four hours of sleep to avoid the check-out brigade, and to ensure that we had some snowboarding time. After some really crusty fish and chips, Mike, Mark and I hit the mountain hard, and Dan slept in the van (he doesn't have a snowboard or proper attire, so sad day for Dan). We had a great time bombing down the hills and going down runs a little past our means (Mike and I used to ride a lot back in high school, but it's been a few years). It was exhilarating and way too much fun, especially because it was free. Awesome perks!
This week, we're going to be shooting some new photos at the Kitty Cab Klub on Wednesday with Darren Back, an awesome photographer who has shot for Spin and many others, so this new batch of photos should be amazing. We're really looking forward to working with him and we'll let you know how it all goes after it happens!
Our next batch of shows will be out and about the Midwest with VAST and the Effects, so check our MySpace page for dates, times, and locations. We hope to see everyone out rocking with us!
Best,
Joe
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Happy New Year 2008!!! Great job!!
Hello everyone,
It seems that the latest trend is to do a little recap/forward thinking blog about the past year and what’s to come, so here’s a little New Year’s note to kick off 2008.
This past year has been momentous and exciting, full of change and anticipation, along with the requisite disappointment, but, like most times, is best and most appropriately viewed optimistically and with a warm heart. We started the year off by finishing the mixing of “Atomism,” hearing the master come back from Bob Ludwig, and getting a few more glorious, coveted studio days to do B-sides (we honestly love nothing more than recording songs).
Fast-forward through some boring winter times, and we hit the spring, when we hear that RED is releasing our record nationally, and that we’re going to throw a huge local CD Release party. Both of these events are remembered fondly, and a special thanks to all of you who came out to the CD Release and helped make it one of the most memorable concert events of the year!
In the ensuing weeks we solidified our managerial choice (special thanks here to Mike Kempton for all of his fine, hard work), booking agent, and some tour plans, and finally started getting on the road. It’s always been a dream of ours to be out and about, and we’ve loved meeting so many fantastic new people and seeing tons of new places all over the country. We’re looking forward to seeing even more this next year, and can’t wait to visit all of our new friends.
With the New Year brings a big change for us: We just moved in with our friends, The Alarmists, at their rehearsal space. We said good-bye to our old location after three years, and it was a bittersweet parting. There are many fond memories there, from interviews to drunken jams, tons of writing and more rehearsals than we can count, but we’re also looking forward to sharing this new creative atmosphere with some of our best buddies in town. In the new Vlog there’s some footage of the new spot, and we’ll get that up ASAP for everyone.
In addition to a lot of touring, we’re trying to be better about regularly updating with more video-blogs, and we’re going to put together a few music videos, too, for your viewing pleasure. Also, for the maybe six people who’ve ever read this blog, we’re going to try to update more frequently and maybe make it a little more personal when appropriate (though we promise not to get all LiveJournal on you guys).
Now that we’re all recovered from that ridiculous beginning to the East Coast jaunt, we’ll be back out on the trail soon, so look for us and come say hi! Buy us drinks (we’re poor), tell us stories, and help us make general merriment, wherever life takes us! Is this a suitable recap? Feels vaguely nostalgic and broad enough to fit the mold . . .
OK, time to go watch some more Tim and Eric clips and waste time and digg.com . . . !!
- Joe
It seems that the latest trend is to do a little recap/forward thinking blog about the past year and what’s to come, so here’s a little New Year’s note to kick off 2008.
This past year has been momentous and exciting, full of change and anticipation, along with the requisite disappointment, but, like most times, is best and most appropriately viewed optimistically and with a warm heart. We started the year off by finishing the mixing of “Atomism,” hearing the master come back from Bob Ludwig, and getting a few more glorious, coveted studio days to do B-sides (we honestly love nothing more than recording songs).
Fast-forward through some boring winter times, and we hit the spring, when we hear that RED is releasing our record nationally, and that we’re going to throw a huge local CD Release party. Both of these events are remembered fondly, and a special thanks to all of you who came out to the CD Release and helped make it one of the most memorable concert events of the year!
In the ensuing weeks we solidified our managerial choice (special thanks here to Mike Kempton for all of his fine, hard work), booking agent, and some tour plans, and finally started getting on the road. It’s always been a dream of ours to be out and about, and we’ve loved meeting so many fantastic new people and seeing tons of new places all over the country. We’re looking forward to seeing even more this next year, and can’t wait to visit all of our new friends.
With the New Year brings a big change for us: We just moved in with our friends, The Alarmists, at their rehearsal space. We said good-bye to our old location after three years, and it was a bittersweet parting. There are many fond memories there, from interviews to drunken jams, tons of writing and more rehearsals than we can count, but we’re also looking forward to sharing this new creative atmosphere with some of our best buddies in town. In the new Vlog there’s some footage of the new spot, and we’ll get that up ASAP for everyone.
In addition to a lot of touring, we’re trying to be better about regularly updating with more video-blogs, and we’re going to put together a few music videos, too, for your viewing pleasure. Also, for the maybe six people who’ve ever read this blog, we’re going to try to update more frequently and maybe make it a little more personal when appropriate (though we promise not to get all LiveJournal on you guys).
Now that we’re all recovered from that ridiculous beginning to the East Coast jaunt, we’ll be back out on the trail soon, so look for us and come say hi! Buy us drinks (we’re poor), tell us stories, and help us make general merriment, wherever life takes us! Is this a suitable recap? Feels vaguely nostalgic and broad enough to fit the mold . . .
OK, time to go watch some more Tim and Eric clips and waste time and digg.com . . . !!
- Joe
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