Happy summer everyone!
We have been quiet the past few weeks, but it’s only because we’ve been doing some behind the scenes work getting ready for a bunch of regional dates in August, September, and beyond. Beyond that, we’re still working hard demoing for the new record, but I’m getting ahead of myself . . .
First of all, if you didn’t notice yet, we’re playing tomorrow, July 10th, at the Cabooze for the Harley Davidson Tour featuring The Crave. We have free tickets for anyone who wants to come have a fantastic time, so call us, write us, bump into us outside the venue – whatever works! Every ticket we give away counts as cash in our pockets, so please help us out! Also, we’ll be on KSTP (the local Minneapolis ABC affiliate) tomorrow at 3 p.m. for Twin Cities Live – be sure to watch it and tell everyone you know!
Secondly, as far as big news goes, we’re playing Basilica Block Party this Saturday, opening the main stage for Gavin Rossdale and Missy Higgins! It’s going to be an amazing time and the crowd will be wild, so come be a part of it.
If that’s not enough for you, we’re also being featured on NYC’s Fearless Network Television, which is broadcast all over the U.S. on various stations. A complete list follows the blog, so find your hometown and check it out! It usually airs very, very early Sunday morning (so late Saturday night, more or less). You can check it out the next day on www.fearless.tv, so check it out there sometime on Sunday!
Also, a big reminder to you all for our July 18th show at the Varsity Theater w/ The Effects (Minneapolis CD Release Party), Solid Gold, and Pictures of Then. It’s an 18+ show, doors at 8, music at 9 . . . be there! It’s going to be a fantastic show, and if you haven’t gotten to see any of the other bands play yet, you’re really missing out. It will be a stellar party and a great celebration of the halfway point of summer, not to mention the Effects’ new CD, so come have a ball.
Lastly, I thought this was quite touching. It’s a pretty amazing story so if you have some free time look into it a bit!
Alright, that does it for now. Hope to see everyone out and about at these next few shows, and keep checking the MySpace dates for more and more new regional dates that should be rolling in weekly! We’ll talk soon . . . .
- Joe
Fearless TV Affiliates:
New York, NY WNYW FOX Saturday Night 12:30am
Los Angeles, CA KHIZ Saturday Night 3:00am
Detroit, MI WJBK FOX (Starting Sept. ’08) Sunday Night 1am
Duluth, MN WDIO-ABC Saturday Night 1am
Portland, OR KPDX Saturday Night 11:30pm
Cincinnati, OH WOTH Saturday Night 11:30pm
Grand Rapids, WOOD MI NBC Saturday Night 1am
Norfolk, VA WSKY Friday Night 3am
Las Vegas, NV KVMY MNTV Sunday Night 12am
Jacksonville, FL WTLV NBC Saturday Night 2:30am
Albany, NY WNYA Saturday Night 1am
Mobile, AL WPMI NBC Saturday Night 1am
Honolulu, HI KHON FOX Saturday Night 3:30am
Springfield, MO KYTV NBC Saturday Night 2am
Jackson, MS WDBD WB Saturday Night 1am
Davenport, IA WBQD MNTV Saturday Night 12am
Baton Rouge, LA WGMB FOX Saturday Night 11:30pm
El Paso, TX KVIA Saturday Night 1:30am
Fort Wayne, IN WFFT FOX Saturday Night 4am
Tyler-Longview KFXK – FOX 51 Saturday Night 1am
Longview, TX KFXK FOX Sunday Night 12am
Peoria, IL WAOE Saturday Night 11pm
Fargo, ND KVLY NBC Saturday Night 3:30am
Boise, ID KIVI ABC Saturday Night 10:35pm
Eau Claire, WI WEAU NBC Saturday Night 1am
Atlantic City, NJ WMGM NBC Sunday Night 1:00am
La Crosse-Eau Claire WEAU-NBC Saturday Night 1am
Rockford, IL WTVO-ABC Saturday Night 1am
Columbia, MO KZOU MNTV Sunday Night 11pm
Anchorage, AK KTUU NBC Saturday Night 12:30am
Binghamton, NY WBPN MNTV Saturday Night 1am
Yuma, AZ KECY FOX (also running on ABC DT) Saturday Night 1:30am
Jackson, TN WBBJ ABC Friday Night 1:30am
Meridian, MS WMDN CBS Friday Night 1:30am, Sat. 1am
Charlottesville, VA WAHU FOX Saturday Night 11pm
Morgan City, LA KWBJ Saturday Night 10:30pm, Thurs. 11p
Twin Falls, ID KSAW ABC Saturday Night 10:35pm
Fairbanks, AK KFXF FOX Saturday Night 12:30am
Juneau, AK KATH NBC Saturday Night 12:30pm, Sun. 3:00pm
Omaha, NE WOWT-DT Saturday Night 1am
South Bend, IN WSBT-DT Sunday Night 5:30pm
Youngstown, OH WYTV –DT MNTV Saturday Night 2:30am
Panama City, FL WJHG-DT MNTV Saturday Night 11:30pm
Flint – Saginaw-Bay City WNEM-DT MNTV Saturday Night 1am
Washington DC Local Point TV WJLA Short Form Programming
(The Episode runs every 3 hours)
America One Television Affiliates
(Over-the-Air Broadcast)
FMTV Will Air Tuesdays and Friday Nights at 1am
Memphis,TN WBXP
Southampton, NY WVVH
State College, PA WHVL
Johnstown, PA WHVL
Fresno, CA KJEO
Milwaukee, WI WMKE
Jackson, MS WBXK
Baton Rouge, LA KPBN
West Warwick, RI Cox Sports New England
Plano, IL WSPY
Hammonton, NJ WPSJ
Des Moines, IA KDMI DT
St. Augustine, FL WQXT
Gallup, NM KIAZ
Albuquerque, NM KIAZ
Savannah, GA WXSX
Montgomery, AL WBXM
San Luis Obispo, CA KKJ
North Charleston, SC WJNI
Charleston, SC WJNI
Des Moines, IA WBXF
Omaha, NE KKAZ
Athens, AL WTZT
Boise, ID WBEK
El Paso, TX KDBC DT
Bucyrus, OH WBKA
Muskegon, MI WMKG
Bakersfield, CA KBBV
Portland, OR KORK
Kingsport, TN WKPT DT
Flint, MI WHNE
Clarksville, TN WCKV
Findlay, OH WFND
Boone, NC WLNN
Stillwater, OK KWEM
Victorville, CA Odyssey TV
Canton, OH WIVM
Sioux City, IA KPTH DT
Augusta, GA WBEK
Salem, OR KWVT
East Bernstadt, KY WOBZ
Orlando, FL WRCF
New Orleans, LA WSTY
Martin, KY W32CX
Charleston, VA W32CX
Shreveport, TX K20HL
Huntsville, AL WBCF
Bristol, VA WKPT
Union City, TN WOBT
Paducah, KY WUWT
Denver, CO KUPN
Perry, FL WSFD
Grove, OK KELF
Lewiston, ID KIDQ
Spokane, WA KIDQ
Traverse City, MI
Shreveport, LA KTEV
Bend, OR K48BL
Jasper, IN WJTS
Phoenix, AZ KCFG
Erie, PA Image Channel
Joplin, MO KGCS
Pahrump, NV WHMP
Logan, UT KUTA
Coeur d Alene, ID KTYJ
Spokane, WA KTYJ
Twin Falls, ID KBAX
San Francisco, CA K33CH
Liberal, KS KLKT
Martinsville, IN WREP
Hornell, NY PEISH TV
Phoenix, AZ KXAX
Ponca City, OK KGBN
Elizabeth City, NC W18BB
Yuma, AZ K23BJ
Marshalltown, IA KDAO
Wichita, KS KLKT
Lake Havasu City, AZ K23BJ
Rockford, IL WMKB
Eureka, CA KEAZ
Denver, CO KCXP
Aspen, CO KCXP
Rockford, IL WCRD
Cleveland, MS WHCQ
Shreveport, LA NSU 22
Denver, CO KENY
Clarksdale, MS WPRQ
Rockford, IL WRDH
Denver, CO K27FA
Bainbridge, GA WMGR
Harrogate, TN LMU TV
Nashville, TN CPWS
Rockford, IL WBKM
Greenville, TX GEUS
Phoenix, AZ KVSW
Winslow, AZ KVSW
Webb, MS WEBU
Denver, CO K48BK
Billings, MT KQHD
Phoenix, AZ KNJO
Terre Haute, IN WHFE
Albany, NY Princetown Cable
Jackson, MS Trust Cable
Terre Haute, IN WVGO
Lubbock, TX NTS Comm
Showing posts with label the effects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the effects. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
South By Southwest 2008: Or, All Like It Hot!
Greetings everyone,
So, we’ve recently returned (relatively unscathed) from South by Southwest 2008. We’d heard from most people before we headed out that it will quite possibly be one of the best times of our lives, and, in all honesty, I think it exceed everyone’s expectations.
Day 1 (3.08.08): We headed out on Saturday, March 8th, at about 7:30 p.m. amidst regular old Minneapolis winter weather (a cold, windy, snowy, and icy night), picking up our buddy Ryan Anhorn (our “tour manager,” though he’s really just a great friend and fantastic traveling companion) and heading to the space to load up. Dan took the first driving shift, expertly navigating the icy roads amidst a modest a snow per his usual cool-headed driving demeanor, and took us down I-35 to a destination some 80 miles south of Des Moines, IA. We decided then that it was a good time to stop and catch some sleep, and after comparing three different hotels we settled on a Days Inn. Obviously we’re high rollers.
Day 2 (3.09.08): After a successful night of sleeping, I took over driving duties from Dan and we began a long day of driving at about 11:30 a.m. (which was really 10:30 a.m. thanks to day light savings time . . . a reality we quite forgot and were rudely reminded of by the hotel staff). Twenty minutes into the drive, Mike realized he forgot his favorite pillow, but thankfully we had Ryan’s iPod (affectionately referred to as the RyPod) which has some choice selections (Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” and some killer Steve Miller . . . alright the Astley is a bit of a joke but we started every new leg of the journey with it and danced appropriately – see the impending video blog) to distract him. Between the RyPod and Mark’s and my iPods, we had some two months of music at our disposal, and we rocked accordingly.
We stopped for lunch somewhere in Missouri, and after cruising through Kansas City and Topeka, we couldn’t help but notice that with each successive stop the weather was getting significantly warmer (well, compared to the single digit temperatures in Minneapolis). Once we’d successfully traversed the Kansas Tollway I traded driving with Mark and we continued on into Oklahoma and, ultimately, Texas. We got a lot of reading done and forewent our extensive VHS collection (save “American Beauty;” we just couldn’t avoid Spacey any longer) in favor of some Happy Apple, Steve Miller, Beatles, Caribou, Working for a Nuclear Free City, and some Dostoevsky, Vonnegut, and the perennial band favorite, Harry Potter. Mark got tired at about one a.m.-ish, so we stopped just outside Waco, had our first Whataburgers (pretty awesome, I must say), and caught some Tim and Eric Awesome Show, a quick shower for one or two of us, and some sleep before heading on to Austin.
Day 3 (3.10.08): We got going about 11 a.m. on our third day of travel with Mike taking the last little leg of the journey (something like two hours) to Austin. We’d been set up with a free condo courtesy of a client of Mark and Mike’s father, and she graciously offered to find us a free place to park, as well. The condo was magnificent: clean, orderly, and vaguely modern. To be honest, we were pretty floored, though we knew deep within our hearts that in a day or two the clean and orderly part might not be so true. It was rainy and a bit chilly out, so we decided to camp out inside for a while, settle in, check the Internet, and watch some television. At about 5 p.m. the sun started poking through the clouds so we decided to explore. The condo was at 13th and Guadalupe, a mere eight or nine blocks from the thick of the action, so we hit the road and walked down to 6th street (where the bulk of everything SXSW happens). Things were fairly quiet as the festival was in the midst of its “interactive” phase as opposed to the all out rock-fest that begins on Wednesday, but there were still plenty of folks out and about.
We met a few characters on our walk and, within about an hour, were acclimated to our new surroundings. As such, in traditional WLR fashion, it was time to get some booze. Mike and Ryan went on a liquor run for a couple handles of Captain Morgan for the week. They ran into our A &R man Drew Pearson and Internet/video/techno guru extraordinaire Nate Maydole from 50 Records on the way, which was our first taste of home down in Austin (there would be many more). After a quick drink, we headed out to Dirty Martin’s, a burger joint recommended to us, which was a bit of a hike (maybe 15 or 20 blocks away from SXSW and closer to the University). After two straight days of Taco Bell, Whattaburger, and Ramen Noodles, Dirty Martin’s wasn’t much of a relief from the grease and fat, but in their defense the burgers were pretty tasty, and in our defense we knew we’d be walking a lot throughout the week. We had our first Lone Stars, which we ultimately decided were chameleons taste-wise (one day they’d be like our own Grain Belt Premiums, then they’d resemble a Miller High Life, and a different keg would be more akin to PBR . . . go figure), and Ryan snapped a few of what would become lots of WLR SXSW photos (these will be posted on our MySpace soon). We headed back, full of grease and chameleon beer, and the 48 hours of bad eating finally caught up to us in the form of supreme lethargy.
After reaching home at about 8 p.m. we noticed we had about two and a half hours to kill before rocking the PureVolume party kick-off. We checked our television options, noticed Anthony Bourdain was on, and b-lined it to the Travel Channel. Food is definitely a WLR pastime, as well as cooking and cooking shows (our visit to the Schwandt cabin last year was basically a music writing, drinking, and cooking marathon, with a lot of Top Chef thrown in). Mark and I fondly recalled meeting Bourdain back in November (it’s a pretty damn good story – ask us sometime), and watched as he tried to keep up as a line chef at his old restaurant. We probably all had another drink or two, and then headed down to 4th and Trinity to the PureVolume party.
The party wasn’t really kicking yet, but picked up a bit right before our 11 p.m. slot. Drew and Nate came down to hang out and rock with us, and we met a few new friends (shout out to the Lindsays) and fans over the course of the night. There weren’t a ton of people at the show, but the audience was receptive and, despite the questionable back-line (we had some technical issues), we had a great time. We knew we had Tuesday off (from playing, anyway), so we definitely took advantage of the free beer and vodka all night (PureVolume rocked until 4 a.m. the first couple of nights). All in all it was a fantastic first day in Austin.
Day 4 (3.11.08): Our “day off” of the week, but we had no intentions of letting the day go without a grand old time. We decompressed a bit during the day, made some Ramen noodles, watched more Tim and Eric Awesome Show, and played some guitar, but what really started the festivities was a fun and excellent dinner with Drew, Nate, and Deb Insted, founder and benefactor of 50 Records. Deb is a really sweet lady and generously offered to take care of dinner at Maiko Sushi, and we had what was definitely the highlight meal of the trip. Between Kobe Beef, Sake, and some of the greatest spicy sushi rolls we’ve experienced, the meal was absolutely delicious, a fact highlighted by great company. Unfortunately, Drew was developing the flu that didn’t really let up for him until about Friday, but he was a trooper and did a lot of great work all week.
After walking home amongst all the crazy Grackles (those crazy and obnoxious birds that flock Hitchcock-style throughout Austin every evening), we made some more rum and cokes and headed out for the night. We decided to just head back to the PureVolume party (we’re poor), and had our most star-studded night of the trip. It was the night of the Digg interactive party (something I was all about as an active Digg user), and Kevin Rose and crew were partying there all night. I snuck my way into the VIP room to hang out with Kevin and some other Digg staffers, asking them about the latest news trends and playing some Guitar Hero. Mark, Ryan, and Mike did some choreographed dancing, and, at about 2 a.m., Moby mysteriously appeared in the VIP section. As a big fan, Mike and I were pretty floored (he’d managed to sneak in after me), and I tried to talk him into playing Guitar Hero with me. He respectfully declined, but we chatted for a while and tried to talk him into coming to our show the next day. Late into the night, after more dancing and drinking, Mark noticed Mark Cuban had wandered into the party and bluntly told him that he disagreed with his decisions regarding the Mavericks over the past season. Since Cuban is known as a bit of an unsavory human being, it was pretty funny to see Mark take him on. Four a.m. rolled around again, so we headed back home.
Day 5 (3.12.08): For some reason, we’d mistakenly thought we had press to do at 10:30 a.m., so after six hours of sleep we woke up to a cacophony of cell phone alarms, but after a quick e-mail check realized that Thursday was our early press day – we didn’t have to be anywhere until about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, so thankfully we got to head back to bed.
After some showers and a few Propels, we hit the Levi’s Fader party to do some Rock the Vote PSA’s and a couple Internet videos. It was in a building that was a bit of a maze, but after taking care of business we found the concert venue in the back, replete with free Bass Ale, SoCo, and Sparks (Alright, so the Sparks wasn’t of much interest to us). We watched The Kills, The Ruby Suns, and our favorites of the day, Does It Offend You, Yeah? We made some new friends who were awesome and came to the rest of our shows (shout out to Jen and Karleigh), had some Taco Shack burritos, and prepared to rock the Dizzy Rooster (fans of the Real World might remember that name). Our buddies in The Effects arrived, as did our label mates Elevation, and it was pretty sweet to see them all again. We played after Elevation at midnight and had a blast playing for new faces and old, and after loading out we hit Coyote Ugly with the boys in The Effects. We tried to get them into the PureVolume party, but they were without passes and the line to get in was pretty intense, so we opted for an earlier night. After a pizza stop we started heading home and recognized Phantom Planet wandering the streets. We talked to them for a bit, asked about their new record, and headed on our way. We got back to the condo around 2:30 a.m. We did have an early morning so it was all for the best.
Day 6 (3.13.08): Our first early morning; after a 9 a.m. wake up and showers all around, we headed down to the Hilton to do some interviews. We did a quick interview with Clay from Roxwel.com and then headed over to Room 710 for the Voltage Fashion Day Show, and, despite lacking in audience attendance, it was good to see our buddies in The Alarmists and The Melismatics as well as MC/VL, Ouija Radio, The Birthday Suits. The breakfast burritos were solid, along with the chips and guacamole they set out for everyone. Our friends Stacy Schwartz and Andrea Myers were there, and it was good to see more Minneapolis folks down in Austin. We loaded out and headed over to Nuno’s downstairs for a Red Gorilla/Zude day party with Autovaughn and The Effects, and it was a glorious reunion show for WLR and The Effects. It was a hot, sweaty set for both, and attendance was solid (as was the free Lone Star), so we decided to reward ourselves with a grand night of partying.
Our manager Mike Kempton got into town in time for the Nuno’s show, so after the show we went back to the condo, made some drinks, and talked business. We showed him Tim and Eric Awesome Show, which he thought was amazing, and we made plans to meet with our lawyer, Jeff Beiderman, for some Shiner Bock and business talk. Once we had some food in our bellies we headed to the Library for some foosball rematches and beer drinking with The Effects. Jeff met us there a little while later, along with Darin Back, photographer extraordinaire, who was shooting for City Pages (there are some great shots on the City Pages website), The Melismatics, and The Alarmists. We shared Shiner Bocks, stories, and toasts, and then headed over to the Chuggin’ Monkey. After some more debauchery we jogged over to the PureVolume party, which, much to our dismay, ended around 2 a.m. this particular night. We met up with our old friend Zach Pentel from the high school days and his friend MaryBeth. Zach came back to the condo, along with Darin and some others, for a late night after bar that ended at 6 a.m. after a few bottles of wine and even more rum and cokes. We discovered that mixing amaretto with Diet coke tastes like a Maraschino cherry, and filed it away under a mix we’d avoid in the future (because, really, who wants to drink that?). Friday promised more early interviews, but we were at SXSW so we justified the late night party as such.
Day 7 (3.14.08): Our last “official work day” at SXSW began with more cell phone alarms and a surprisingly chipper Darin making sure we were all up and ready to go in the morning. Darin accompanied us to our interviews and took some shots, after which we headed to Fuze to set up and get ready for the 50 Records/Zude Day Party. For whatever ridiculous reason the club didn’t offer free waters that were obviously in high demand after the shenanigans of the night before, so we all had to wander about in search of that precious substance. Ryan, Mike, and Dan found some free BBQ, Mark napped, and I enjoyed the air conditioning. Darin had left to shoot another band, and Ryan and I kind of wandered around, watching People in Planes and chatting with The Melismatics and The Effects, all of whom put on awesome shows before we finally took the stage. It was a staggering 90 degrees outside, so the air conditioning was a welcome relief. After another sweaty and high energy show (Darin got some killer shots of it), we stuck around and chatted with all the folks at Zude and 50, along with a bunch of our new friends, before heading over to do another interview at the Hilton. Poor Ryan had to watch our equipment out on the sidewalk because the interview ran a bit late and we ended up missing both Elevation and load out, but luckily he was a responsible guy and took care of it all for us (his first real foray into having to do some actual “tour manager” duties).
We got our equipment home, mixed a few more drinks, and decided to hit the town for a Friday hoorah. Another stop at the Library with The Effects and some 50 Interns proved to be fun, and then we headed to the Driscoll to meet up with Jeff and Mike before they left for the week. The Melismatics were there at a balcony party, so we joined them, along with more 50 people, Elevation, The Effects, and many others, and we found our PureVolume alternative (free booze until 4 in the morning, but high quality stuff and even higher quality people). Darin, Mike, Dan, and Mark headed back to the condo at about 4:15 a.m., but Ryan and I stayed out with Zach and MaryBeth, and we went to the house that they had rented with some other friends and stayed up until 7 a.m. telling stories, playing Jenga, and passing around some Jack Daniels. Fantastic night.
Day 8 (3.15.08): Ryan and I woke up on the floor and couch respectively (although he’d made quite the bed out of some couch cushions) and began our long walk home (like 35 blocks). We got fifteen blocks, ate some Jimmy John’s, and realized that we’d left a couple things at Zach’s place (Three and a half hours of sleep wasn’t really helping our memories). We walked back and pleaded with Dan to come pick us up, so he and Darin showed up a bit later and we headed back out for the day. Darin, Mike and I went to see Tapes ‘N Tapes at the Austin City Limits, and Ryan, Dan, and Mark went to the Black and Tan to see Working For a Nuclear Free City. It was tough to decide between the two, but one really can’t go wrong between those two bands. Since we had the full day off we all kind of went our separate ways, with Darin going off to shoot a lot of bands, Mike heading out to try and get into the Fader party for 2 Live Crew, seeing it was packed, and catching another MC/VL show instead, and Ryan, Dan, Mark and I being treated to another dinner courtesy of Deb. Mark and I ran into Erik Appelwick for the second time that day at the Iron Cactus where we were eating and it was good to get to chat with him and the other Tapes guys for a while. We got to chat with our friend Gabe Douglas at dinner, along with Gary Clark and other 50 folks, which was fun considering all the stories we regaled each other with about the week.
After dinner we caught a bit of Elevation’s set, another Effects set, and then headed down to the Driscoll party again. The Elevation dudes showed up, along with the Effects, and all our 50 friends. For the second night in a row the balcony party was awesome. Ryan, Dan and I did an a capella version of “You Can Call Me Al” that was, admittedly, pretty awesome despite a few people wondering why in the world we were singing that song from the “Chevy Chase music video.” Afterward, we al headed our separate ways. Ryan and Dan went back to the condo, Mark and I headed out with Elevation for a post-party bottle of wine (sadly, their van had been booted and was going to be towed . . . we haven’t heard the aftermath of that situation, but we were all pretty angry about the situation), and Mike went out to a party in the suburbs. It was a late night again, but Mark and I were home by 6 a.m. and Mike showed up sometime soon thereafter, and we joined Darin watching the end of Planet of the Apes. It was a bit of a surreal ending to the week, but an awesome one nonetheless.
Day 9 (3.16.08): We woke up around noon thirty, cleaned up the condo, and hit the road for our long trek home. Darin had already taken off, but left a sweet note thanking us for letting him stay with us. The decision was made to drive straight from Austin to Minneapolis, so once we left at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday we knew we had a long drive ahead of us. It was a tough drive, fueled by the RyPod, movies (Boiler Room -- pretty awesome, and Point Break . . . yeah, we know . . . at least it wasn’t Surf Ninjas), bad gas station food, and lots of recollections about the week.
To be fair, this blog is quite abridged and it’s still over five pages long single spaced in Microsoft Word, so if anyone really wants to hear the nitty gritty, you’ll have to come ask us in person. Overall, it was one of the most incredible experiences of all of our lives, and I encourage anyone who loves music and a fantastic party to be at South by next year. I know we will be, rocking out and having a blast, and I think you all should join us. As the immortal Tigger says, “TTFN! Ta ta for now!”
So, we’ve recently returned (relatively unscathed) from South by Southwest 2008. We’d heard from most people before we headed out that it will quite possibly be one of the best times of our lives, and, in all honesty, I think it exceed everyone’s expectations.
Day 1 (3.08.08): We headed out on Saturday, March 8th, at about 7:30 p.m. amidst regular old Minneapolis winter weather (a cold, windy, snowy, and icy night), picking up our buddy Ryan Anhorn (our “tour manager,” though he’s really just a great friend and fantastic traveling companion) and heading to the space to load up. Dan took the first driving shift, expertly navigating the icy roads amidst a modest a snow per his usual cool-headed driving demeanor, and took us down I-35 to a destination some 80 miles south of Des Moines, IA. We decided then that it was a good time to stop and catch some sleep, and after comparing three different hotels we settled on a Days Inn. Obviously we’re high rollers.
Day 2 (3.09.08): After a successful night of sleeping, I took over driving duties from Dan and we began a long day of driving at about 11:30 a.m. (which was really 10:30 a.m. thanks to day light savings time . . . a reality we quite forgot and were rudely reminded of by the hotel staff). Twenty minutes into the drive, Mike realized he forgot his favorite pillow, but thankfully we had Ryan’s iPod (affectionately referred to as the RyPod) which has some choice selections (Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” and some killer Steve Miller . . . alright the Astley is a bit of a joke but we started every new leg of the journey with it and danced appropriately – see the impending video blog) to distract him. Between the RyPod and Mark’s and my iPods, we had some two months of music at our disposal, and we rocked accordingly.
We stopped for lunch somewhere in Missouri, and after cruising through Kansas City and Topeka, we couldn’t help but notice that with each successive stop the weather was getting significantly warmer (well, compared to the single digit temperatures in Minneapolis). Once we’d successfully traversed the Kansas Tollway I traded driving with Mark and we continued on into Oklahoma and, ultimately, Texas. We got a lot of reading done and forewent our extensive VHS collection (save “American Beauty;” we just couldn’t avoid Spacey any longer) in favor of some Happy Apple, Steve Miller, Beatles, Caribou, Working for a Nuclear Free City, and some Dostoevsky, Vonnegut, and the perennial band favorite, Harry Potter. Mark got tired at about one a.m.-ish, so we stopped just outside Waco, had our first Whataburgers (pretty awesome, I must say), and caught some Tim and Eric Awesome Show, a quick shower for one or two of us, and some sleep before heading on to Austin.
Day 3 (3.10.08): We got going about 11 a.m. on our third day of travel with Mike taking the last little leg of the journey (something like two hours) to Austin. We’d been set up with a free condo courtesy of a client of Mark and Mike’s father, and she graciously offered to find us a free place to park, as well. The condo was magnificent: clean, orderly, and vaguely modern. To be honest, we were pretty floored, though we knew deep within our hearts that in a day or two the clean and orderly part might not be so true. It was rainy and a bit chilly out, so we decided to camp out inside for a while, settle in, check the Internet, and watch some television. At about 5 p.m. the sun started poking through the clouds so we decided to explore. The condo was at 13th and Guadalupe, a mere eight or nine blocks from the thick of the action, so we hit the road and walked down to 6th street (where the bulk of everything SXSW happens). Things were fairly quiet as the festival was in the midst of its “interactive” phase as opposed to the all out rock-fest that begins on Wednesday, but there were still plenty of folks out and about.
We met a few characters on our walk and, within about an hour, were acclimated to our new surroundings. As such, in traditional WLR fashion, it was time to get some booze. Mike and Ryan went on a liquor run for a couple handles of Captain Morgan for the week. They ran into our A &R man Drew Pearson and Internet/video/techno guru extraordinaire Nate Maydole from 50 Records on the way, which was our first taste of home down in Austin (there would be many more). After a quick drink, we headed out to Dirty Martin’s, a burger joint recommended to us, which was a bit of a hike (maybe 15 or 20 blocks away from SXSW and closer to the University). After two straight days of Taco Bell, Whattaburger, and Ramen Noodles, Dirty Martin’s wasn’t much of a relief from the grease and fat, but in their defense the burgers were pretty tasty, and in our defense we knew we’d be walking a lot throughout the week. We had our first Lone Stars, which we ultimately decided were chameleons taste-wise (one day they’d be like our own Grain Belt Premiums, then they’d resemble a Miller High Life, and a different keg would be more akin to PBR . . . go figure), and Ryan snapped a few of what would become lots of WLR SXSW photos (these will be posted on our MySpace soon). We headed back, full of grease and chameleon beer, and the 48 hours of bad eating finally caught up to us in the form of supreme lethargy.
After reaching home at about 8 p.m. we noticed we had about two and a half hours to kill before rocking the PureVolume party kick-off. We checked our television options, noticed Anthony Bourdain was on, and b-lined it to the Travel Channel. Food is definitely a WLR pastime, as well as cooking and cooking shows (our visit to the Schwandt cabin last year was basically a music writing, drinking, and cooking marathon, with a lot of Top Chef thrown in). Mark and I fondly recalled meeting Bourdain back in November (it’s a pretty damn good story – ask us sometime), and watched as he tried to keep up as a line chef at his old restaurant. We probably all had another drink or two, and then headed down to 4th and Trinity to the PureVolume party.
The party wasn’t really kicking yet, but picked up a bit right before our 11 p.m. slot. Drew and Nate came down to hang out and rock with us, and we met a few new friends (shout out to the Lindsays) and fans over the course of the night. There weren’t a ton of people at the show, but the audience was receptive and, despite the questionable back-line (we had some technical issues), we had a great time. We knew we had Tuesday off (from playing, anyway), so we definitely took advantage of the free beer and vodka all night (PureVolume rocked until 4 a.m. the first couple of nights). All in all it was a fantastic first day in Austin.
Day 4 (3.11.08): Our “day off” of the week, but we had no intentions of letting the day go without a grand old time. We decompressed a bit during the day, made some Ramen noodles, watched more Tim and Eric Awesome Show, and played some guitar, but what really started the festivities was a fun and excellent dinner with Drew, Nate, and Deb Insted, founder and benefactor of 50 Records. Deb is a really sweet lady and generously offered to take care of dinner at Maiko Sushi, and we had what was definitely the highlight meal of the trip. Between Kobe Beef, Sake, and some of the greatest spicy sushi rolls we’ve experienced, the meal was absolutely delicious, a fact highlighted by great company. Unfortunately, Drew was developing the flu that didn’t really let up for him until about Friday, but he was a trooper and did a lot of great work all week.
After walking home amongst all the crazy Grackles (those crazy and obnoxious birds that flock Hitchcock-style throughout Austin every evening), we made some more rum and cokes and headed out for the night. We decided to just head back to the PureVolume party (we’re poor), and had our most star-studded night of the trip. It was the night of the Digg interactive party (something I was all about as an active Digg user), and Kevin Rose and crew were partying there all night. I snuck my way into the VIP room to hang out with Kevin and some other Digg staffers, asking them about the latest news trends and playing some Guitar Hero. Mark, Ryan, and Mike did some choreographed dancing, and, at about 2 a.m., Moby mysteriously appeared in the VIP section. As a big fan, Mike and I were pretty floored (he’d managed to sneak in after me), and I tried to talk him into playing Guitar Hero with me. He respectfully declined, but we chatted for a while and tried to talk him into coming to our show the next day. Late into the night, after more dancing and drinking, Mark noticed Mark Cuban had wandered into the party and bluntly told him that he disagreed with his decisions regarding the Mavericks over the past season. Since Cuban is known as a bit of an unsavory human being, it was pretty funny to see Mark take him on. Four a.m. rolled around again, so we headed back home.
Day 5 (3.12.08): For some reason, we’d mistakenly thought we had press to do at 10:30 a.m., so after six hours of sleep we woke up to a cacophony of cell phone alarms, but after a quick e-mail check realized that Thursday was our early press day – we didn’t have to be anywhere until about 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, so thankfully we got to head back to bed.
After some showers and a few Propels, we hit the Levi’s Fader party to do some Rock the Vote PSA’s and a couple Internet videos. It was in a building that was a bit of a maze, but after taking care of business we found the concert venue in the back, replete with free Bass Ale, SoCo, and Sparks (Alright, so the Sparks wasn’t of much interest to us). We watched The Kills, The Ruby Suns, and our favorites of the day, Does It Offend You, Yeah? We made some new friends who were awesome and came to the rest of our shows (shout out to Jen and Karleigh), had some Taco Shack burritos, and prepared to rock the Dizzy Rooster (fans of the Real World might remember that name). Our buddies in The Effects arrived, as did our label mates Elevation, and it was pretty sweet to see them all again. We played after Elevation at midnight and had a blast playing for new faces and old, and after loading out we hit Coyote Ugly with the boys in The Effects. We tried to get them into the PureVolume party, but they were without passes and the line to get in was pretty intense, so we opted for an earlier night. After a pizza stop we started heading home and recognized Phantom Planet wandering the streets. We talked to them for a bit, asked about their new record, and headed on our way. We got back to the condo around 2:30 a.m. We did have an early morning so it was all for the best.
Day 6 (3.13.08): Our first early morning; after a 9 a.m. wake up and showers all around, we headed down to the Hilton to do some interviews. We did a quick interview with Clay from Roxwel.com and then headed over to Room 710 for the Voltage Fashion Day Show, and, despite lacking in audience attendance, it was good to see our buddies in The Alarmists and The Melismatics as well as MC/VL, Ouija Radio, The Birthday Suits. The breakfast burritos were solid, along with the chips and guacamole they set out for everyone. Our friends Stacy Schwartz and Andrea Myers were there, and it was good to see more Minneapolis folks down in Austin. We loaded out and headed over to Nuno’s downstairs for a Red Gorilla/Zude day party with Autovaughn and The Effects, and it was a glorious reunion show for WLR and The Effects. It was a hot, sweaty set for both, and attendance was solid (as was the free Lone Star), so we decided to reward ourselves with a grand night of partying.
Our manager Mike Kempton got into town in time for the Nuno’s show, so after the show we went back to the condo, made some drinks, and talked business. We showed him Tim and Eric Awesome Show, which he thought was amazing, and we made plans to meet with our lawyer, Jeff Beiderman, for some Shiner Bock and business talk. Once we had some food in our bellies we headed to the Library for some foosball rematches and beer drinking with The Effects. Jeff met us there a little while later, along with Darin Back, photographer extraordinaire, who was shooting for City Pages (there are some great shots on the City Pages website), The Melismatics, and The Alarmists. We shared Shiner Bocks, stories, and toasts, and then headed over to the Chuggin’ Monkey. After some more debauchery we jogged over to the PureVolume party, which, much to our dismay, ended around 2 a.m. this particular night. We met up with our old friend Zach Pentel from the high school days and his friend MaryBeth. Zach came back to the condo, along with Darin and some others, for a late night after bar that ended at 6 a.m. after a few bottles of wine and even more rum and cokes. We discovered that mixing amaretto with Diet coke tastes like a Maraschino cherry, and filed it away under a mix we’d avoid in the future (because, really, who wants to drink that?). Friday promised more early interviews, but we were at SXSW so we justified the late night party as such.
Day 7 (3.14.08): Our last “official work day” at SXSW began with more cell phone alarms and a surprisingly chipper Darin making sure we were all up and ready to go in the morning. Darin accompanied us to our interviews and took some shots, after which we headed to Fuze to set up and get ready for the 50 Records/Zude Day Party. For whatever ridiculous reason the club didn’t offer free waters that were obviously in high demand after the shenanigans of the night before, so we all had to wander about in search of that precious substance. Ryan, Mike, and Dan found some free BBQ, Mark napped, and I enjoyed the air conditioning. Darin had left to shoot another band, and Ryan and I kind of wandered around, watching People in Planes and chatting with The Melismatics and The Effects, all of whom put on awesome shows before we finally took the stage. It was a staggering 90 degrees outside, so the air conditioning was a welcome relief. After another sweaty and high energy show (Darin got some killer shots of it), we stuck around and chatted with all the folks at Zude and 50, along with a bunch of our new friends, before heading over to do another interview at the Hilton. Poor Ryan had to watch our equipment out on the sidewalk because the interview ran a bit late and we ended up missing both Elevation and load out, but luckily he was a responsible guy and took care of it all for us (his first real foray into having to do some actual “tour manager” duties).
We got our equipment home, mixed a few more drinks, and decided to hit the town for a Friday hoorah. Another stop at the Library with The Effects and some 50 Interns proved to be fun, and then we headed to the Driscoll to meet up with Jeff and Mike before they left for the week. The Melismatics were there at a balcony party, so we joined them, along with more 50 people, Elevation, The Effects, and many others, and we found our PureVolume alternative (free booze until 4 in the morning, but high quality stuff and even higher quality people). Darin, Mike, Dan, and Mark headed back to the condo at about 4:15 a.m., but Ryan and I stayed out with Zach and MaryBeth, and we went to the house that they had rented with some other friends and stayed up until 7 a.m. telling stories, playing Jenga, and passing around some Jack Daniels. Fantastic night.
Day 8 (3.15.08): Ryan and I woke up on the floor and couch respectively (although he’d made quite the bed out of some couch cushions) and began our long walk home (like 35 blocks). We got fifteen blocks, ate some Jimmy John’s, and realized that we’d left a couple things at Zach’s place (Three and a half hours of sleep wasn’t really helping our memories). We walked back and pleaded with Dan to come pick us up, so he and Darin showed up a bit later and we headed back out for the day. Darin, Mike and I went to see Tapes ‘N Tapes at the Austin City Limits, and Ryan, Dan, and Mark went to the Black and Tan to see Working For a Nuclear Free City. It was tough to decide between the two, but one really can’t go wrong between those two bands. Since we had the full day off we all kind of went our separate ways, with Darin going off to shoot a lot of bands, Mike heading out to try and get into the Fader party for 2 Live Crew, seeing it was packed, and catching another MC/VL show instead, and Ryan, Dan, Mark and I being treated to another dinner courtesy of Deb. Mark and I ran into Erik Appelwick for the second time that day at the Iron Cactus where we were eating and it was good to get to chat with him and the other Tapes guys for a while. We got to chat with our friend Gabe Douglas at dinner, along with Gary Clark and other 50 folks, which was fun considering all the stories we regaled each other with about the week.
After dinner we caught a bit of Elevation’s set, another Effects set, and then headed down to the Driscoll party again. The Elevation dudes showed up, along with the Effects, and all our 50 friends. For the second night in a row the balcony party was awesome. Ryan, Dan and I did an a capella version of “You Can Call Me Al” that was, admittedly, pretty awesome despite a few people wondering why in the world we were singing that song from the “Chevy Chase music video.” Afterward, we al headed our separate ways. Ryan and Dan went back to the condo, Mark and I headed out with Elevation for a post-party bottle of wine (sadly, their van had been booted and was going to be towed . . . we haven’t heard the aftermath of that situation, but we were all pretty angry about the situation), and Mike went out to a party in the suburbs. It was a late night again, but Mark and I were home by 6 a.m. and Mike showed up sometime soon thereafter, and we joined Darin watching the end of Planet of the Apes. It was a bit of a surreal ending to the week, but an awesome one nonetheless.
Day 9 (3.16.08): We woke up around noon thirty, cleaned up the condo, and hit the road for our long trek home. Darin had already taken off, but left a sweet note thanking us for letting him stay with us. The decision was made to drive straight from Austin to Minneapolis, so once we left at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday we knew we had a long drive ahead of us. It was a tough drive, fueled by the RyPod, movies (Boiler Room -- pretty awesome, and Point Break . . . yeah, we know . . . at least it wasn’t Surf Ninjas), bad gas station food, and lots of recollections about the week.
To be fair, this blog is quite abridged and it’s still over five pages long single spaced in Microsoft Word, so if anyone really wants to hear the nitty gritty, you’ll have to come ask us in person. Overall, it was one of the most incredible experiences of all of our lives, and I encourage anyone who loves music and a fantastic party to be at South by next year. I know we will be, rocking out and having a blast, and I think you all should join us. As the immortal Tigger says, “TTFN! Ta ta for now!”
Friday, February 22, 2008
What Is and What Should Never Be
Hello to both of our blog readers,
Just a quick update on what we've been doing lately and how we feel about it (after all, that's what a blog is all about, right?).
We're in the midst of a brief stopover at home (about a night and a day) between playing a few dates with our new best buds in The Effects and catching up again with VAST for a few more dates. We're gonna start the drive out to Cleveland in a couple of hours in the hopes that we can get out there by our 3 PM load time tomorrow . . . It's a bit of a drive from Minneapolis, but we have plenty of movies to pass the time. This will be our first show in Cleveland (Drew Carey?), which is sweet considering the location of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as our first time stopping near Detroit and Indianapolis. It'll be nice to have more cities under our belt, especially ones so near us here in the Midwest.
Speaking of which, we had a blast down in Kansas City (and visiting Bloomington, Indiana as well as seeing everyone in Chicago again). We honestly had too much fun with The Effects and found our party animal soul-mates in them. Four wild nights in a row and it all went by so quickly we had to make tentative plans to do about a month together sometime in the future (summer maybe?). Shout outs to the Jerry's Bait Shop crews, all the folks who put us up for the night, and to the Stolen Winnebagos -- honestly, the coolest cover band we've ever seen in our lives -- check them out if you're ever around Kansas City on a Sunday or Monday. They are NOT to be missed.
Since we're a bit low on money these days, we've really been roughing it -- eating crackers, peanuts, and maybe a PB & J for a meal, not showering for days on end, and we even slept in the van for the first time this past trip! It wasn't actually that bad, and it saves us $60 a night, so here's to some hardcore touring. I think it might be good for the soul; if we tough it out now, the nice hotel rooms and sold out shows down the line will be all the sweeter.
Alright, I gotta shower and eat before we head out. Cheers everyone and hope to see you all soon!
- Joe
WLR
Just a quick update on what we've been doing lately and how we feel about it (after all, that's what a blog is all about, right?).
We're in the midst of a brief stopover at home (about a night and a day) between playing a few dates with our new best buds in The Effects and catching up again with VAST for a few more dates. We're gonna start the drive out to Cleveland in a couple of hours in the hopes that we can get out there by our 3 PM load time tomorrow . . . It's a bit of a drive from Minneapolis, but we have plenty of movies to pass the time. This will be our first show in Cleveland (Drew Carey?), which is sweet considering the location of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as our first time stopping near Detroit and Indianapolis. It'll be nice to have more cities under our belt, especially ones so near us here in the Midwest.
Speaking of which, we had a blast down in Kansas City (and visiting Bloomington, Indiana as well as seeing everyone in Chicago again). We honestly had too much fun with The Effects and found our party animal soul-mates in them. Four wild nights in a row and it all went by so quickly we had to make tentative plans to do about a month together sometime in the future (summer maybe?). Shout outs to the Jerry's Bait Shop crews, all the folks who put us up for the night, and to the Stolen Winnebagos -- honestly, the coolest cover band we've ever seen in our lives -- check them out if you're ever around Kansas City on a Sunday or Monday. They are NOT to be missed.
Since we're a bit low on money these days, we've really been roughing it -- eating crackers, peanuts, and maybe a PB & J for a meal, not showering for days on end, and we even slept in the van for the first time this past trip! It wasn't actually that bad, and it saves us $60 a night, so here's to some hardcore touring. I think it might be good for the soul; if we tough it out now, the nice hotel rooms and sold out shows down the line will be all the sweeter.
Alright, I gotta shower and eat before we head out. Cheers everyone and hope to see you all soon!
- Joe
WLR
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