So we're here in Abilene, Texas today. I (alex) just woke up from crazy dreams. I don't know if its being on tour singing sad love songs and happy love songs and talking to new and old people everyday that is making my mind schizophrenic but whatever it is, it's making my dreams schizophrenic as well.
On the new EP "El Dorado County: A Tale of Love and Loss" there aren't many songs that are about one person (whereas our last album Orange County, is a conglomeration of songs including love songs about one ex-girlfriend). There is a thin storyline on El Dorado that isn't totally fleshed out by the released songs. The original storyline was going to be a rough sketch and partly fictionous account of a weekend I had in Lake Tahoe. It started with a lot of excitement for the trip (hence the first track) and it ended in Placerville with the realization of failure with 2 girls. Placerville is second because it basically vibes the whole EP and story. It's a glorious failure complete with dark horn choruses, meandering piano, swelling cymbals and long songs of epic prorportions (at least for Your Yellow Dress).
As the EP progresses there is The Desolation Wilderness, a dark tonally uncentered instrumental. Ryan wrote a trumpet part that fits my intentions perfectly. The dark trumpet gleams for moments but the dissolves away into beautiful piano. The trumpet continually tries to make a stand but then cannot maintain, a perfect metaphor for many people I have interacted with or even tried to "flirt" with.
Forgive Me is at best a resignation, at worst a woo-ing love song gone wrong. It's shiny, is plinky but it always gives way to the chorus minor chorus. The song asks for forgiveness for doing things that I should not do but I do them anyway in playing the game of love. This song is about 2 different people, possibly 3 subconsciously.
If there is any glimmer of hope it comes in the form of the last song, while it is a resignation, its also a proclamation. A proclamation that I will do better, that I am going to keep doing what I need to do and be a better person. If no one (in this case women) accepts that or finds it "right" it's ok cause I've done my best to be a better person.
Maybe its the fear that no one will accept you that really permeates the EP, and that being single is frustrating (especially after a letdown from my last relationship) but hopefully anyone who reads this will have a better understanding and appreciation or this EP. A few people have told me its good, bad, confusing, and most of all different from our last album, but ultimately instead of coating the frustrated songs and disappointing (love) songs in major chords and melodies, this EP manifests itself with a schizophrenic melancholy which I hope you will enjoy.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Winter Tour Update #1
So we're in a Motel 6 in Roswell, New Mexico. We got caught in a snow storm which prevented us from getting to Carlsbad but everything is ok since we didn't have a show! Anyway here is a video update:
In Tucson we played the Hangart which was cool like last time. We could've used some practice before the show, but people seemed to enjoy it. We hung out with Jake at the Hangart a bit and then went to Renato's house to stay with him. We had a awesome chill sesh with cookies, tea and cool new friends, even a cute girl.
We went back to the Hangart in the morning to practice (which paid off) and then went to Phoenix.
In Phoenix we went to Walmart and rode bikes around the store until thwarted. We then headed to Trunkspace which treated us even better than last time. We played with Hello the Mind Control (wonderful as usual, so glad we got their CD), Alex Benson (more amazing with a live band), Little Swamp (classic DIY, their set just reminded me of all my friend around the country), Iji (zach played NEW SONGS! they were great), and Gilmore Girls (awesome pop punk to finish the night). We played pretty ok for how much we've practiced but the PA was malfunctioning a bit.
After the show we headed to a diner with the Iji/Little Swamp crew and had some fries and relaxed. We then stayed at Zach from Iji's house and had a good night and played with his friendly dogs. The next morning they fed us and we met his family who were also super kind to us.
We then vacated to New Mexico. Things were good going through scenic Arizona but then as altitude rose so did the intensity of snow. Visibility got low and we took it slow which delayed us a few hours. We stopped at a gas station in Quedamo New Mexico and made our video update. We drove on and on till it was too late to continue driving and then plopped down in Roswell.
We're heading to Abilene to meet up with Neil the Deal and play a show, then onto Fort Worth for New Years Eve!
In Tucson we played the Hangart which was cool like last time. We could've used some practice before the show, but people seemed to enjoy it. We hung out with Jake at the Hangart a bit and then went to Renato's house to stay with him. We had a awesome chill sesh with cookies, tea and cool new friends, even a cute girl.
We went back to the Hangart in the morning to practice (which paid off) and then went to Phoenix.
In Phoenix we went to Walmart and rode bikes around the store until thwarted. We then headed to Trunkspace which treated us even better than last time. We played with Hello the Mind Control (wonderful as usual, so glad we got their CD), Alex Benson (more amazing with a live band), Little Swamp (classic DIY, their set just reminded me of all my friend around the country), Iji (zach played NEW SONGS! they were great), and Gilmore Girls (awesome pop punk to finish the night). We played pretty ok for how much we've practiced but the PA was malfunctioning a bit.
After the show we headed to a diner with the Iji/Little Swamp crew and had some fries and relaxed. We then stayed at Zach from Iji's house and had a good night and played with his friendly dogs. The next morning they fed us and we met his family who were also super kind to us.
We then vacated to New Mexico. Things were good going through scenic Arizona but then as altitude rose so did the intensity of snow. Visibility got low and we took it slow which delayed us a few hours. We stopped at a gas station in Quedamo New Mexico and made our video update. We drove on and on till it was too late to continue driving and then plopped down in Roswell.
We're heading to Abilene to meet up with Neil the Deal and play a show, then onto Fort Worth for New Years Eve!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The Summer and Final Jaunt Back to Berkeley
What happened after the tour? Well we separated ways for the time being. Ava was back in LA living with her dad and working on her own music and art. Richard hung out for a few days and then went back to Davis for the summer. Steven went back to Isla Vista to write music and move to the Santa Barbara. Me and Ryan went back to live at our Dad's house and enjoy his final summer of being a high schooler. Tim went back to his family to take some community college courses and play lots of Rockband.
Me, Ryan and Tim (as well as Josh Chang who recorded cello on the album) all worked at he Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. We also climbed a few mountains, watched movies, played Age of Empires and generally enjoyed life.
Steven (Existential Hero) came back down to Orange County to record his new album with me! We knocked it out in 2 or 3 weekends with some crazy all night recording sessions mixed between me working. It's a great album that was finally released in September: http://cllct.com/release/haspotential download it!
During this time Morgan Orion, Jack F.E. and Bunny Zewt Suit stopped by. We had a great show with them in my backyard and we went to the beach with them! We also recorded a song by Morgan called "Mister Miss Her". Its a great song but he never figured out what he was going to do with it.
I finished recording an EP this summer which was alternate takes of Orange County songs and covers of the summers greatest songs: "Will We Ever" and "Chill Out, Griffin" by Nana Grizol and Wabash respectively.
Ryan and I took the EP on tour with us as we drove back up to college...
Santa Barbara: We stayed with Steven and played a show with him at Mel's place. it didnt end up being much of a show but rather a round robin of songs, covers and hookah. Afterwards with hung out with Steven and Layla, tramping around Isla Vista doing crazy things and going to forbidden places. Oh the lives of college students!
LA: We drove back to LA to play the Tribal Cafe with Ava. We played with a typical LA "experimental noise/garage rock" band and 2 punk bands. The punk kids really wanted our music so we gave it to them for very cheap. They were all total glam punks and all of them it seemed were underaged. The guy who owned the cafe was really into recording the sets and video taping them. He interviewed everyone after their sets and interviewed the audience.
San Luis Obispo: So Ava accompanied us back to Steven's where we stayed the night. We then headed up to SLO to play a show at The Clubhouse. First we went to beautiful Morro Bay and climbed rocks. It brought back memories of touring to SLO back in high school with david and my ex-girlfriend (and originall YYD co-founder) Carrie. We headed back to the venue after picking up some groceries. Ava had a rocky set but we killed it! We had Morgan Enos play with us again and it was wonderful. His guitar made up for my guitars failures and the people loved Ryan's horn and Ava's bells. We got extra donations and CD sales after the show because people liked us. This really pissed off the promoter though who hates Morgan and seems to despise music that isnt boring singersongwriter or "true" folk music.. But we got many compliments including someone saying that we were like a tiny Polyphonic Spree! WHEW what a compliment!
We had to find a hotel that night though because Morgan couldn't put us up and neither could anyone from the show. We paid for a motel and waited till we had to drop Ava off at the Greyhound at 2 am. We woke up in the morning and went to Santa Maria.
Santa Maria:
We back tracked to play this show but it was well worth it! We had a hard time finding the venue but we got to play with Steven again and some cool SMDIY kids in a band called Hello My Name is Cirus. People again loved us and bought lots of CDs and stuff! We almost sold out of our Tour EP! We left for a long drive to Berkeley. Ryan was a trooper and did most of the driving which I was really thankful for. We arrived around 2 am.
Davis: Now you might be wondering: why was it only you and Ryan? Where is the rest of the band? Well, Tim was working at his schools welcome week earning some extra cash and Ava had business to take care of at home. Richard was in Davis. Tim rejoined me to go to Davis. Ryan had to stay in Berkeley for CAL Band. Me, Tim and Richard played a short set after barely making it to Davis. We played and people again dug it. No microphones or anything yet people across the busy street still stood to watch us for a bit! We sold almost all the rest of our EPs and met Nadav whose going to have us on his radio show someday. We saw our friends David A Good Pillow and Neil Ruud which was wonderful as usual. We also got some awesome smoothies at the gallery we played in front of!
Berkeley: Technically the last day of tour was the first inaugural show East Bay DIY show at The Carpentry, my house! We played a packed show with some berkeley friends of ours and had a great time. The sets were recorded: http://cllct.com/release/campfirebritbenjaminglasscakeandyouryellowdress82109thecarpentry
Tour over we set up camp for a long semester of school. Ryan and I are at Berkeley, Tim is at San Francisco State, Richard is at UC Davis, and various other people who played with us during tour and on record populate the campus's of Saddleback College, UCI, and NYU.
If you want to download the tour EP we recorded it is up for free here:
http://cllct.com/release/backtoschooltourep
Epilogue:
We have since been here at school. Ryan's studying chem but switching to history. I'm studying business and music and having way too many classes. Ava is withdrawn from Berkeley trying to figure out her major for next semester. Tim is at SFSU and SFCC trying to transfer to Berkeley and we have added new/old band members:
Andrew Davis: Guitar and whatever else we can convince him to try. He goes to Berkeley and is also from Orange County! Huntington Beach to be exact!
Josh Reyman: Bass. Josh also goes to Berkeley and dates a fried of ours, Mandie Russell who I'm producing some songs for this year.
Jake Satola: Drummer. He also played the wicked solo on the end of "(Un)happiest Place on Earth". He is going to be touring with us this winter through the western USA.
Mandie Russell: Flute. There are the facts mentioned above but interstingly we unknowingly went to high school with her but didn't meet her till after she graduated.
Alyson Durrant: Violin hopefully. She goes to Berkeley and went to high school with us.
Currently there are a few things going on:
I'm writing new songs about El Dorado County. No I'm not writing songs with snappy titles like, "James Marshall! Look What You've Done!" or "Skiing the Sierra, How I Broke Your Leg at Heavenly and Never Said Sorry", but instead its going to be a mini drama about a weekend spent in Lake Tahoe with friends and a girl I liked. This fateful weekend I found out she had a boyfriend. Major Bummer. Maybe that is what we'll call the record "Major Bummer in Tahoe" hahah.
No, we're getting personal this time around and we have a few songs together. The first song is called Placerville, it starts our story at the end. The other song is untitled but has a big group singing thing at the beginning and a driving midsection. We also have an instrumental called The Desolation Wilderness we developed with Jake this summer. There are a few other this floating around like "I Just Want to Dance With You" and other ideas but nothing firm.
I'm also working on a covers album and a Christmas album. In fact I am rehearsing with my friend Audrey who is going to sing a version of "Baby It's Cold Outside". Some other songs for christmas will be "Silent Night", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "White Christmas", "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", "O Holy Night", and an original song called "Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad".
We're also embarking on a winter tour! If you could help us our with some dates that wouldbe wonderful:
December
26 - Orange County - TBA
27 - Phoenix - Trunkspace w/ Iji and Little Swamp
28 - Tucson - TBA?
29 - Santa Fe/New Mexico - NEEED HELP!!!
30 - Lubbock/West TX - NEED HELP!!
31 - Arlington and Dallas - early show @ Love and Reason, Late show TBA
January
1 - Arkansas or Oklahoma - NEED HELP
2 - Kansas City, MO - JBs House
3 - Denver, CO - The Soulquarium
4 - Salt lake City - TBA w/ Drew Danburry
5 - Boise, ID - NEED HELP
6 - seattle - New Crompton
7 - olympia - TBA w/ Sundance Kids
8 - portland - NEEED HELPPP
9 - arcata, ca - TBA w/ David Jaberi
10 - davis - TBA w/ Neil Ruud
11 - santa cruz - NEED HELP
12 - san luis obispo - TBA w/ Morgan Enos
13 - ssanta maria - Cafe Monet w/ Hello My Name Is Circus
14 - santa barbara - Biko Garage w/ NANA GRIZOL, Mount Righteous
15 - day off
16 - day off
17 - Berkeley - The Carpentry
Me, Ryan and Tim (as well as Josh Chang who recorded cello on the album) all worked at he Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach. We also climbed a few mountains, watched movies, played Age of Empires and generally enjoyed life.
Steven (Existential Hero) came back down to Orange County to record his new album with me! We knocked it out in 2 or 3 weekends with some crazy all night recording sessions mixed between me working. It's a great album that was finally released in September: http://cllct.com/release/haspotential download it!
During this time Morgan Orion, Jack F.E. and Bunny Zewt Suit stopped by. We had a great show with them in my backyard and we went to the beach with them! We also recorded a song by Morgan called "Mister Miss Her". Its a great song but he never figured out what he was going to do with it.
I finished recording an EP this summer which was alternate takes of Orange County songs and covers of the summers greatest songs: "Will We Ever" and "Chill Out, Griffin" by Nana Grizol and Wabash respectively.
Ryan and I took the EP on tour with us as we drove back up to college...
Santa Barbara: We stayed with Steven and played a show with him at Mel's place. it didnt end up being much of a show but rather a round robin of songs, covers and hookah. Afterwards with hung out with Steven and Layla, tramping around Isla Vista doing crazy things and going to forbidden places. Oh the lives of college students!
LA: We drove back to LA to play the Tribal Cafe with Ava. We played with a typical LA "experimental noise/garage rock" band and 2 punk bands. The punk kids really wanted our music so we gave it to them for very cheap. They were all total glam punks and all of them it seemed were underaged. The guy who owned the cafe was really into recording the sets and video taping them. He interviewed everyone after their sets and interviewed the audience.
San Luis Obispo: So Ava accompanied us back to Steven's where we stayed the night. We then headed up to SLO to play a show at The Clubhouse. First we went to beautiful Morro Bay and climbed rocks. It brought back memories of touring to SLO back in high school with david and my ex-girlfriend (and originall YYD co-founder) Carrie. We headed back to the venue after picking up some groceries. Ava had a rocky set but we killed it! We had Morgan Enos play with us again and it was wonderful. His guitar made up for my guitars failures and the people loved Ryan's horn and Ava's bells. We got extra donations and CD sales after the show because people liked us. This really pissed off the promoter though who hates Morgan and seems to despise music that isnt boring singersongwriter or "true" folk music.. But we got many compliments including someone saying that we were like a tiny Polyphonic Spree! WHEW what a compliment!
We had to find a hotel that night though because Morgan couldn't put us up and neither could anyone from the show. We paid for a motel and waited till we had to drop Ava off at the Greyhound at 2 am. We woke up in the morning and went to Santa Maria.
Santa Maria:
We back tracked to play this show but it was well worth it! We had a hard time finding the venue but we got to play with Steven again and some cool SMDIY kids in a band called Hello My Name is Cirus. People again loved us and bought lots of CDs and stuff! We almost sold out of our Tour EP! We left for a long drive to Berkeley. Ryan was a trooper and did most of the driving which I was really thankful for. We arrived around 2 am.
Davis: Now you might be wondering: why was it only you and Ryan? Where is the rest of the band? Well, Tim was working at his schools welcome week earning some extra cash and Ava had business to take care of at home. Richard was in Davis. Tim rejoined me to go to Davis. Ryan had to stay in Berkeley for CAL Band. Me, Tim and Richard played a short set after barely making it to Davis. We played and people again dug it. No microphones or anything yet people across the busy street still stood to watch us for a bit! We sold almost all the rest of our EPs and met Nadav whose going to have us on his radio show someday. We saw our friends David A Good Pillow and Neil Ruud which was wonderful as usual. We also got some awesome smoothies at the gallery we played in front of!
Berkeley: Technically the last day of tour was the first inaugural show East Bay DIY show at The Carpentry, my house! We played a packed show with some berkeley friends of ours and had a great time. The sets were recorded: http://cllct.com/release/campfirebritbenjaminglasscakeandyouryellowdress82109thecarpentry
Tour over we set up camp for a long semester of school. Ryan and I are at Berkeley, Tim is at San Francisco State, Richard is at UC Davis, and various other people who played with us during tour and on record populate the campus's of Saddleback College, UCI, and NYU.
If you want to download the tour EP we recorded it is up for free here:
http://cllct.com/release/backtoschooltourep
Epilogue:
We have since been here at school. Ryan's studying chem but switching to history. I'm studying business and music and having way too many classes. Ava is withdrawn from Berkeley trying to figure out her major for next semester. Tim is at SFSU and SFCC trying to transfer to Berkeley and we have added new/old band members:
Andrew Davis: Guitar and whatever else we can convince him to try. He goes to Berkeley and is also from Orange County! Huntington Beach to be exact!
Josh Reyman: Bass. Josh also goes to Berkeley and dates a fried of ours, Mandie Russell who I'm producing some songs for this year.
Jake Satola: Drummer. He also played the wicked solo on the end of "(Un)happiest Place on Earth". He is going to be touring with us this winter through the western USA.
Mandie Russell: Flute. There are the facts mentioned above but interstingly we unknowingly went to high school with her but didn't meet her till after she graduated.
Alyson Durrant: Violin hopefully. She goes to Berkeley and went to high school with us.
Currently there are a few things going on:
I'm writing new songs about El Dorado County. No I'm not writing songs with snappy titles like, "James Marshall! Look What You've Done!" or "Skiing the Sierra, How I Broke Your Leg at Heavenly and Never Said Sorry", but instead its going to be a mini drama about a weekend spent in Lake Tahoe with friends and a girl I liked. This fateful weekend I found out she had a boyfriend. Major Bummer. Maybe that is what we'll call the record "Major Bummer in Tahoe" hahah.
No, we're getting personal this time around and we have a few songs together. The first song is called Placerville, it starts our story at the end. The other song is untitled but has a big group singing thing at the beginning and a driving midsection. We also have an instrumental called The Desolation Wilderness we developed with Jake this summer. There are a few other this floating around like "I Just Want to Dance With You" and other ideas but nothing firm.
I'm also working on a covers album and a Christmas album. In fact I am rehearsing with my friend Audrey who is going to sing a version of "Baby It's Cold Outside". Some other songs for christmas will be "Silent Night", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "White Christmas", "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", "O Holy Night", and an original song called "Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad".
We're also embarking on a winter tour! If you could help us our with some dates that wouldbe wonderful:
December
26 - Orange County - TBA
27 - Phoenix - Trunkspace w/ Iji and Little Swamp
28 - Tucson - TBA?
29 - Santa Fe/New Mexico - NEEED HELP!!!
30 - Lubbock/West TX - NEED HELP!!
31 - Arlington and Dallas - early show @ Love and Reason, Late show TBA
January
1 - Arkansas or Oklahoma - NEED HELP
2 - Kansas City, MO - JBs House
3 - Denver, CO - The Soulquarium
4 - Salt lake City - TBA w/ Drew Danburry
5 - Boise, ID - NEED HELP
6 - seattle - New Crompton
7 - olympia - TBA w/ Sundance Kids
8 - portland - NEEED HELPPP
9 - arcata, ca - TBA w/ David Jaberi
10 - davis - TBA w/ Neil Ruud
11 - santa cruz - NEED HELP
12 - san luis obispo - TBA w/ Morgan Enos
13 - ssanta maria - Cafe Monet w/ Hello My Name Is Circus
14 - santa barbara - Biko Garage w/ NANA GRIZOL, Mount Righteous
15 - day off
16 - day off
17 - Berkeley - The Carpentry
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
We spent a good weekend at home and then hit the road again, this time with my brother ryan on trumpet, tim still playing baritone and we picked steven ray morris up, otherwise known as Existential Hero.
LA: We started off heading to Los Angeles to play at our band member Ava's house. No one came until we begged, so it basically became a warm up show. We experimented with our Rockband guitar as a real instrument (which worked really well!). We also go some late night donuts.
Santa Barbara: We booked it up to Steven's place to start our crazy tour. We went to some beaches, did some jamming and played a show at Mel's place. it was sort of a show sort of a practice. We did some jamming with Jamison and I dont really know who opened the show besides EH.
San Luis Obispo: We picked up ryan at the train station and then booked it to SLO. We hung out downtown and did a bit of practicing. Then we played Linnea's with Morgan Enos. We had a real piano there that was awesome to use and we also included Morgan in our band which gave us 6 members! We then stayed with my friend jackie at her amazing mountain home north of SLO. Her dog was awesome, but unfortunately Ryan violated their computer which led to a bit of tension..
Berekley: We woke up and headed to my adopted hometown of Berkeley, CA. We stayed in my new house, The Carpentry, and had a cool show with Michael playing bass, again giving up a 6 person band. Richard had also joined up with us and we had our crew ready to go! We slept in my empty room on the floor after engaging in some fun late night activities. We were NOT ready to wake up at 4am to drive to Portland
Portland: But we woke up at 4 am and steven led the charge to Portland. We saw some beautiful views and got some awesome quotes (Ryan: "there must be like 100 tree's out there") and some awesome pictures of me and Richard being intimate. We finally arrived in Portland (after seeing tons of hitchhikers) we were greeted with a beautiful city and traffic. We made our way to the venue, a Coffee shop that supports programs for mentally challenged kids. We first headed to Voodoo Donuts to get some way rad donuts (the cock and balls, maple bar with beacon, m&ms donut to name a few) before playing a great show with Silly Rob Childish. Afterwards we went with him and his wonderful wife to their house (and cats). We then preceded to hang out with some rad bros and hipsters at a portland house party.
Seattle: We woke up and treked further up the stunning northwest to seattle. We didn't have a show so we headed to Camano Island to stay with our host Mandie Russell. We had a crazy night of catching up, beaches and lots of clowning around!
We then traveled into the U District of seattle to play a show at The Sureshot Cafe with Secret Plan. he was WONDERFUL and we saw some of our old friends from iji and the blanket truth! We played a ridiculous game of risk and then headed back Camano to prepare for Olympia.
Olympia: This was by far the weirdest show or night on tour musically.. We arrived in this weird bar area/industrial area of Olympia to play a venue called Le Voyuer. We played with Josh Armistead (this weird dude from australia who was so put on..), and The Hard TO Get (a duo playing power pop). We played a YYD punk rock set, I accompanied steven on drums during his set. No one was there except the bands and Josh's posse traveling with him from Australia. We danced like crazy to The Hard to Get which I think made the show better for them, it certainly made it better for us.
Camano Island (aka Not Boise, ID): So we cancelled out show in Boise, ID cause of the length of drive and costs. We stayed an extra night in Camano with Mandie. We went to the community pool illegally, filmed some videos of us playing music in the Pugent Sound with snowcapped mountains inthe background! (horns, ukulele, and the water!)Me and Mandie worked on some things for her new songs, the other boys played an insane game of risk, and we capped off an emotional night by watching Twilight at 5 in the morning. Yes, 4 guys sitting around watching Twilight talking about how hot Bella was and how snappy Edward dressed.
Ashland: In the morning we had to take off saddly but we'd reunite with Mandie in August back in the bay area. We drove through portland (with a requisite stop at Voodoo Donuts) and then on to Ashland. We had a hard time finding where we were playing but we made it. We met Dustin and the Furniture, Y Lime?, and Wabash. It was so awesome! They are all great musicians and 2 of them traded us 2 of my favorite records of the year. There wasn't much audience and we couldn't steal and cafeteria food but it was ok. We got to hang out at Noah's house with everybody and we had a great night of talking, musicing and video gaming!
Merced: We took off from Ashland for another killllller drive to Merced. At the border we got inspected for any plants/foliage or animals we were bringing into the state but we didn't have any except carrots. We stopped for food (mostly sunflower seeds for me and ryan) and then booked it down to Merced. The show had already started when we got there so we went straight on. I played with a lit sparkler in my mouth and we made someone grandma cry with our songs. Talk about amazing and powerful! We then spent some good times catching up with our friends who set up the show: Claude, Tippy, Jaime (Tippys mom), and her grandma. Steven had some interesting interactions with Tippys mom while Claude got frustrated and Tippys grandma sexually harassed ryan. Good times had by all!
Brentwood? SF? Berkeley? Home?: So we were suppose to play a show with three of the bands that played with us in merced. We woke up and started calling people to confirm the show. They cancelled us off the show (and we later found out the show went on with only one of the bands playing). Two of the bands from the night before busked for cash in san francisco and I rushed us to Berkeley to pay my rent. After our business was settled in Berkeley we decided to just drive home. There were 5 drivers so we could afford to drive till 2am or later. We gunned it down the 5, sometimes with very little clothes on to save gas/AC usage. We had some heart to hearts and learn a lot about each other on that long ride home.
Home Home Home: We dropped steven off in Orange, took Richard home to RSM, passed Carrie's (an old band member and ex-girlfriend) house and finally Tim. The tour was saddly over but shenanigans continued the next day.
We played our final show on tour at Moss Street Beach. With mandolins, melodicas, and horns in toe we jammed while exploring the awesomeness of moss street. People really appreciated it and it was nice to be reaffirmed by orange county residents that our songs about orange county were really something with value. We ended the day with in-n-out.
What an amazing tour! Coming up is me and Ryan's Back to School Tour in mid august.
-alex
LA: We started off heading to Los Angeles to play at our band member Ava's house. No one came until we begged, so it basically became a warm up show. We experimented with our Rockband guitar as a real instrument (which worked really well!). We also go some late night donuts.
Santa Barbara: We booked it up to Steven's place to start our crazy tour. We went to some beaches, did some jamming and played a show at Mel's place. it was sort of a show sort of a practice. We did some jamming with Jamison and I dont really know who opened the show besides EH.
San Luis Obispo: We picked up ryan at the train station and then booked it to SLO. We hung out downtown and did a bit of practicing. Then we played Linnea's with Morgan Enos. We had a real piano there that was awesome to use and we also included Morgan in our band which gave us 6 members! We then stayed with my friend jackie at her amazing mountain home north of SLO. Her dog was awesome, but unfortunately Ryan violated their computer which led to a bit of tension..
Berekley: We woke up and headed to my adopted hometown of Berkeley, CA. We stayed in my new house, The Carpentry, and had a cool show with Michael playing bass, again giving up a 6 person band. Richard had also joined up with us and we had our crew ready to go! We slept in my empty room on the floor after engaging in some fun late night activities. We were NOT ready to wake up at 4am to drive to Portland
Portland: But we woke up at 4 am and steven led the charge to Portland. We saw some beautiful views and got some awesome quotes (Ryan: "there must be like 100 tree's out there") and some awesome pictures of me and Richard being intimate. We finally arrived in Portland (after seeing tons of hitchhikers) we were greeted with a beautiful city and traffic. We made our way to the venue, a Coffee shop that supports programs for mentally challenged kids. We first headed to Voodoo Donuts to get some way rad donuts (the cock and balls, maple bar with beacon, m&ms donut to name a few) before playing a great show with Silly Rob Childish. Afterwards we went with him and his wonderful wife to their house (and cats). We then preceded to hang out with some rad bros and hipsters at a portland house party.
Seattle: We woke up and treked further up the stunning northwest to seattle. We didn't have a show so we headed to Camano Island to stay with our host Mandie Russell. We had a crazy night of catching up, beaches and lots of clowning around!
We then traveled into the U District of seattle to play a show at The Sureshot Cafe with Secret Plan. he was WONDERFUL and we saw some of our old friends from iji and the blanket truth! We played a ridiculous game of risk and then headed back Camano to prepare for Olympia.
Olympia: This was by far the weirdest show or night on tour musically.. We arrived in this weird bar area/industrial area of Olympia to play a venue called Le Voyuer. We played with Josh Armistead (this weird dude from australia who was so put on..), and The Hard TO Get (a duo playing power pop). We played a YYD punk rock set, I accompanied steven on drums during his set. No one was there except the bands and Josh's posse traveling with him from Australia. We danced like crazy to The Hard to Get which I think made the show better for them, it certainly made it better for us.
Camano Island (aka Not Boise, ID): So we cancelled out show in Boise, ID cause of the length of drive and costs. We stayed an extra night in Camano with Mandie. We went to the community pool illegally, filmed some videos of us playing music in the Pugent Sound with snowcapped mountains inthe background! (horns, ukulele, and the water!)Me and Mandie worked on some things for her new songs, the other boys played an insane game of risk, and we capped off an emotional night by watching Twilight at 5 in the morning. Yes, 4 guys sitting around watching Twilight talking about how hot Bella was and how snappy Edward dressed.
Ashland: In the morning we had to take off saddly but we'd reunite with Mandie in August back in the bay area. We drove through portland (with a requisite stop at Voodoo Donuts) and then on to Ashland. We had a hard time finding where we were playing but we made it. We met Dustin and the Furniture, Y Lime?, and Wabash. It was so awesome! They are all great musicians and 2 of them traded us 2 of my favorite records of the year. There wasn't much audience and we couldn't steal and cafeteria food but it was ok. We got to hang out at Noah's house with everybody and we had a great night of talking, musicing and video gaming!
Merced: We took off from Ashland for another killllller drive to Merced. At the border we got inspected for any plants/foliage or animals we were bringing into the state but we didn't have any except carrots. We stopped for food (mostly sunflower seeds for me and ryan) and then booked it down to Merced. The show had already started when we got there so we went straight on. I played with a lit sparkler in my mouth and we made someone grandma cry with our songs. Talk about amazing and powerful! We then spent some good times catching up with our friends who set up the show: Claude, Tippy, Jaime (Tippys mom), and her grandma. Steven had some interesting interactions with Tippys mom while Claude got frustrated and Tippys grandma sexually harassed ryan. Good times had by all!
Brentwood? SF? Berkeley? Home?: So we were suppose to play a show with three of the bands that played with us in merced. We woke up and started calling people to confirm the show. They cancelled us off the show (and we later found out the show went on with only one of the bands playing). Two of the bands from the night before busked for cash in san francisco and I rushed us to Berkeley to pay my rent. After our business was settled in Berkeley we decided to just drive home. There were 5 drivers so we could afford to drive till 2am or later. We gunned it down the 5, sometimes with very little clothes on to save gas/AC usage. We had some heart to hearts and learn a lot about each other on that long ride home.
Home Home Home: We dropped steven off in Orange, took Richard home to RSM, passed Carrie's (an old band member and ex-girlfriend) house and finally Tim. The tour was saddly over but shenanigans continued the next day.
We played our final show on tour at Moss Street Beach. With mandolins, melodicas, and horns in toe we jammed while exploring the awesomeness of moss street. People really appreciated it and it was nice to be reaffirmed by orange county residents that our songs about orange county were really something with value. We ended the day with in-n-out.
What an amazing tour! Coming up is me and Ryan's Back to School Tour in mid august.
-alex
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Recap
Santa Barbara: We missed our show cause of traffic in LA. We hung out with SRM/Existential Hero and recorded a music video (that got lost) and some live stuff a la Take Away Shows. It was super awesome.
Nipomo: We played in a park to some of Tims friends and got some awesome pictures of us taken. We stayed at Rachelle's house and went to see Jens Lekman in SLO. He was awesome and we played with him acoustically after the show.
Santa Cruz: First official show. It was great! We played with Ross Major, Scott Schnauss and Hermit Convention who were all wonderful. Afterwards we jammed for a few hours with some people who came to the show.
Davis: we played a radio show on Oatmeal Analogs show and it was Sicccckkk! we hung out with richard and tried to make zines all day. Then we played a great show at Elises house with Niel Ruud and A Good Pillow. Best show on tour overall.
SLC: we woke up at the crack of dawn to take molly to the train and then drive through nevada to utah. amazing sights in the CA mountains but nevada sucked! we outdrove a storm but then it caught up with us again. We played for people, dogs, chickens and cats. Then we hung out in downtown salt lake city around midnight and messed around at the mormon temple with our fabulous host ryan!
Wyoming/Colorado: great day of scenic driving and a butte-top picnic. The show show blew hard. We went to a public park but couldnt swim which was a bummer, got turned away and looked at funny at a cowboy museum and got rained on again. We didnt get food at the cafe like they said we would except for a cake which we left at my cousins in colorado springs.
Kansas: long fucking drive in which I got a ticket.. not pretty. THe show was in a ghetto section of town but it was AMAZING! we played with madeline ava, mrs triceratops and max weiss who were fabulous. we went to an amazing diner afterwards and stole food off tables and had wonderful conversations. Adam, our host, was a fantastic dude and let us stay with him and his kittens.
St. Louis: We did osme sight-seeing in KS City and played illegally in a fountain. We stopped in columbia, mo to swim in some lakes. It was great! We got free sparklers at a roadside fireworks stand! We paid to sleep ina hostel though :( We also got nasty looks as we left Steak and Shake cause people thought we dined and dashed (WHICH WE DIDNT!)
Chicago Night 1: we saw the Gateway arch and then head to illinois blasting the similarly titled album. We got to my cousin Shannons, visited and then went to our show in the city. Cool show but a dissappointing crowd for the most part. jamer Eric was wonderful and it was great to meet patrick (redbear) and some other chicago DIYers. We unfortunately played chicago during a DIY music fest in kentucky.. PLUS amanda's dog rupert kept trying to bite me and tim.. OUCH. We stayed up late with some cool folks talking and jamming though.
Chicago Night 2: We hung out with my grandma and uncle for a while. Ate pizza with them and then carted ourselves back to the city. We saw St. Vincent play and it was amazing!! We then went back to Yorkville to stay with Shannon and her weiner dogs!
Champaign: We woke up and went to the Field Museum for their free day and saw some Egyptian stuff! Way Rad! Then we headed to Champaign, IL to play with Morgan Orion! It was an ok show but sad donations for the amount of people there.. We got to play a piano! I jammed with a Puerto Rican named Brandon (I think) on clarinet. We didnt get much to eat this day..
Bloomington: So we got to bloomington to find out we were competing with a grizzly bear show. They obviously won but we still had a great show! We even got asked for an encore. I had amazing conversations with Adam from Jenny is a Boy and of course Russ Woods from Tinyfolk. We stayed with russ and we stayed up until 4 or 5 am talking and playing computers!
Ohio: We first went to White Castle to fulfill our dreams and Tim had a field day! We then drove to the infamous land of Ohio. Where ex-girlfriend and bandmember carrie resides. We stopped in Dayton to see my cousin Katie. Then we trucked to Mansfield where there was no show waiting us. Instead we watched Indiana Jones and The Big lebowski with carrie and her sister. Then we decided we should at least play the new songs for carrie sing she no longer participated or communicated much with us (and didnt offer us a place to stay..) We played at a gas station near midnight for carrie, her sister, passers by (which there were many who stuck around to watch us) and 2 kids who thought the show was cancelled but luckily ran into us playing at the gas station. We had a police run in but they were friendly and even offered a place for us to continue playing into the night but we had to go. We drove back to dayton and stayed with my wonderful Cousin katie.
Tennessee: So we drove through the beautiful land of kentucky and into Tenn where no show was awaiting us. Luckily cllcter Mayor Byrne (Kevin) and his brother took us in for the night. We jammed, watched youtube videos, ate lots of pizza and watched magical fireflys in the countryside near Nashville.
Denton, TX: We drove from Nashville to Denton via Memphis and Little Rock. Memphis we saw Graceland (the free part). Little Rock we hit a HUGE storm that slowed up to 40 mph with emergency flashers on. We regularly lost traction from the freeway. After I pulled us through we found out that there was a tornado warning in the area that we outdrove. Tim brought us into Denton where we fucked with some bros driving next to us then played a great show with FISHBOY! Also playing was Spooky Folk (wonderful) and Heartstring Strangglers (talented!). We met our tourmate Niel the Deal this night and followed him to Dallas where we stayed the night.
Austin, TX: we left Niels place in the sweltering TX heat and went to austin the state capital. We walked the capital hill and ate Texas BBQ that was so huge I couldnt finish it. We played a high school house party in Georgetown. There was some rad kids who were really into it and some other kids who played beer pong and smoked. I played beer pong and didnt loose a game. Then I made pancakes till 3 am!
El Paso, TX: 3 days in Texas are enough to drive anyone crazy. Ava left her shoes in Austin, and left Tim's camera in Sonora in a gas station. We played a rancho house with some weird band called chicken little and this mexican singersongwriter dude. We stayed at a weird house called the Burnside house and got woken up by an alcoholic who wanted us to drive him to Las Cruces. We didn'd drive him.
Tucson, AZ: interesting town where we got lost a few times. Played at the Hangart which was a swell place with awesome and caring people. Jake and his crew really looked out for us and were great. They showed us their art gallery next door and some cool art! We drove to Phoenix to spend the night with Ava's grandparents, I slept the whole way but apparently there were a million cops on the road.
Phoenix: We swam in a lake and did some cliff-ish diving! Then we played a great show at the Trunkspace with Stellaluna, Alex benson and Hello the Mind Control. HtMC were stupendous! They were like our high school band but GOOD and motivated with solid songwriting.
HOME! We finally arrived and went straight to Moss Street (a beach we talk about in one of our songs). We had a great time with Niel and Ava and took them to In and Out! Then there was a LAN party that night and I barely remember what went down. Ryan graduated the next day and Niel flew back to texas. We then started preparing for the Northwest part of the tour with Ryan, Richard, Steven and Tim.
Nipomo: We played in a park to some of Tims friends and got some awesome pictures of us taken. We stayed at Rachelle's house and went to see Jens Lekman in SLO. He was awesome and we played with him acoustically after the show.
Santa Cruz: First official show. It was great! We played with Ross Major, Scott Schnauss and Hermit Convention who were all wonderful. Afterwards we jammed for a few hours with some people who came to the show.
Davis: we played a radio show on Oatmeal Analogs show and it was Sicccckkk! we hung out with richard and tried to make zines all day. Then we played a great show at Elises house with Niel Ruud and A Good Pillow. Best show on tour overall.
SLC: we woke up at the crack of dawn to take molly to the train and then drive through nevada to utah. amazing sights in the CA mountains but nevada sucked! we outdrove a storm but then it caught up with us again. We played for people, dogs, chickens and cats. Then we hung out in downtown salt lake city around midnight and messed around at the mormon temple with our fabulous host ryan!
Wyoming/Colorado: great day of scenic driving and a butte-top picnic. The show show blew hard. We went to a public park but couldnt swim which was a bummer, got turned away and looked at funny at a cowboy museum and got rained on again. We didnt get food at the cafe like they said we would except for a cake which we left at my cousins in colorado springs.
Kansas: long fucking drive in which I got a ticket.. not pretty. THe show was in a ghetto section of town but it was AMAZING! we played with madeline ava, mrs triceratops and max weiss who were fabulous. we went to an amazing diner afterwards and stole food off tables and had wonderful conversations. Adam, our host, was a fantastic dude and let us stay with him and his kittens.
St. Louis: We did osme sight-seeing in KS City and played illegally in a fountain. We stopped in columbia, mo to swim in some lakes. It was great! We got free sparklers at a roadside fireworks stand! We paid to sleep ina hostel though :( We also got nasty looks as we left Steak and Shake cause people thought we dined and dashed (WHICH WE DIDNT!)
Chicago Night 1: we saw the Gateway arch and then head to illinois blasting the similarly titled album. We got to my cousin Shannons, visited and then went to our show in the city. Cool show but a dissappointing crowd for the most part. jamer Eric was wonderful and it was great to meet patrick (redbear) and some other chicago DIYers. We unfortunately played chicago during a DIY music fest in kentucky.. PLUS amanda's dog rupert kept trying to bite me and tim.. OUCH. We stayed up late with some cool folks talking and jamming though.
Chicago Night 2: We hung out with my grandma and uncle for a while. Ate pizza with them and then carted ourselves back to the city. We saw St. Vincent play and it was amazing!! We then went back to Yorkville to stay with Shannon and her weiner dogs!
Champaign: We woke up and went to the Field Museum for their free day and saw some Egyptian stuff! Way Rad! Then we headed to Champaign, IL to play with Morgan Orion! It was an ok show but sad donations for the amount of people there.. We got to play a piano! I jammed with a Puerto Rican named Brandon (I think) on clarinet. We didnt get much to eat this day..
Bloomington: So we got to bloomington to find out we were competing with a grizzly bear show. They obviously won but we still had a great show! We even got asked for an encore. I had amazing conversations with Adam from Jenny is a Boy and of course Russ Woods from Tinyfolk. We stayed with russ and we stayed up until 4 or 5 am talking and playing computers!
Ohio: We first went to White Castle to fulfill our dreams and Tim had a field day! We then drove to the infamous land of Ohio. Where ex-girlfriend and bandmember carrie resides. We stopped in Dayton to see my cousin Katie. Then we trucked to Mansfield where there was no show waiting us. Instead we watched Indiana Jones and The Big lebowski with carrie and her sister. Then we decided we should at least play the new songs for carrie sing she no longer participated or communicated much with us (and didnt offer us a place to stay..) We played at a gas station near midnight for carrie, her sister, passers by (which there were many who stuck around to watch us) and 2 kids who thought the show was cancelled but luckily ran into us playing at the gas station. We had a police run in but they were friendly and even offered a place for us to continue playing into the night but we had to go. We drove back to dayton and stayed with my wonderful Cousin katie.
Tennessee: So we drove through the beautiful land of kentucky and into Tenn where no show was awaiting us. Luckily cllcter Mayor Byrne (Kevin) and his brother took us in for the night. We jammed, watched youtube videos, ate lots of pizza and watched magical fireflys in the countryside near Nashville.
Denton, TX: We drove from Nashville to Denton via Memphis and Little Rock. Memphis we saw Graceland (the free part). Little Rock we hit a HUGE storm that slowed up to 40 mph with emergency flashers on. We regularly lost traction from the freeway. After I pulled us through we found out that there was a tornado warning in the area that we outdrove. Tim brought us into Denton where we fucked with some bros driving next to us then played a great show with FISHBOY! Also playing was Spooky Folk (wonderful) and Heartstring Strangglers (talented!). We met our tourmate Niel the Deal this night and followed him to Dallas where we stayed the night.
Austin, TX: we left Niels place in the sweltering TX heat and went to austin the state capital. We walked the capital hill and ate Texas BBQ that was so huge I couldnt finish it. We played a high school house party in Georgetown. There was some rad kids who were really into it and some other kids who played beer pong and smoked. I played beer pong and didnt loose a game. Then I made pancakes till 3 am!
El Paso, TX: 3 days in Texas are enough to drive anyone crazy. Ava left her shoes in Austin, and left Tim's camera in Sonora in a gas station. We played a rancho house with some weird band called chicken little and this mexican singersongwriter dude. We stayed at a weird house called the Burnside house and got woken up by an alcoholic who wanted us to drive him to Las Cruces. We didn'd drive him.
Tucson, AZ: interesting town where we got lost a few times. Played at the Hangart which was a swell place with awesome and caring people. Jake and his crew really looked out for us and were great. They showed us their art gallery next door and some cool art! We drove to Phoenix to spend the night with Ava's grandparents, I slept the whole way but apparently there were a million cops on the road.
Phoenix: We swam in a lake and did some cliff-ish diving! Then we played a great show at the Trunkspace with Stellaluna, Alex benson and Hello the Mind Control. HtMC were stupendous! They were like our high school band but GOOD and motivated with solid songwriting.
HOME! We finally arrived and went straight to Moss Street (a beach we talk about in one of our songs). We had a great time with Niel and Ava and took them to In and Out! Then there was a LAN party that night and I barely remember what went down. Ryan graduated the next day and Niel flew back to texas. We then started preparing for the Northwest part of the tour with Ryan, Richard, Steven and Tim.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Late Night in Santa Barbara
steven didnt come home last night! wild adventures in isla vista were had by that young man! what a crazy tourmate we have ;) hahaha
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tour Update # 5 Tucson and the Southwest
Sorry we havent updated in a while. Expect some write ups and hopefully pictures soon.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Tour Update # 3
Here is a bit of video we took on the road in Kansas!
We made it to the show, but we were like 30 minutes late.
We made it to the show, but we were like 30 minutes late.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Some live things we've done in the past week...
KUCI:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vQpXLLXuNI
http://www.archive.org/details/PressPassMusic-5-28-09
KDVS:
http://kdvs.org/listen/m3u/show_id/800/date/2009-06-01
KRLY:
www.songsfromawindow.com/lamecast.xml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vQpXLLXuNI
http://www.archive.org/details/PressPassMusic-5-28-09
KDVS:
http://kdvs.org/listen/m3u/show_id/800/date/2009-06-01
KRLY:
www.songsfromawindow.com/lamecast.xml
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Hello and Salutations!
Welcome to our tour blog. We're still here in Laguna Hills at our home base (my dad's house) getting ready to go.. We have a show in 2 hours in Santa Barbara that we will just barely make OH MY!
Come back everyday for new updates about where we are, funny stories, recordings, video blogs and hopefully pictures!
-alex
Come back everyday for new updates about where we are, funny stories, recordings, video blogs and hopefully pictures!
-alex
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