Back To Oakland!

And now the moment we've all been waiting for! Well, at least I was looking forward to our homecoming show in Oakland, at The Uptown. I'm happy to report that it was as fantastic as I hoped it would be. Trackademics and HOTTUB killed it, and the energy was amazing. We thank everyone that came out to party with us. It was a full house of non-stop action from beginning to end.Yes, there was a balloon drop. They came down during the first song of our set, and surprisingly many of them hung around for the whole show, bouncing around from swinging pool noodles and hundreds of high fives.Thanks to all our friends and fans who came out- it was great fun! Next up, we're headed to the country to record our second full length album...more on that later...

Reno: The Other Big City That's Little

It's a long haul from Salt Lake to Reno. This is a picture of Scott showing off a wad of Alpaca fur to an Alpaca farmer that we passed on the highway. Yes, Scott travels with a huge wad of Alpaca fur. Anyway, we passed two farmers believe it or not. One was absolutely thrilled by the gesture, and the other one could give two shits either way.

We would like to thank Remi and Sloan, owners of the Underground, for putting on such a fun night. They had the "barfly buss" picking people up at bars all over the city and dropping them off at the venue. It was genius, and resulted in a crowed mixed with people from all walks of life and musical tastes. Not knowing what to expect from our first show in Reno, we were received enthusiastically by the wild patrons of The Underground. Heck, they even let us put fluorescent butt cheek prints on the walls of their hallway. What happened in Reno, stayed in Reno. We'll see you again soon.

We're Big In Salt Lake

Big drinkers that is. You can put down a six pack and drive home legally. You can be a beer monster for the night and still have a hard time getting a buzz...you get the point. It's times like these that it's good to have the mobile backstage unit (aka the van) in full operation, and it was because we are seasoned tour veterans. But that is hardly the point, I just wanted to describe us using the word "seasoned." Now when someone asks me to describe our sound I have an answer for them: "it's seasoned." Well, maybe it's more spicy...see now I don't have an answer for that question anymore.

After the show at Burt's Tiki Lounge, we stayed with our buddy Matt Hopper. He's a singer/songwriter/recording artist/permanently touring musician dude. (He recently performed with our new Omega Records label-mate, Alison Harris, in San Francisco.) Anyway, thanks for hanging and taking us out for good breakfast burritos!

Old Curtis Street

Hey look! One of our pool noodles is on the hood of that cab! I don't know how that got there, but I do know that we played a show at a new venue called Old Curtis St Bar in Denver. It was a lot of fun. After that, we stayed with our friend Mike's old buddy from when they were kids. We watched the Joe Calzaghe vs Bernard Hopkins fight, ate breakfast burritos, and hung out with their enormous dog. That might not sound like much to you, but after 2 months on tour, it's equivalent to a week in Hawaii.

Outlaws Bar

We took a day off and stayed with Scott's friend in Gurley, Nebraska. He owns and operates the only bar in town, Outlaws Bar & Grill. The picture pretty much sums it up. We were disappointed, though, because when we rolled into town, our friend was not there. Turns out some dude's hay stacks caught on fire and all the Gurley men are on the volunteer fire department! Yes, we were the only men in town. While they were out there digging trenches and fighting fire, we were in the bar drinking Bud Light and Canadian Whiskey, oh well.

Talkin' Omaha

We arrived in Scott's native land of Nebraska, to play a show with our friends Talkin' Mountain. You should check them out at http://www.myspace.com/talkinmountain. The show was great, and it was good to be back to Omaha. Our buddy Andrew made a surprise visit, which was totally insane because he came from Canada! So we celebrated with him be swigging off the bottle of Moonshine that he had acquired somewhere along his travels.
After the show, we of course went to visit Scott's mom. His brother gave us a fishing pole, which we were very grateful for. It was the second fishing pole that we received on this tour, believe it or not.

Belgium Beer and Bottle Rockets

Special thanks to our buddy Shawn and The Paramount Room in Chicago. You see Joey enjoying his first fine glass of Belgium Ale. This preceded the American style Poutine (yes, more Poutine!), a cornucopia of tampura finger foods (including bacon!), and outrageously good burgers. Delicious and nutritious.See, just look how happy fine beer and food will make you!
This is Shawn. Although he did not drive us around, he did show us a good time in the Windy City.Damon thought it was a good idea to ignite the pack of whistling bottle rockets that we had with us from Georgia. I'm not sure that the middle of Chicago is the best place to do this, but hey, it was a good show!

Chow Nasty Shots: Better Than You Think

On special at the Lager House in Detroit- Chow Nasty Shots! The bartender invented them, and they were delicious. I think the ingredients were Tequila, Mango Vodka, Pineapple Juice, and Grenadine. Apparently they sold well...just like us.Last time we were in Detroit, the house we were staying at got robbed at gun point. This time, our car wouldn't start after the show! What's with you Detroit??? Luckily, this nice girl gave us a jump start, and we were on our way.

Rockin' Rollerskatin'

We played at an art gallery in Pittsburgh. It had been around longer than I realized, for in the backstage closet one can admire all of the posters and fliers of bands like the White Stripes that had played there (as the opening band) before they were huge.
The highlight of our night was meeting a guy named Sneeky, who invited us to cash at his house right down the street. And when I say house I mean a killer living zone with a roller rink! Although fun in theory, whiskey and roller skating do not mix well.Conveniently, Zac's clothes were made at about the same time the roller skates were.This is Scott about to bail. He pretty much kicked his own ass...whiskey 1, Scott 0.Thanks for the good times Sneeky!

Alpaca Farm!?!?

Thanks to our friend Reed's auntie, we spent a day in Ohio on their Alpaca farm. That's pretty much all I can say about that...

Fredonia

"GUYS from that band: Please feel free to use these sleeping mats (not once used for excercise) to amplify your sleeping experience. Again, my bed is up for grabs, and recent studies have proven that AIDS is not transmittable through sheets, so you have nothing to worry about...I hope the rest of your tour goes really well! Thanks for hanging out with us while in town, you are all very pleasant." - Brie
I think the thanks goes to Fredonia radio for having us in the studio. You guys rock, and we had fun hangin' with y'all.

Pass Me Out The Poutine

Montreal, what can I say? It's a magic place. Take Poutine for instance, that's magic. If you don't know, a common (way more common than I expected it to be) dish in Quebec consists of French Fries straight out of the deep fryer with cheese curds topped with gravy. That's right, it is as delicious as it sounds. Not to mention the element of danger that exists when willingly partaking in this artery clogging delicacy. Damon found out the hard way that one serving of Poutine can have the same affect as a hard night's drinking. As if this weren't funny enough, it just so happened that we were sharing the green room with about 30 other band members that night, and he didn't give up that chair for nobody.Thanks to Catherine for being at the right place at the right time and taking these pictures for us when we were sans cameras!

Scott Cancels Flight...Sort Of

Burlington was full of many pleasant surprises, but none was sweeter than finding out that Scott would be staying with us for the remaining two weeks of the tour. We had an emergency business meeting at 5:30am after our performance, and Scott concluded that it would be better for everyone if he were to stay aboard. Timing couldn't be better because the flight was scheduled to leave at 9:00. A quick phone call to the nice people at Expedia, and presto! Flight canceled! Well, at least I think so...The next day we did a guest appearance on the air. This included a masterful, yet nonsensical, interview and some sweet jams by DJ Gris Gris. A big thanks to Tick Tick for a killer job promoting the whole sha-bang!

The Far East

Well, maybe not the far East, but Portland, Maine, was as far as we could get in our Van...it's all West from here. On our way, we received the worst news that you can get from a club 24hrs before your gig- the show is canceled! You gotta be kidding, right? No. Luckily, DJ's Jason Keith and Matty T are as hard headed as we are, and they helped book another show at a new club called The Empire. I must say, we pulled off the last minute switch-a-roo pretty darn well. Special thanks to the good folks at The Empire. They've got a good thing going there, and it was an exceptionally fun night.Thanks also to Aimee and all of our new friends in Portland. Damon made some of his World Famous Bloody Mary's...We cruised the internet a bit...
And they even let us wear their clothes...thanks so much for the first class hospitality!

Real Band Not So Good At Rock Band

It did not take us long to realize that the "Rock Band" circuit is hittin' our bars and clubs like nobody's business...it's the new karaoke. Let me explain. A while back, we pulled up to a club on a cold, snowy evening, and went down stairs to the old-timey basement pool hall turned rock venue. It was a perfect getaway from the cold, and what once bore witness to the pool hustling shenanigans of guys like Fast Eddie, was now more reminiscent of a frat house hang out. Among the few remaining pool tables were a plethora of couches, a stage, and a gigantic big screen TV, that was on this day hosting a happy hour Rock Band tournament. I walked up to the bartender, introduced myself, and informed him that I was in one of the bands. He pointed to a guy on a couch holding a plastic guitar, and he said I should speak to him. Confused as to why the club manager would be playing video games at a time like this, I asked if we could just go ahead and load in our gear. His response to that? "Oh, you're in a REAL band!"So, inevitably, we later found ourselves in a late night "jam session" at Al's house in Connecticut (thanks Al). This game had been in our faces for weeks, and now it was our turn to virtually rock the house. Our band has never sounded worse.

Little Trouble In The Big Apple

I would like to thank New York for bringing down the house in serious fashion. Our second time to the Knitting Factory produced big results. Thanks so much to all our friends that came out to the show. It was off the chain. Please allow me to share with you some of the highlights...
After a night of complete mayhem, we headed to Brooklyn to chill with Damon's cousin, Zac and his girlfriend Katerina. They are both pretty bad ass artists. Here, see for yourself:
Zac Harris: http://hyaku.pair.com/~maxpro/main.html?id=234Katerina Lanfranco: http://katerinalanfranco.com/home.html