Tour w/ husband&wife: Part 4 (The Home Stretch)

The show in Lexington wasn't quite what we thought it would be, but it was still really cool. We found out last minute that The Stick Figures weren't playing, but another Cinci band called The Atriums were. While we were loading in I saw a dude named Steve loading his gear in and he used to be roommates with Derek Keijner and Mark Lukey. It turns out that he is in this new band The Atriums and so is an old friend of mine named Billy who I hadn't seen in a long time. I knew both those dudes from completely different circles so its always fun to have your worlds collide like that.

Anyway, the show was at Molly Malone's and it was in the second floor of this bar which was cool. There ended up being a ton of people there towards the end and we played a really solid set that everyone seemed to really like. Derek and Meesh ended up coming as they just happened to be on their way to Cinci when I texted him to say that I was playing a show with Steve. The Atriums had a really great set and it is always nice to see old friends doing well. I have a feeling that Chemic and The Atriums will be doing more stuff together in the future.

On the flip side, I felt absolutely aweful all day long. I was trying to ignore it because I thought I just might have been feeling a little hung over from the night before, but by show time last night I was coughing up my lungs and had a fever and felt absolutely terrible. I was hoping that I wasn't getting pneumonia or anything but by the time we left the show, I was pretty sure that I was full-fledged sick. We decided to drive to Louisville instead of hanging around in Cincinnati and while we were on I-71 I realized that I had left my house key on the keychain that I left in Bloomington in order that Bryant can drive my car back to Louisville to meet up with the boys on tour. Of course, this was about 2AM when I realized this so I had to try to get a hold of Shane or Jon to let me in the house, but I was pretty sure that neither of them were actually staying at the house...plus my phone was about to die. So, with the last gasping breath of my phone battery, I got Jon's number and called him a couple times from Will's phone. He finally called me back and we drove over to his fiance Jordan's apartment to get the house key and get some sleep at the house. We finally settled in around 3 and I chugged cold medicine in order to ward off the evil spirits.

This morning I headed out a little early to the LEO (Louisville Eccentric Observer) which is located downtown, and I met up with Mat Herron to do a podcast about Bro. Stephen and the show tonight. It was a good time and Mat was super gracious and even bought me a nice coffee! Mat is the music editor at the LEO and runs his own blog there called Bluegrass Catastrophe. The podcast should be up today and when it goes live I will link it right here.

Tonight is the awesome awesome show with Brooks Ritter at Sunergos Coffee and it starts at 6ish. Bro. Stephen is first, then h&w, then Brooks. I'm really excited! I'm hoping that we'll get to play disc golf again today or do some fun stuff. It's nice to know that we are sleeping in the same place for 2 nights in a row. Of course, I am home for good after tonight and I will start looking into booking a few tours this summer for Chemic and Bro. Stephen! Look out!! I will leave you now with more squirrel pictures...

Tour w/ husband&wife: Part 3

Our drive to Muncie got very interesting/weird/sad the closer we got to town. We saw a bunch of smoke from a distance on Highway 35 and we pulled up to find a farmhouse burning down. That was really sad and surreal because there were so many fire trucks just trying to put it out, but they really couldn't do anything. Parts of the roof just kept caving in and shooting out giant fireballs. I think that was in Economy, IN.

We also passed 6 cop cars doing a K-9 raid on an abandoned building that had the word "GIRLS" in tiles on the green roof. It obviously used to be a strip club or something, but the scene hinted that the sordid leanings of the building didn't leave with the business. We were on the east side of the river in Muncie and it looks like the economy has not been friendly to this area. It's tough to see such devastating effects of factories closing down. It looked like 1970s Flint, MI.

Anyway, Ball State is on Spring Break right now so Muncie is a ghost town. We weren't quite sure what we were walking into, but it ended up being one of the coolest shows. We first pulled up to Village Green Records and Dan led us over to Doc's to load-in and get everything set up. We then went back to Muncie and had a little acoustic show with Sgt. Schepper, Zach Melton, Bro. Stephen, and husband&wife. That was a lot of fun and there were a good number of folks just blissing out to friends hanging out and playing music on the couch. Village Green is a really cool store and they have awesome shows there all the time, which is suprising because its so small.

We then headed to Doc's and found out that we were going to do an hour long interview and then play an hour long set which is much longer than our normal set. Plus, the interview and performance were going to be broadcast on the major classic rock station in Muncie called 95.3 The Max! We weren't sure what they were expecting from us, but the interview was really fun and we played really well. Kyle from Rodeo filled in on 4 or 5 songs that I didn't know in order to fill out the hour. I'm glad he was there. The folks at Doc's were SO nice. We have run into the greatest folks ever on this tour. It's been really refreshing. They gave us unlimited free drinks and pizza and just treated us like we were old friends. There were some friends from around the way who showed up and Jesse Beals (the old drummer for Rodeo) showed up randomly. It was good to see him and talk about Louisville with his girlfriend. We then went back to the McCombs (old friends of the boys) and they have the most incredible house ever here in Muncie. It's like a summer cabin that is their home and they got it for ridiculously cheap. They've been super nice and they made us waffles this morning and we're getting ready to go to lunch before we head down to Cincinnati to play at Molly Malone's w/ The Stick Figures and The Apprentice. Should be a good show. We've had nothing but great shows. This can't last forever. Or maybe it can!

P.S. The McCombs have a pet squirrel named Wilson that we got to play with. It was awesome! He's a cute little fella that they nursed as a baby and are getting ready to release it in the wild in a few weeks. Will and I played with him today. Here's a picture!

Tour w/ husband&wife: Part 2

So, to pick up where I left off, I did not bring my A-game to disc golf in Indi. It was a sweet course that was very similar to the course at Iroquois park in Louisville. I didn't do the greatest, but I did finish strong. Andy whipped all of us anyway. After that we met up with Mike and Ryan Dill and some other folks outside of a Starbucks and chatted while Will passed around his little pot of Yerba Matte. I'm told it's pronounced Sherba Matte. I think that's deceiving.

We headed up to Ft. Wayne after that, and headed to the Tiger Room which was a cool room in the Calhoun Street Tavern. I have to say that the staff at this establishment were some of the nicest people of all time! They gave each band member 4 drink tickets and the out of town bands got free food too! I got a massive roast beef sandwich on a fresh soft, handmade bun. It was delicious. Bro. Stephen opened up the show and had a nice reception. I think almost everyone was singing on "The Front Room" at the end of the set which is always kind of terrifying, but exciting. After BS, husband&wife took the stage and totally tore it down. I can't help but sing along as loud as possible to these songs because this new record is really incredible. It's been so much fun playing with one of my favorite bands ever. After us was Everybody from Bloomington again and they rocked out again, and then Metavari took the stage. Ty from Metavari was the sweetest dude ever. During their set, Kyle from Darkroom came by and hung out for a little bit. He's a pretty sweet dude. We talked about how disappointing Bill Mallonee's career arch has been.

After the show we went over to Ty and Emily's and had a dance party til 4 in the morning. Except that there was the time change and it was 5 in the morning. We cashed out and woke up to 3 trays of cinnamon rolls and coffee. We then jumped on the expressway and I took the wheel to get us to Columbus. We were playing at a place called Andyman's Treehouse and it was just as awesome as it sounds. The place was totally out of the way and was one of those awesome hole-in-the-walls where you totally feel like an insider as soon as you walk in. In the room where we played there is a gigantic tree growing out of the floor and through the roof. I really wish I had a camera because the room would be perfect for some awesome pictures. We played with a band called Kyle and The Sowashes and they rocked hard. It was awesome.

We went back to Seth's and crashed pretty hard after drink copius amounts of Mtn Dew (when did the change the spelling?) and eating pizza. We are now catching up on emails and FailBlog and Youtube videos. Fat Man on Youtube is one of the most depressing things I've ever seen. Leaving for Muncie soon and hanging out with Zach Melton so it should be a good time. See you in Louisville on Wednesday!

Tour w/ husband&wife: Part 1

So, I got into Bloomington Thursday night around 7 and went straight to Mike's house where him and Frank were working on Frank's new record. They are almost done with his record and it sounds SO good. They just have to finish the vocals and a few odds and ends and it'll be good to go. You need to keep an eye out for it. For real. He has some tunes up here.

After grabbing some Taco Bell with the fellas, we headed back to Mike's where Tim, Will, and Bryant all came over for husband&wife practice. We started around 10:30 and after Bryant showed me some of his choice licks (that sounds a little sordid...haha), we got going and I learned the bass to 8 of the husband&wife songs. I was able to learn "Support Yourself", "I Got Fat", "Haven't Got A Friend", "England Lives", "Comp Jam", "You Remain Unloved", "Don't Change" and one more that I can't seem to remember! I was really excited that I was able to pick up on the songs so fast and practice went fairly well. We decided that a morning practice was in order so we pulled the plug around 1:30am and decided to meet back up at 11.

After a solid morning practice, the dudes all headed off to work and I wrote some emails and what-not and then met up with Frant to see Watchmen. I have to say that I have been a fan of the book for quite a long time thanks to Keith and have been so excited that it was finally given the treatment. I was really nervous that it would suck, especially when I found out that the ending was changed...That being said, I loved it! Every negative thing that people have been saying to me (i.e. blue phallics, graphic violence, etc) are from people who haven't read the book so I'm not taking any stock in it because I thought it was really well done. I was impressed. I can't wait to own it on BetaMax.

After the movie I came back to Mike's and ate some amazing pasta that Jessica had made. It had mushrooms and spinach and other delicious stuff all crammed into it and covered in cheese. It was SO good. I ate 3 little plates full (this was a decision I later regretted). Anyway, we packed up the van and drove to a house party in Indianapolis with 4 other bands, but I was excited to see Bronze Float and Everybody. Those 2 bands did not disappoint and the house was packed with about 50 kids all rockin PBR tall-boys. My good buddy Davy ended up coming and we got to hang for awhile which was really fantastic. Tara, if you're reading this, thanks for letting him come hang. There are a few people in this life that make me joyful whenever I see them. Davy and Tara are absolutely 2 of those people. I was kind of bummed Tara couldn't come...

Anyway, after the show and 3 tall-boys we headed back to the house of a dude named Andy that the guys knew. It was pretty late when we got back (2am?) and we went to bed and then when we woke up Andy made us this delicious green pepper, onion, tomato and cheese baked omellette pizza. Just marinate on that for a second...................yep. It was that good. Now, it looks like we're going to go play disc golf in the hood. Andy said they found a dead body there a little while back. Will is going to use a frisbee by choice. He's going to get his ass kicked.