Check out our new music video for the song, “Fifth Avenue Dream!”
more about "Fifth Avenue Dream Video", posted with vodpod
Archive for September, 2009
Hey (it’s Pete here). After our whirlwind trip of fun and craziness in Montana we hardly thought that our final stop in Logan, UT would compare. Our expectations would soon be exceeded. After a long trip down the interstate we exited on to a secondary road – riding for 25 miles through farms and fields. I must confess, with each mile that we passed deeper into rural Utah, our hearts sank with our hopes that this show would be nothing more than an empty room, a sound engineer, and us trying to play with some gusto. Finally we pulled into Logan, whose claim to fame is being site for the state university. Logan had the quaint personality of a Norman Rockwell painting, complete with carefully arranged storefront window displays and well-kept public parks. Despite the university’s presence, the streets were all but abandoned – a symptom I attributed to the Labor Day holiday weekend that was upon us. Following the directions order at us by the British lady on the GPS, we pulled off the town’s main street onto a small side street, arriving at our destination, Why Sound. Inside we met Tim, a welcoming co-owner of the place, which served as both a live venue on the first floor and a complete recording studio upstairs. WS was a cool place but hardly easy to find – with only a small sign on the door and some show posters on the exterior that would notify passers-by (on the occasion someone wandered down this street) that live music regularly occurs within. In fact, when we went down the street to a local café that Tim recommended – some of the locals and employees there didn’t know where/what Why Sound was. Oh boy. In our usual fashion, we purchased a coffee or food and set-up shop with our laptops and digital paraphernalia capitalizing on the café’s free wireless access. I went for a walk around the town in search of a cigar – a task that proved to be more arduous that expected. Most of the shops were closed, and none of those that were open carried an tobacco, liquor or….sharp objects. God bless the Mormons. In defeat I walked back to the club empty-handed. It wasn’t until I reached the club that I noticed the small shop across the street, Earthly Awakenings. I had seen the shop earlier but had chocked it up as a hippy shop that only sold dream-catchers, organic perfumes and oils and art made of items collected on the forest floor. I was very wrong. In addition to the expected items, the shop contained mostly tobacco products, and supplied me with a much-wanted cigar. God bless the hippies.
We loaded in for the show, met the other co-owner Robert, and the other two local bands, Austin and 1LumSum. The order of the show was determined – and we played second after Austin played an acoustic set. For one reason or another all of the people we had expected to come out for us, did not. Fortunately both the other two groups had done a great job promoting the show and by the time we hit the stage the room was full of energetic listeners that we didn’t know at all. From there it was all a beautiful blur of notes, sweat and singing. By the end of our set the entire room was fully engaged and won-over. 1LumpSum was very complimentary and gracious – and finished out the night with a fun rocking set. A bunch of people picked up a copy of our CD, almost everyone signed the email list and everyone left with a pin or sticker bearing the band name. It was another great lesson for the band – proving that you can’t just a town by its farm fields. As if the night wasn’t good enough – when we were about to leave the parking lot, Nate came back to the van with Austin in toe, and a pair of cymbals under arm that Austin had sold him at a bargain price! Wow. I don’t have to tell you that as we headed sound to Salt Lake City and later to Long Beach, we had a resounding feeling of peace, victory and success for the past ten days of shows on the road through the Northwest. Thanks again to everyone who supported us and made us feel at home many miles from home.
Centrevol Interview on OC Rock Radio…Podcast
Published September 8, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a CommentIn case you missed our interview on OC Rock Radio on Monday August 31st, you can now check out the podcast of it on the radio’s site here:
more about “Why Sound Photobooth, 9.5.09“, posted with vodpod
I’ll say up front that this day felt like a two-for: it really felt like two days. As the remaining days of the tour draws thin, having more experiences to enjoy is a commodity. We left Helena early to get to Havre, but after our gig we returned to Helena to experience another days worth of very noteworthy shenanigans.
In the morning, we went downstairs to our lobby at 6am we found a sleeping Sam and grinning Allie to greet us and have (free) breakfast with us; once again a reflection on their hospitality and tenacity for the hang (if not just an appropriate response any undergrad should have when offered free food).
Havre is approx. 40 miles from the Canadian border, a small college town we performed at months ago during our spring tour. They invited us back to do a fall welcome week concert. If you recall from our first encounter with the school, a few key elements made our experience memorable: 1. The old rickety stage which was a lesson in plate tectonics stood in the cafeteria, awaiting our stomping and convection-current like feet; 2. Our good friend Hammar crashed our radio interview holding a 4 gallon tub of pretzels which he ate by the handful; and 3. our good friend and Canook Desiree demanded that we take our shirts off.
Ok, back to a chronological description. After we set up, the local radio station just down the hall invited us to do a live interview on air. The DJ who was a charming and learned veteran of college radio had done his homework. He had heard our tunes and had read my blog. His questions were quite prepared to engage us in our distain for Olympia (read blog entry “Get me the hell out of Olympia, WA”), as well as thought provoking questions about the music industry and the philosophy behind being an independent artist. We took a break to play a song on the air and a former Olympia resident called the radio station to question the DJ as to where exactly we were in the city and what venue we played at! I watched as my half of the awkward conversation unfolded. When we got back on the air I invited said Olympian to call back and we’d give him a free CD as amends… he never called.
The show was actually in front of quite a large audience of hamburger engulfing college students. It’s always hard to play in front of such audience because it is not captive, and it’s hard to engage even the captive ones because they are eating and it’s 12 in the afternoon! The pro to noon time shows is that there will always be more students on campus. The con will always be that it’s hard to get ppl into rock music at lunch time and harder to hang out with ppl after since they have to go to class. On stage we kept on having difficulty reading the crowd: late applause, dull and removed facial expressions… much to our surprise we sold more CDs than at any other gig(!) The show went great. Again, there’s really just a limited amount of energy an audience can reflect at that hour, but the kids obviously liked our music and brought the CDs home. Special and mad props to Leah and Cori who sold the goods.
(Day 9 part II starts here)
After a short lunch we loaded the van and headed back to Helena. I was still skeptical about the likelihood of a bunch of ppl I hardly knew putting a birthday party together for me, but, sure enough, Sam and about 20 students were waiting for us at Riley’s pub downtown!!! I couldn’t believe it up to the point of walking into the bar and seeing a bunch of ppl, most from the night before chatting and throwing darts in a reserved area of the bar! I got to chatting with more wonderful Carroll students and we all engaged in eating, drinking, and dart throwing.
Then Sam posed the question very bluntly to the birthday boy: 3 options, chill at his place, go Skipe hunting (where you run around the forest with burlap bags hunting for edible ground-fowl), or driving out to a lake for a bonfire. I selected option 3. So we loaded up 3 SUVs full of students, grabbed some s’mores and headed for the mountains along a dirt road. We got to the lake after driving around a gate that said “day use only”. Needless to say, we were alone at the shore of an expansive lake surrounded by forested peaks. David, my ride and apparent closet male-stripper was fast on building a fire via road flare while a large contingency of us decided to explore the lake. In the center there appeared to be an isthmus leading to a small rocky island with a few trees. We walked over there to find that the isthmus was actually several sandbars connected by partially submerged rocks. I immediately decided to take off my shoes and brave the intervals of wading and barefoot rock jumping, with Allie and a girl named Mary heeding the call. The others chickened out, with no other explanation.
The island was much farther and involved much more wading on slippy rocks than I anticipated and it took us close to 30 minutes to get out there. When the three of us finally arrived we wanted to stay and enjoy it so we sat on the rocks and the conversation got deep. I mused about the apparently supernatural ability for Carroll College kids to connect with us in such a short time. The girls explained that the culture of the college, established through programs like mentoring ministries and tight knit dorms, was truly familial; strangers bearing the same Carroll hoodies would look after and open their lives to each other. They said that there was a maximum of 1 degree of separation between every student and I believed it. The school’s philosophy on community was highly similar to the philosophy I hadn’t discovered until adulthood; I mused at the fruit of learning such a lesson so early in life and improved my outlook on Catholicism.
Nate started calling for me. He claimed that he had dim sum for me back at the bonfire (Jonny was happy to echo him). We could hear everything across the lake crystal clear because there was roughly a 13 second echo to everything you said, every sound cascaded across the valley back and forth. We slowly made our way back across the isthmus. One of us had to fall in, and it was Mary, taking one for the team. Hell yes, my shorts didn’t even get splashed!
Back at the campsite we cooked up s’mores. Sam and the Carroll kids (I can call them kids now that I’m 30) surprised me with a cake and everyone sang to me as I impaled the cake with a burning ember only to be blown out after the singing. The campfire was warm and toasty, the conversation was engaging, Nate and Jon were hacking away at a tree. Nate managed to cut it down with an axe much to the detriment of his hands and arms. Jon used a saw and went at the log with hair-raising vigilance. Needless to say, there was no shortage of firewood.
Then, leave it to Nate, he dared one of the guys Sean to go in the lake and said the famous last words: “I’ll go if you go”. Sean went. Nate was wearing white boxers. Kayla, skip the rest of this paragraph. The two of them returned to the bonfire, Sean clothed and damp and Nate with boxers only, wet, clinging to his shivering body. I invited the girls to look away while Allie got our shivering Cali boy a blanket from her car. I refused, refused to go in the water because I had enough from my little island journey. But, Pete and Jon, our intrepid gentle boys said they would go in if the birthday boy went in (an absolutely irresistible proposition) and sure enough, my shoes were flying off and my body was in the lake. In fact, every guy at the campfire went: the band plus Sam, David, Sean, and Mark. Sam’s encounter with the lake was noteworthy: rather than diving in like the rest of us, he stood shivering waste deep, hesitated, squatted down, and splashed water on his head so he could claim he went in; I saw the whole thing (cuz I was peeing).
Ok, I think I’ve described enough. I had a very, very good birthday and I have the Carroll college kids to thank for it. My 30th was spontaneous, fun, far beyond what I expected, and most of all it injected youth into my veins. I could not ask for a better way to turn 30, thanks to all.
The drive between Lacey, WA and Helena MT would be the longest on the tour. It’s roughly a 10 hour drive, and we lose an hour. We left the hotel at 8am and didn’t arrive till 7pm Mountain Time. Now, yours truly is extremely sensitive to caffeine; I could drink two 16 oz. decaf coffees in the moirning and be up until 3pm with no problems. Jon had a leftover “Monster Hitman” which is a vial of medicinal-flavoured 3-Monster-energy-drinks-in-one-4-oz-vial thing. Well, I took it with my lunch during my shift and I drove for 6 hours, no problem.
Carroll College is a small Catholic school of 1400 in the mountain city of Helena, MT, the capital of the Big Sky State. We knew that they tried to bring us out in the spring but just couldn’t do it because of their budget and that the event that we were playing was their only concert event of the year. We were already primed emotionally to put on our best show.
The soundguys there were very knowledgeable and helpful. The staff of students were extremely hospitable including Sam who painstakingly read the menu of a restaurant to us and brought us dinner and Allie (who has a striking likeness to my wife) helped us with exacting care on the merch table. I’m quite honoured to say that during our soundcheck we overloaded the powergrid on 4 separate breakers. The soundguys did end up repairing it and during the show we had no problems.
The Carroll kids promoted the show right. By the time it was time for us to start, there was a huge crowd of kids sitting on the grass; I invited them to stand up in unity and take big step forwards in the same manner. George, one of the students who was instrumental in bringing us bought one of our Orange tshirts because he liked it so much, but we only had a women’s large left, so, uh, it was tight. He enthusiastically ran around like a Centrevol hype man, sometimes with a video camera stirring the crowd into a frenzied, screaming, bouncing mob of frothy Catholics. We have video of this, check our youtube for it, one of us should post it eventually.
At 1am Mountain Time on September 4th 2009, my body would age 30 years. Sam, one of our hosts, planned a hike after the show up Mt. Helena, a Peak nearby that Carroll students often climbed. I announced from stage that I’d be honoured to usher in the new decade with everyone there and they happily obliged. I’d guestimate that approx. thirty kids met us on the darkened trailhead. It was a 1 mile hike up with a stop at some random cave where Nate said he saw bats whiffled out into the night.
On top of the Mountain a crowd of my new friends sang me happy birthday in two languages as I bid my 20s adieu. I called my wife and she could not compose sentences as she was in that sleep saturated loud mumbly state. George, who deserves mad props, gave me my first Cuban cigar I’ve ever smoked; the only birthday gift I’d receive actually on my birthday. Wow, the hype is true. It was smooth and flavorful, but not bitter intoxicating like the Dominican brands. Not only that, I got to enjoy it with a beautiful view of the city among friends, old and new.
Our next day involved a 4 hour drive to Havre, MT for a 12 noon show. The day after that would be an 11 hour drive from Havre, MT to Logan, UT in the Salt Lake area so we decided to drive back to the Helena area the next afternoon to lop off 4 hours of driving on our way to Utah. Sam, the apparent party event coordinator of the gang said something about planning a bonfire by a lake the following evening to celebrate my birthday… I was somewhat removed and cynical from the possibility of that actually happening as I sleepily hugged all of my new friends and birthday celebrators and retreated to my hotel.
We woke up in Portland with no rush; we wouldn’t need to get to 2-hours away Lacey, WA until around 6. We hit up one of my fav destinations in Portland: Sweetness Bakery where the pastries are mighty tasty and the bubbly staff remembers me for my yelp entry. We all had breakfast with our hosts Allison and Adelle before finding out that we had a slow leak in one of our tires. The boys toiled replacing the tire only to find that the rim of the spare had rusted to the point of treachery so we once again put the same ¾ flat tire on the van, pumped it with 44psi and were off. The lug nuts were shiny with all of the labor we poured into them.
We got to Lacey with no problem but were thankful for some rest before our load in time. St. Martins is a small Catholic school tucked in the woods about an hour south of Seattle. We found delicious tofu veggie sandwiches and able-bodied staff and soundguys upon arrival. We were getting pretty pumped. A band named Emsley played before us and by the time they went on there was a healthy crowd on their feet and ready to rock.
By the time we got on stage I quickly came to this conclusion: St Martin kids are cool. Every kid was on their feet and digging us. It was so easy for us to connect with everyone and get everyone involved. We certainly had the best show of the tour thus far and we gladly obliged to an encore. Nate shredded to death his sticks so he had multiple fragments of wood that he threw out. Connecting with the SMU kids was super easy and super fun; they each had us sign each fragment of drumstick. Mad, mad props to the SMU event planning committee who put on a great event with superb promotion.
Much to our delight we discovered that the pool/jacuzzi area at our hotel is open 24/7, a first ever on tour. So, with no hesitation whatsoever we invited the entire crowd of students from the show to our hotel. Lo and behold, about 20 of them showed up in bathing suits! In fact, a few more would have made it out like Kayla and Katie, but through some epic miscommunication they ended up back at their dorms in their boardshorts getting ready for bed. Two frowny emoticons 
Brock from Portland and his sister showed up with beers and my good friend Austin once again met us at the hotel. Much to my encouragement, the alcohol stayed upstairs in our room for our of aged guests and the pool party downstairs stayed dry, uh, in one sense. Shenanigans, expectedly, were abundant at the pool. The school books a lot of bands and entertainers at the hotel so I think the staff was gracious in letting in a horde of screaming and splashing college students.
We got hungry and the after-after party was at the Jack in the Box drive through where Nate definitely ended up spread eagle on top of one of the cars and we, through honking our horns, earned some harsh words, pretty gnarly fry chips, and no napkins from the bereaved staff. The after-after-after party came when it started raining so we had to retreat back to our hotel lobby where we once again entertained our guests. The conversation ranged from academic counseling to spiritual enlightenment.
Kicking it with the St Martins kids was definitely a highlight. Thanks guys for a great show and a great time!
more about “MSU Northern Photobooth 9.4.09“, posted with vodpod
Pete did a princely job by booking us at the Super 8 in Lacey, WA near Olympia where we played last night. Last tour we took absolute basement prices and suffered for it. Pete went a step up and got us a two starred hotel that paid for itself with the late check out and sound sleeping. We woke up early, got free breakfast, and went back to sleep (heaven).
We headed out to The Couv (Vancouver) WA which was on the way to Portland where our show was. My sister in law Lydia lives there and she wanted us to stop by. We chilled out, had some burritos and coffee drinks downtown; the burritos at Pepper’s are big and yummy, and the coffee at Mon Ami=delicious. We would see Lydia again that night with her boyfriend Josh, we bid her adieu and headed into Portland.
We chilled out at this bar called “The Tugboat”, a really cool off the beaten path bar with a café atmosphere in downtown Portland. You heard it right, full bar, 25+ beers on tap, totally laid back laptops out read a book vibe. The bartender was nice and dished out drinks to the boys at $3/beer happy hour rates. They had books on the walls such as a how-to guide on raising rabbits. They had power to boot and free wireless. It was a pressure free zone to chill out for long chunks of time and do work online. IT WAS NIRVANA.Pete’s friend Beth came out and chatted with us while I worked on some promotion and backing up some key files in case a catastrophe happened.
Our venue is called Eastburn, located on the east side of burnside, a major street that intersects Portland laterally. When we drove by there, much to our delight, we found it was packed: $2 pint night. Apparently they have cool beers that are even cheaper than the equivelent volume at a grocery store. Needless to say the bar was packed, and the venue was actually very nice! The sound system sounded great, and I was even able to easily sneak in our under-aged friend from Gresham Nicolette. We were all excited to play.
We did a two-hour set with a break at the beginning and it was tiring. The response from the crowd was good and we had a $100 guarantee, so I am NOT complaining. But it’s difficult to keep the energy high in that long of a set when the audience is not captive, no matter how you look at it. We made a few great connections including with a table of ppl who paid their check and then stayed an hour to see us play our second set, then demanded an encore. Sorry Bridget, we had nothing left to give:(
Our benevolent friends Joe and Allison put us up for the night despite their small living quarters and our very late arrival, and we are thankful.
more about “Carroll College Photobooth 9.3.09“, posted with vodpod
