Hello Centrevol Fans. There is a lot for me to catch you up on in terms of Centrevol news so let me bring you straight up to speed. We are well into the fall now, and we just marked the one year anniversary of my (kais) first show with the band. Greater than the first show, the event that really got the ball rolling for us was “NACA West 2008”, a conference connecting us to College Students booking shows for their schools all across the west. Right now I’m sitting in the van oh once again with Pete and Nate after roughly 14 hours of driving. We’re outside of Portland on a mist covered freeway with burgeoning green pastures on either side; on our journey to book our next tour.
But, before I get to that, some news about us as since the summer. We have been writing at a pretty grueling pace and have about 4 or 5 new songs, which is very exciting. Our sound is really maturing from Beggars and Thieves, get ready for some interesting tunes. We’ve also decided to collaborate with Eric Palmquist as Producer of the next album. Eric’s a good friend of ours and a member of the Pseudo Rebels. We’re excited to have him on our team.
We also moved rehearsal spaces as many of you have heard. Our former host Francis had an encounter with his neighbor, (and, the clincher, is moving out of Long Beach anyway) so we found ourselves homeless for about 4 days. After only skipping one rehearsal God full on provided a place: International City Studios, the only lock-out space in the Long Beach area (that means we keep our gear there and don’t have to share the space with any other bands). The owner of the place is a believer, he gave us a discount, and we received the generous, generous support of friends to close the gap of our rent to within a few dollars of what we were paying at Francis’ place. Praise God; the best benefit is that the place is AIR CONDITIONED! (The only minus is that our neighbor is a metal band called “Infant Death” [not actual name] that is extremely heavy and loud. We feel like sissies working out our pop tunes while these guys are screaming and sacrificing children).
Ok, on to the current journey at hand. Pete and Nate pulled up in Ye Old Love Van around 7:30pm at my place, Wednesday, Nov. 4. Google says the drive up to Portland is 17 hours. You do the math. It’s 9:30 AM Thursday now, Nate did the first shift; I pulled the heroic 12:30-4:30AM shift (with great thanks to NPR podcasts); and Pete’s on the wheel now. We’re looking at roughly an hour until we get to our hotel. Jon flies in on Friday as we have a gig that day.
Now I have to say with extreme candidness that I have my share of apprehension regarding this event along with the band mates (although I was one of the band mates who really pushed to do this). Here’s the big kicker that’s irking us… Bands are not allowed to “showcase” two years in a row. That is, at these conferences, I’d say 85% of the frame of references of these college kids is what’s directly in front of them: the bands that are performing at the conference.
Instead, we have a top secret show outside of the conference at a local venue. It’s top secret because it’s against NACA policy to gig outside of the conference: it pulls students away from their scheduled events. The show is relatively nearby, but, the forecast is pouring thunderstorms. My point is, the odds are stacked against us, we kind of need God to sprinkle some of that miracle dust on us. We need our past connections to really exploit themselves, and we need that gig Friday night to really come through, oh yeah, and we are playing an acoustic set [which we hate doing and are not very good at]) so, God help us, we need that miracle dust.
I spent the evening last night texting all of the contacts that I have who may be coming and I already have several contacts planning on coming to the show. We need prayer for good weather and tenacious kids. I was a doubting Thomas last year and we got 35+ bookings! I am looking forward to God blowing me away with his graciousness this year.
The land of Ports approaches, thanks for all of your support.
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