Hi and welcome to the blog.  We’ve returned safely from our 21-day tour of the east coast.  It was quite an amazing time and best summed up by Chase (our road manager and friend since childhood) as “Four months worth of life in three weeks.”  So , I’m going to be recounting our  happenings with pictures and videos. I hope you enjoy them.  Feel free to leave comments. Especially if they come at Colin's expense.  :D

 

Before I actually start this blog, I just wanted to say a quick thanks to all who read this. We've had a much better response than we could have ever dreamed of.  Over 1,000 people read the recent Raleigh blog last week.   Thanks very much from all of us for reading and spreading the word.  It's a steep climb but together we'll make it...

 

June 24, 2009:  In a way, I have Sullivan Hall to thank for bringing Alejandro on board.  When I first approached him about the possibility of playing with us, we talked about the tour and I mentioned our dates in NYC.  Funny enough, he had played at the venue before with Trombone Shorty and couldn't wait to go back...

 

Much like Raleigh, this was another big gig for me, personally.  The other half of my closest friends and family (including my dad) live in the city or thereabouts. But this time, the booking agents were a bit more understanding and easy to work with.  Sullivan Hall was one of the first gigs that we booked for the tour and served as the lynchpin for the other dates.  

 

We arrived early and got a prime parking spot on Sullivan Street and walked around a bit.  Rich, Dan and Colin checked out some boutique stores, Ale got a massage from this underground Asian masseuse (? I know), and Chase and I got some food.  We reconvened at a record store where I found the soundboard recording of an obscure Red Hot Chili Peppers show from Germany in 1999.  Ace!

 

When showtime rolled around, it was stressfully similar to the Raleigh scenario.  When you're negotiating with a venue, they want to know roughly

how many people you can bring to the show.  If you don't meet that quota, you're probably not going to be invited back.  So with just an hour until we hit the stage, I started to worry a bit.  After watching some of the openers, I went back stage to prepare and when I came out for the set, there they were!  We got a pretty good crowd that night.  I think there were about 65 people specifically there for us and a few others who stayed.

 

 

(On that note, if you were there that night, or any other night for that matter, you really don't know how much we appreciate it.  Coming to the shows helps on so many levels.  For one, it's a totally different animal playing for an enthusiastic (or even attentive) audience.  And two, for the reason aforementioned, it really helps us get more gigs.  So I can't say thank you enough if you've come to support us.  Every single person there means so much to me.  Sounds like a crock of shit but it's completely true...)

 

The atmosphere that night was explosive.  Rich and Dan were two cogs completely locked in with one another, Alejandro's fingers were about to catch fire on the keys and Colin was his slinky jammin' self.  I think we were all really receptive to the amazing amount of enthusiasm in that room.  

 

 And we had lights.  It's odd because you wouldn't really think a light show makes that much difference but lemme tell ya....it does.

 

We played for about an hour that night but I had to scrap one of the newer songs called "So Alive" that had been really well received so far because the chorus calls for some extremely high notes and unfortunately, I wasn't having the best of vocal performances that night.  When I was a kid, I always used to wonder why singers of bands always seemed like prima donnas and now, I think I know why.  The abuse that your voice takes as an instrument really highlights the lack of durability compared to, say, a drumhead.  Dan can beat on that thing all day and it will still sound the same, but sing two four-hour sets on back-to-back nights and you'll hear a pretty noticeable difference.  I don't consider myself a prima donna and I hope the guys would agree, but as a singer, you are a bit more sensitive about your performance.  It's much more personal.

 

We did play "Proximity Bomb", which will also be on the new album.  Lots of fun! (By the way, this camera had a really good bass pickup so there's a big difference if you have decent computer speakers or headphones...)

 

 

One of my favorite moments of that video is when you see the sticks start flying from out of the percussion section.  I think it's around the 2:00 mark.  When I first saw the playback, I had to rewind it because I thought a bat had flown into the picture or something...hee hee.

 

 

Here's "The End of an Era".  Much thanks to Mikey who did a very admirable filming job.

 

 

 

After the set, we caught up with some of our good friends who made it out.  We were just hanging out, chatting about random stuff, exchanging thanks and that's when someone asked Dan to do his best street drumming.  Insanity ensued. 

 

 
 

 

Afterwards, we went out and had a few drinks, but it wasn't until the next day, while walking around the village that Ale just casually mentioned while laughing, "That homeless guy had a copy of 'Duende.'"  I looked at him and realized he wasn't kidding.  I turned around and sure enough, the dude had the cd jacket  on the pavement next to him.  We chatted a little bit and I obligingly gave him some change for the advertising fee but I stayed away from explaining "Concrete Dreams."

 

Later on, we were just south of Washington Square Park south and saw one of our flyers on the ground.  Such a weird feeling, seeing yourself on the floor of a public street.  I shared the eureka with a lady who was waiting at the crosswalk.  She didn't care. 

 

In the end, it was a great experience and we were all really clicking and happy to have Rich back in the fold.  It was my friend and drummer, Phil Muellerschoen's idea to bring Rich aboard and I'm so grateful that he had that great thought.  Having said that, the dude has a LOT of equipment!  We took up the majority of the backstage area and loading and unloading was always quite the task, but Lord knows, it's worth it!

 

 

 

From his diary...

"After finishing our set, it was nice to be well acquainted again with packing up instruments!  I should have gotten another degree upon graduating...Rich Chwastiak has graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor's of Music Degree in Percussion Performance and...INSTRUMENT STORAGE!"

 

 

 

Next up...Boston, where coincidentally Rich will call home next year as he goes to grad school at the New England Conservatory of Music (oo la la!)

 

 

 

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