Saturday, March 11, 2006 4:42AM
Cutting through rolling hills covered in snow somewhere in Vermont. Alex and I are the only ones with eyes peeled and mine are burning. We cross the border to Canada today at some point. We will be traveling lighter than normally as Mikey must take a Greyhound bus to avoid immigration issues I don't know too much about so I won't go into details. And we've been informed we can't take our merch across the border, which is a total bum trip. We drove all night from the show in Boston. The gig was yet another knock out for us. We all wished we'd had more time in Boston to explore and enjoy the city which looked so beautiful out our windows. The place we are driving through now is breathtaking. Miles and miles of desolation, undisturbed by people. Just every few miles a modest wood cabin delicately blanketed in pure white snow. It feels like a massive cold breath to be in northern country. Opens your lungs right up and you crave hot coffee from the nearest ma and pa diner. This morning we accidently traveled miles off course and ended up in New Hampshire at the Blackwater Cafe eating warm country breakfast. Corn beef hash, biscuits and gravy, etc. The local lumber jacks huddled together at the bar over their warm cups. Everyone knows everyone's name and we're sticking out like hell's angels at church, but the good people of this northern small town accept that we're just tired hungry road trippers and don't ask many questions.
Yesterday was spent leaving New York in our rearview and driving to Boston. New York was madness and I don't even know where to begin. It took a piece of all of us, a piece of your health that takes two good night's sleep to regain. So many reasons for celebration, easily overshadows all the reasons for relaxation. We played two gigs. One on our own at Pianos on the 6th and back with the Subways on the 7th at Bowery Ballroom. Both shows were well enjoyed and New York gave us lots of love in their cold weather. Lots of friends traveled from out west to join us. Some for a few days some for more. Sammy, Alex's brother, will be along for the ride until Texas. He is documenting all the highs and blues with his arsenal of cameras. So far the footage and film he's taken looks stellar. We all adore Sammy and it's good to have another brother out on the road with us. There's a birthday in our family tree in the past few days. Our warmest birthday wishes to my dearest brother Zack Booze Radley. (I've got surprises for you when I get back home brother).
In New York we stayed at the Off Soho Suites. They are well equipped little apartments -- kitchen, bath, living room, small dining area, bedroom. We managed to redecorate our suites. We thought they looked better covered in empty beer and wine bottles and top full ashtrays. We made it out of New York just in time for the gig in Boston. Before the show we ate up most of the tour ryder for fuel: veggies, fruit, cookies, etc. The place we played was cool but the kids made the show. Afterwards Alex and I hung out in our dressing room with Josh the drummer of the Subways and talked about how hard it is to stop drinking beer. We had some laughs, met lots of nice fans and watched the Subs rock. We all hang out after every show and have some laughs, they really could not be any sweeter of people.
Right before we hit the Canadian border we had the roughest most challenging day of the tour. Going on two hours of sleep max we were forced to locate a Greyhound station and finally found one in Burlington, Vermont. After dropping Mikey off we drove for miles looking for a DHL to ship off the 500 T-shirts cramping our van. Delirious, cold, and wet, getting lost every few minutes we finally located a DHL and boxed up all the shirts but had to ship them from a different location to avoid over charging. Finally we made it to the border only to be held there for three miserable hours while they made sure we weren't drug smuggling criminals. When they figured out we were just musicians with no sleep they gave us some papers, made us give them 400 bucks and let us go. We arrived at the venue in beautiful Montreal and all cringed when we noticed three flights of stairs the gear had to be lifted up. We pulled our van into a driveway that was covered in ice and we began to slide left into near parked cars. We nearly hit one of the cars and decided it'd be wise to put the chains on the tires. So imagine the lot of us slipping around on the ice in our Chelsea boots trying to put chains on our tires in below zero weather. We managed to pull it all off and even had time to check into our hotel for a quick shower. When we arrived back at La Sala Rossa there were lines up and down all three flights of stairs. Apparently they had to turn away 100's of kids cause the show sold out. We made our way through the crowd and onto the stage. The place was filled to the brim, overflowing with French speaking music fans. We have never played to more passionate kids in our entire existence as a band. This crowd was so amazing they pulled out from our hearts and souls the most beautiful thirty some odd minutes we could possibly have given. We fell in love that night with each and every person in that place and felt it called for celebration. After watching the place lose their minds to the Subs we took a table at the Spanish tapas bar downstairs. Our stomachs empty we ordered an array of tasty treats and bottles and bottles of some of the most delicious Spanish wine I've ever drank. It was a high point that made us all quickly realize how all the struggle that took place earlier that day was well worth it. We wouldn't trade this for anything, it's a dream come true to travel with your best friends see beautiful places you've never seen, play music and live your life. Shortly after us the Subways and crew joined us downstairs and we all had a lovely time and eventually went back upstairs to meet fans and talk with them. They were all great kids and as we walked around with our wine bottles in hand we eventually had to say our goodbyes and retire to the hotel. But instead we went out on the town ate bad falafels and celebrated the rest of the night away to finally end up back at our hotel and crashed out on contact with the beds. Wulffy and I slept in till 3:30 and got ready to get out in the remaining hours of daylight to see all the beauty Montreal had to offer us. And we were so glad we did. The two of us journeyed through ice, snow, rain and the incredible architecture to the cobbled stone streets of old town. Circa 1800's old is a gorgeous French like village lined with cafes, little shops, churches and rich historical statues, etc. Wulff and I ended up in a rad Italian restaurant chain smoking and enjoying fine cappuccinos and various fruits and meats. We really were blown away by Montreal, it felt like a mixture of Russia and France. Modern corporate buildings surrounded by old Victorian hotels churches and shops. We met back up with the rest of the boys and some of us napped and some of us played with our electronics, wrote letters, listened to music, and all the other things you do in your down time. We got our act together and walked up to a local jazz bar to have drinks and dinner together. The trio playing that night was comprised of the kind of musicians that inspire you and humble you with one song. They were amazing and Montreal is a breeding ground for good jazz players, beautiful girls, and good bagels. We ate and said goodnight to Jeff and Mikey, and Alex, Wulff, Sammy, and I walked up down and all around only to end up at a weird euro disco tech type place drinking scotch and not fitting in. A waitress Alex and Sammy had recommended it and I believe she must be a big drug user. We corrected our error and went back to our tapas joint for a nightcap with our Venezuelan friend that may have had a crush on Wulff. We took a cab back to the hotel and butchered all the street names to the cab driver who had no idea what the hell we were saying. We thought we were pretty smooth with our French accents but I guess we were way off, haha. Impossible! We turned the lights off around 4am only to receive our wake up call from Mike and Jeff three times. I made it down to the lobby with time to spare and Alex and I had a tea and we packed the van. I think Jeff and Mike cleaned the van and we were all happy to see they did cause it was getting kinda wrong in there. We stopped for bagels on the way out out at this unreal place that makes the bagels in this massive wood oven. We got a dozen of 'em and Alex is feeding everyone as I write this. Driving through Ontario right now, it could be Texas. It's beautiful today, clear blue sky, not too cold, everything rocks, what more can I say. Toronto is an hour away and it's sold out tonight.
Monday, November 7, 2005 4:42AM
Brothers & Sisters,
Allow me to bring you up to speed on the latest happenings in the world of your comrades The Shys. Let me first say from all of us shys here we miss you dearly, and plans have been set in motion to bring ourselves to you. A grand time shall be had by all and to those of you we have dropped in on we like to extend our gratitude and love, you were wonderful. And to everyone that's written and called to you we send our love and appreciation. Moving along now, the past few months have been filled with high's and higher high's.
We flew to the great city of New York enjoyed fine dining, drank bottomless margarita's in the east village, missed flights back home, paid seven dollars for cigarettes, stumbled through airports trying in vain to remember how to properly walk, met some good people, and played lots of music all the while. The Redwalls, The Colour, & Ok Go were kind enough to have us support them on some west coast dates. We traveled up and down the coast in our van which's defining characteristic is the massive amount of trash it holds. In San Luis Obispo, which the locals affectionately refer to as SLO we were kidnaped or possibly we volunteered. Either way we drove up some dirt road ended up in some house on the top of a mountain overlooking the ocean and proceeded to make pancakes. We stopped off in Santa Barbra to visit a friend and subsequently played a six hour long set on a cliff above the beach for some friendly inebriated college students and got bit by mosquitos. Set highlights included extended versions of Ray Charles classic "what'd I say" Jimi's Famed "purple haze" and The Stones "venelator blues". We Stayed one more day to take a load of at the beach and were clearly the fairest skin bunch of lads those suntanned keg drinkers had ever seen. We played lots of gigs in LA and had lots of meetings with people that have lots of meetings. We signed our names on lots of papers, toasted lots of champaign, and extended the branches of our family tree.
More recently we spent four days in the studio recording five new songs ( and a handful of acoustic numbers ) We are all quite excited to put the wheels to the road and tour the country to see all you lovelies. Our apologies to those of who have expressed your displeasure with the lack of live shows in November. Were taking the month to set up the studio tie up loose ends and prepare for what promises to be a beautiful exciting year. Thank you for being a part of our music and God Bless You
Tuesday, January 24, 2006 4:42AM
hello friends, for the past two weeks we have been in hollywood recording our debut album for sire records. we are now two days shy of completion and the experience has been a landmark to say the least. the process of recording the album was very akin to the philophies most commonly used in the nineteen sixties. our producer dave cobb located one of the original consels used on many of the kinks classic records and had it delieverd from the uk. the band recorded live in a dimly lit intimate setting direclty onto two inch analog tape. a fair amount of the sessions were documented onto film and should be available to view in the not to distint future. the release date of the record is yet to be confirmed but were shooting for an april or may to coincide with an upcoming uk tour thats in the works. were all very proud and excited about this record and cant wait to share it with you.
Monday, March 6, 2006 4:42AM
Headed north as we speak. I've got an unlit cigarette hanging from my lips (Mikey has a no smoking rule which I'm jonesing to break). We're 100 some odd miles from New York City which marks our fifth show on this tour. Last night we played Washington, DC. I for one had never been and neither had Mike. We drove straight through the night from our prior show in Philly. And before that we were in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The tour started in Atlanta, Georgia at a place called the Loft. As Mike filled you in on before we left our hometown of Los Angeles early to drive 36 hours across America straight to the south to meet with our dear friends the Colour in Nashville, Tennessee. We spent three days sharing drink, music, and stories. We love those guys as if they were our own brothers. Which of course they practically are. We made it out of Nashville alive after our mad weekend. We drove straight to Atlanta quite easily with beautiful southern scenery staring back at us through our fishbowl windows. The architecture in Atlanta was impressive and had a style all of its own. We spotted a nice bar grill type place to have a bite before we headed to the club for a preshow rehearsal. I had a meatball sandwich that got me back to life. Mikey had his usual tuna melt. Jeff had meatloaf which tasted mighty fine. Wulff enjoyed some french onion soup and Alex made us all feel like gluttons with his steak salad. The next day we slept in pretty good and eventually made it into town to pick up some odds and ins. I was on the look out for a couple different vintage guitars but that day the game ball went to Wulffy when he stumbled across a 1968 Gibson EB3 bass in near mint condition. We all protested how strongly we felt he should buy it. Once again young Chris falls victim to peer pressure haha. But this time it did him good, the bass sounds and looks brilliant. We showed up back at the club and watched the Subways sound check. Hung out chatting with them as Alex and I chained smoked waiting to sound check which never happened. The down time before gigs is a strange grey area. You can't really leave and go anywhere and you can't really relax so you basically sit around twirling your thumbs trying in vain to entertain yourselves. We're getting better at it, we've discovered most of these promoters have been nice enough to supply us with food and drinks. So while normally we would be smoking and teaching each other our best southern horse shoe face we are getting fat off the free ryder. I think we went on around 9:30 after a local opener. We all had nerves for the first gig of the tour. Jay a new friend from the local radio station announced us. We took the stage and from the first note of the opening song everything felt right. We played to a fantastic audience of about 350 people. The kids in Atlanta gave us lots of love and we had a fucking amazing time playing that show. Afterwards we hung out by the merch table, drank a few cocktails and met lots of nice people and made some new friends. We were excited to see the Subways and before they came on I was backstage with Billy talking. He was excited, nervous and full of energy all at the same time. Needless to say they rocked and we all really enjoyed seeing them for the first time. We eventually made it out of the club and onto the town. Some smokey dance club underground, I forget the name. We ended up at an all night diner eating egg sandwiches and taking photos of each other making terribly ugly faces. A bunch of girls were with us and I suspect they thought we were a little out of our heads. We got to bed around 6am only to wake up and drive to North Carolina at 10am. I slept a lot on that drive so I don't really recall what happened. We did stop at our new favorite chain restaurant Cracker Barrel. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure you gotta check it out if you get a chance. The place rules they sell everything from rocking chairs to old fashion candy and Americana music. We had an awesome waiter called Roger who took real good care of us. More down home southern soul food. The gig in Chapel Hill was good fun. A small dive bar where we felt right at home. There was dirt all over the stage from cowboy boots dragging in the country. I wasn't feeling 100% so I had tequilla and EmergenC . So there I was pacing around backstage with my tequila sunrise laced with EmergenC . It worked and we played our little hearts out for some really cool people. The jukebox at the club was totally righteous and we had an impromptu dance party after the show to some Johnny Cash. A nice girl showed Jeff and I how to get back to the hotel and the guys went to a jazz bar to have a few more drinks and enjoy the company of some new friends they made. The next day we had to wake up at some Un-Godly hour for a long drive to Philly. I caught up on more sleep in the van and after 7 long hours we made it to Philly. We were all excited about Philly cause our good friends the Eastern Conference Champions were on the bill. The venue was a place called the First Unitarian Church. Which is indeed a house of God. It was sweet and it doubled as a record store in the hallway. We drank a few beers caught up with the ECC guys and watched them play a beautiful set of good music. A bit of fun, a bit of work and not a good rock n roll music. We enjoyed the hell out of Philly. The people there are rad and they really made us feel welcome in their great city. After the show we were down the street at a diner/pub drinking with Josh Greg and Vern of the ECC and their girls. While we were there the Subways came on the TV playing Letterman Late Show. Unfortunately the party had to end early as we were headed for Washington DC and looking for Philly cheese steaks on the way. We drove around partly lost looking for food and gave up but later ended up at a diner in Delaware eating philly cheese steaks. (note -- we're also really keen on pizza in New Jersey instead of New York)We arrive in DC at 5 am ready to crash. There was a drunk hooker at the front desk crying which was mildly amusing at 5am drugged up on Theraflu flu and DayQuil. We woke up the next day and headed to the gig, the 9:30 Club is spectacular, a beautiful ballroom theatre. All the staff at that place ruled and helped us out with everything.This was the biggest show yet. About 1000 kids filled the venue when we took the stage. The kids there really know how to go off and we loved them all. We had ourselves a top night playing and hanging out afterwards. Wulff had family in town and that meant we all had family in town so after all the madness settled down. A massive group of us went out to a classy dinner at a tapas restaurant and enjoyed good food and wine. My personal favorite was, um I can't pronounce it but it was good. Today was our day off and Wulff's cousin Gabe and his wife Maria and Wulff's dad had an unreal BBQ for us. Full Venezuelan style. We all sat on the porch eating, drinking and enjoying the sun on our faces. We all passed out shortly after eating and woke up to walk around exploring the monuments and all the rich history DC has to offer. We took photos as tourist do and Mikey and I bought scarfs off the street on our way to the White House as we were freezing. Being from California we don't take to kindly to the wind chill folks. We're getting used to it more so now. As I write this we have left DC in our rear view and are less than 30 min out of New York City. We have two shows here in the Big Apple and I'm told it won't rain. Everyone is telling us it's warm today and I think they've all gone mad. I like the weather though, it's gorgeous. So as I write this from the back of the van, we all send our love and appreciation.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 4:42AM
The stars shine bright in the desert night, undisturbed by growing city lights. I've got a bedroom in the back of the van now as we are now the proud owners of a 6 x 10 trailer purchased in the fine state of Kansas. Alex and I have been laying down back here for a good half of the day after we put in our road time earlier as the first pair in the command center. That's driver and navigator although we like to think of ourselves more like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. A lot has happened since I last wrote so allow me to bring you up to speed on whatever I can remember here half awake still driving through the never ending state they call Texas.
Last night we played Dallas at a little place called the Gypsy Tea Room. We got a little lost on the way to the club and ended up in a dirt alley and driving the wrong way on a one way street. Not a good idea even worse idea in Texas with California plates. We made it as always, right on time for a soundcheck and some chips & salsa, smokes and vitamin waters before we took the stage. Some friend of ours the Vacation who are on tour themselves showed up. The people in Dallas treated us like their own and we did our damnedest to make their Monday night a good one. After the show we met some sweet Texans. I spent some time in our dressing room talking to my family and catching up with everyone whom I miss so much. I was informed today that I'm going to be a second time uncle to what will no doubt be another beautiful baby nephew. I miss my other nephew a lot, little Gianni.. Sometimes I think about him when I'm on stage, playing his little red wood upright piano and giggling. We ended the night enjoying some well earned cocktails and soon it was time to say goodbye to our friends new and old and head out into Dallas for some late night sushi.. Miso soup saki and countless cut rolls later we pilled back into the van to head home for the night. Home being the Quality Inn. Not sure where they got that name cause there nothing to quality about it. Alex and I listened to Bad Finger, Jeff Buckley and the Zombies to send us into our dreams. A short sleep ensued and we woke up to the sound of the hotel phone with Jeff Patrick's (tour manager) charming southern accent informing us van call in 30 min. We made some coffee, packed up and headed to the nearest Denny's to start our 18 hour drive west to Tempe, Arizona. The new zesty Creole at Denny's is worth a shot if anyone is wondering. We all ordered orange juice and coffee to open our eyes. Along the way as I sat shotgun out the window endless grasslands with cows and horses grazing in the noon day Texas sunshine. I let the sun hit my face and the warmth felt healthy and soft as Wulffy and I joked about this and that.
The night before Dallas saw the five of us in Houston at the Meridian Red Room. We were lucky enough to have a stage hand slash security guard named Brooklyn assigned to show us around, help us move gear and teach me some martial arts.The club seemed like a big maze with different rooms varying in size everywhere. The staff stocked the backstage area with a cooler full of shiner bock that washed down our sandwiches we ordered from down the street. We had a good show and so did the Subs. The weather is what really stood out in Houston. Warm humid and raining. The kind of fat wet drops that seem to come in random waves I had a nice time after the show hanging with our buddy Ben, the Subways' manager..
Before Houston we spent the previous two days in Austin for SXSW music festival. For anyone who went or has been there before you know what a mad scene it is and this year was no exception. In fact it was more insane than last year. We blew into Austin at 5 am. We had a couple rooms at the Courtyard Marriot which for us was a giant step up from the Econ Lodge in Kansas City which I suspect is simply an establishment for shady dealings and prostitution. We were thrilled to sleep in all day and took full advantage getting about 12 hours. Some of us even got to fit in a hot bath. Baths fucking rule!Anyhow we made it into town to meet with our team We managed to run into the Subways almost straight off and we all hung out while we each did interviews and talked of how sweet this tour has been and how much fun were having. That day we headed over to a coffe shop where we had a gig at 5pm. Our friends were everywhere and it was such a pleasure to have them all turn out to see us.Our boys The Colour turned up and we played a 30 minute set and worked up a fine sweat in the humid room. Afterwards we drank the free beer and pilled in the van to see the Colour and the Cold War Kids play right down the street. The Colour were amazing as usual but they have really come into their own with new songs. We have un-mixed copy the new record that sound absolutely stellar. We danced, sang along and drank out of Wyatt's mini bar which was simply a drum case full of beer. We all decided to get back on 6th Street for some sort of action. We met up with Eastern Conference Champions at a bar and continued to laugh and chat the night away over tequilas and tacos. At some point fairly early Sammy and I called it a night and I passed out fully clothed on the hotel beds. Alex stayed out all night getting up to god knows what kind of trouble. I heard he was running across rivers and hoping barbed wire fences and telling people he was in the Pretenders. In other words he was in fine form having a typical night.
The next day we slept in once again which was fucking glorious. Wulff and I eventually got our acts together and did some well over due laundry. I just keep buying new clothes and leaving the others dirty. So it was nice to clean up the gear. Wulff and I walked over all of 30 feet to a restaurant in front of the hotel for lunch. After a couple baskets of crab fingers we stole Nate from the Colour and drove into town for our gig that night at Club DeVille. We met with friends and loaded in and racked up a massive guest list and went for drinks next door at a Mexican joint that was pretty epic. The gig that night was very special to us cause loads of our friends and cool bands made the effort to come support us. Seymour Stein, the president and founder of our label came out. It meant a lot to us. We had a great time of it and the venue was a really rad outdoor place that reminded you of a mini red rock. One reason the show was so special is that a year ago almost to the day we were at SXSW playing for 15 people at 1 pm. All our same people were with us then, of course we've added some amazing people on the way but I think the gig was a sharp sign of all our hardwork and soul we've put into our music and this band. Everyone felt spectacular and we celebrated over drinks and conversation. Ben, Billy, Alex, Chris, Mike and I headed next door for a quick breather and Billy and I played some pool. Later we all headed downtown in a van, all of us pilled in yelling at a cab driver who had little to no idea where we wanted to go. We eventually made it to some crazy warehouse party and spent the rest of the night in the company of good friends and free drinks. I caught a ride home with the Colour and the next day we packed up and said goodbye to the madness of Austin and unfortunately saying goodbye for a short time to our brother Sammy who has been on tour with us for the past two weeks documenting. We leave Austin feeling like nothing could stop us, like the good Lord is on our side. God bless and love.
Sunday, April 16, 2006 4:42AM
Wulffmother is sitting in his boxers finger picking some sweet tune on the bed across from me. We've just got back to our hotel from the show tonight in San Luis with our kin (Delta Spirit & the Colour). It was a special night musically and otherwise. Everyone involved is a wonderful soul in their own unique way. Sharing music, ideas, observations, etc with such good people is a welcome beauty at all times. Tonight was no exception. The gentlemen in Delta Spirit started the night off in fine style. More often than not you could find us all backstage plucking away on our new nylon string mini acoustic and doing sing alongs and drinking whatever free drinks the venue supplies. Sooner or later it was time for us to play, so we did, that was fun. A lovely group of enthusiastic kids made our nights by participating. It makes my night to have friends in the audience as well. Enough can't be said about what a blessing it is to have such a family vibe all around you. Both bands, all their friends, it's a beautiful thing. I was psyched to see my boys play so I made myself comfortable at the bar and ordered my usual tequila orange juice and the Colour displayed their genius once again. Eventually I made my way up front with the Delta guys Alex, Chris and Mike. We had a bit of a dance, a bit of a clap, and cheered on our friends. For the final song of the evening the stage was a chaotic spectacle as everyone bashed through the "Devil's Gotta Hold On Me."We opted to stay the night and leave mid-morning back to the city of angels for our show tomorrow at the Troubadour. I've got a sneaky suspicion tomorrow night is going to be madness. Does anyone know where Mike went? We lost our drummer, knowing him he's surrounded by babes and drinking.
Thursday, May 4, 2006 4:42AM
4:42 AM and I've laid waste to the night moving back and forth restlessly from the couch to the garage. I should have been asleep hours ago but there's no hope now. I've got to be up cause in a few hours the tour van will be honking outside my window trusting that I'm packed and ready to walk out the door to head off to LA for a quick stop and then to Seattle for the first date of this American tour we're embarking on. I spent my weekend at home "taking it easy" and getting some time with my family. Alex and I stayed behind and Chris, Mike, and Booze (tour manager) opted for Coachella. We visited my uncle on his birthday and dusted off six bottles of wine he acquired up in Napa. Our celebration was in honor of his birthday of course and the Lakers triumphant game three win.We rented Woody Alan's latest film "Match Point." Alex had already seen it and sold me on the idea that I would dig it. I've been working on lots of new songs and I know Alex has as well. We spent a lot of our down time sharing songs and ideas. We're already talking apprehensively about the next record. Seeing as how the first one isn't even out yet I can't help but think we're jumping the gun a little. The guys tell me they had a good time in the desert. I felt a little stationary all weekend and started to feel the lack of movement tugging at my soul. And of course now that it's time to go. No really I'm excited for this little jaunt. We're playing some places we've never been and visiting some places we've already had the pleasure playing. Tomorrow I'm gonna be totally screwed when I wake up. Two or three hours of sleep makes my eyes feel like I haven't blinked in hours and no amount of coffee makes me feel normal. So sleepy and awake. We're headed to Seattle early to relax with some friends and enjoy the city. No California dates on this tour and I'm going to miss In and Out. The first show is with our brothers from different mothers the Colour whom we recently paved the west coast with. And then we drive east to Denver to join up with our friends The Vacation and The Sun. If anyone is bummed that the Seattle show is 21+ trust me we are too. We hate that rule and we did everything we could to try and change it. I think everyone whose not old enough to get it should come early around load in time and hang out with us and we will play songs on the acoustics and have a little protest outside the venue. Are you game for it? Hit me up if you are. I'll bring the protest songs you bring the homemade signs. This statement goes for all the shows as a matter of fact. If we are late to load in just carry on with the protest until we get there to lend a hand.
Friday, June 2, 2006 16:01PM
A bit of time has passed sence we last corresponded and for that I apologize. The past month has been madness and there is a lot to catch up on. I believe I left off on the dawn of our North American tour with the sun and the vacation. We began our little outing with the daunting task of driving up what seemed like the entire west coast for the first date of the tour in Seattle with our dearest of friends the colour. On our trek up through northern California my phone rang and at the other end was Nate (colour drummer) inviting us to stop by their show in San Francisco that night. Of course this sounded a million times better than sitting in the van for another 12 hours. We missed the show but enjoyed ourselves stretching our limbs and hanging with the boys. We did what we always seem to do at clubs. Enjoy a few drinks, smoke, play pool and spend the night trying to make each other laugh. We said our goodbyes to set out on the rest of the drive north. The colour opted to stay in town that night and headed to their hotel for some rest. As we walked down the dim lit street which we parked on we noticed a violent mess of broken glass where our front passenger window used to be. Everyone knew right away what went down. The old smash and grab job had been preformed on our sweet van. Ripped off and not much left behind. So long to our laptops cameras passports etc . . . . luckily our trailer was left untouched so our instruments were safe and sound. We brushed off the misfortunate vowing not to let it get us down and it didnt. We headed out of the city to seek shelter in a smaller more trustworthy town and got a hotel for the night. We managed to drive through the remainder of California lacking a window, a cold stiff breeze in its place. The next morning we arrived in Portland to fix the van and finally get to Washington where good friends and a nice warm house waited for us. It was sweet relief to pull into Seattle and have some fun and see good friends. We did some solid shopping ate some good food and drank a lot of coffee. At some point it was time to get to the club to set up and sound check. Some underage friends stopped by to greet us and hang out for a bit before the 21 rules were enforced. Our apologies to everyone that couldnt get in for this reason, we know its a drag but we promise to play as many all ages shows as we can in the future. The show that night was a great time for all of us. Lots of friends and warm vibes in the air and we had a bit of an after party as a result at the quon casa' to celebrate. We joked about breaking one of my fingers so we could stay with our friends and avoid the 29 hour drive that was looking us right between the eyes. Needless to say we reluctantly said our goodbyes until next time and headed east on our way to Denver Colorado for the first of 12 dates with the vacation and the sun. The drive through Washington was gorgeous. Snow covered mountains glass lakes and endless trees. I eventually fell asleep after lunch and I think I awoke somewhere in Iowa and played a little guitar in the van and fell asleep again shortly after. We arrived in Denver to an overcast humid climate. As soon as I opened my eyes we were at a TV studio to host a show. We dusted ourselves off shook some hands played some pool and had a cup of tea. The interview made us all laugh and we played some of our favorite videos and made our way over to the gig that night. We met the vacation for some pre show beers and food. That night we played for about 15 enthusiastic Colorado locals and it gave us a pretty good idea of what we were in for on this tour. Lean and mean touring. Its always fun to watch the bands your touring with play for the first night of the tour and Denver was no exception. Both bands sounded good and very different from each other. The sun were gentlemen and a good live band to boot. That night called for a drive to Lawrence Kansas. We took what little merch money we had and ate some place along the way. Dennys I Think. I remember pulling into Lawrence for the first time. The main drag had a small town charm to it and we walked up and down looking for food and cigarettes. We met up with some old friends of mikeys and killed the time playing acoustic guitars and wondering around the city before it was eventually time to get on stage. The club that night featured bleacher seating in the style of little league baseball and a mens bathroom with no door. We apologize to the girls of Lawrence but your bathroom facilities were just much nicer than the mens room. The crowd was fantastic and gave us a warm welcoming reception which we all fed off of. That night the guys and I were happy because mikes friends kindly offered us their beautiful apartment for the night. To no ones surprise Alex slept in the van for the fourth consecutive night. Just another night with his novels, journal, guitar and no running water. The rest of us on the other hand felt it necessary to shower after 3 or 4 days on the road. I shared an incredibly comfortable air mattress with mike and we slept like infants and woke up rejuvenated for the drive to Minneapolis. From what I remember Alex and I spent part of the ride trying to convince everyone to drive a couple hours out of the way to Hibbing the birth place of Bob Dylan. However our efforts were in vain and we went straight to the club. The 7th street entry is a really small dark bar attached to a very large club where they apparently have salsa dancing parties. One of which we witnessed that night. It was like parallel universes separate by one glass door. Some of my close family friends came to support us on our first visit to Minneapolis. Every time things seemed grim on this tour our good friends came around to re-instate our faith. More friends more music and good conversation. Brad from the sun was like a jukebox backstage playing everything from the kinks, beach boys & dylan. We met some good people drank some bad scotch and ended up back at our friends house. That night Alex Chris Booze and I slept in a camper which came equipped with its own bathroom and shower. Mikey opted to stay in the house and have his own bedroom and internet access. We slept like kings and woke up to find our friend ken had taking the liberty of fixing our trailer hitch and booze constructed a clothes rack. We were overwhelmed by the hospitality from our friends in Minnesota. We left with care packages of assorted food and gifts. Thank you so much guys we love you.
Up next it was Milwaukee. I dont remember much about this drive other than the rain and the cool crisp air leaving Minneapolis. I must have slept or had my head in a book. I do recall some of the broken down freeways in Milwaukee looking like World War II. Huge gatherings of destructed freeways and buildings lying in rubble, some still standing exposing their insides. This was a small part of a beautiful working class city famous for its beer and cheese. Two things we have the up most respect for. This club was one of the nicest of the tour. A brewery fashioned like a modern art gallery with a room that sounded like an echo chamber. There were two billiards tables and a good cafe right across the street so everyone was happy. During the show I managed to knock over a few drums and land on a keyboard so I had a good time. The people of Milwaukee were up for a good drunken time that night so after the show we joined in the festivities and took it back to the hotel for a jam. I read "the onion" I cant begin to explain how funny it was. Backstage I wrote letters to friends and family back home and at the hotel I ran around with Ben (vacation singer) looking for trouble. Alex was again sleeping in the van. I shared a bed with mike Wulff and Booze shared the other bed and the next morning we were on our way to Cleveland Ohio for a show at the house of blues. We ran into some traffic and made it to the gig 2 minutes before we were set to take the stage. I think we literally wiped the sleep out of our eyes had a quick sip of something and kicked into our set. It was exciting in a way to be that rushed. You never realize how many people you know around the country until you travel the states. Our old friend Rob(whom we used to be in a band with) came out to spend some time with us and show us around. He was taking some time of from his schooling and ended up joining us for a couple more dates of the tour. We went out that night, some after-hours bar or something its all a little bit hazy at this point. Im pretty sure we had fun. Alex Rob Booze and I ended up back at a hotel I got.We stayed up watching animal shows and just catching up. Rob is studying to be a doctor and its pure insanity to hear about his classes. That next day a parking attendant was trying to charge us 50 bucks for parking in his lot on the day of a Cleveland Indians game. Booze and I managed to talk him down to 10 bucks.Mike got lost and someone hustled him out of some cash. Live and learn I guess. Everyone was excited for Chicago We drove straight to Wrigley field to gawk in amazement at the worlds finest baseball stadium. Its right on the street its a marvelous thing. We posed pridefully for photos in front of the lit up light sign. Our friends put us up for the two nights we spent in Chi town. We slept well in beds and retreated to the L&L bar in the afternoon for a few old styles to start the afternoon off right. Great bar great bartender great jukebox great times. The gig was good fun that night. A really nice venue called the metro. Big place with a nice stage. A couple hundred people look pretty skint in a room like that. We hung with all our Chicago friends and took it out to the blues clubs after the show. By chance we ran into a local bluesman on the street by the name of Chainsaw DuPont and he had put us on the guestlist at kingston mines where Wulff Rob and I spent the night drinking old style and digging the blues of muddy waters guitarist John Primer. We stayed as long as we could until the place shut its doors at 4 am. The blues cats were saints who welcomed us in their place with open arms and even gave us shout outs from the stage. We headed east the next day to Columbus Ohio, The Suns hometown. On the way we dropped off Rob and said goodbye till next time. At some point on that drive we were in a place called south Rockwood where we met some very nice gas station employees. Someone claimed they had heard of us and we gave them cds and other merch. One of them wanted Wulff really bad. It was a good laugh and the girls kept trying to get us to smoke weed with them.We passed and promised to come back and visit next time we came through.We came in on a beautiful day, sunshine clear blue sky the whole deal was gorgeous. When we pulled up there was a line around the block of hundreds of kids.Well it turns out those kids were there to see James Blunt at the venue across the way. No matter all the cool kids came to see our show. I dug that club we played at, The Basement. Good staff of people there. We headed out into the city to get some food and walked into some strange Mongolian bbq joint where you fix your own food and then they cook it. We decided we dont care for interactive restaurants and we just want to be waited on. Great show that night, very sweet people in that town. That night The Sun had a party at their place. Good times had by all. Alex stayed really late Mike and Chris bailed pretty early and I left with Booze and a friend after a few hours of hanging out listening to records. Back to the hotel and then to a different hotel in the morning to pick Alex up. So at this point we were off to Nashville Tennessee. A city we all have grown to love. Basically its got good food, good music, and good people. Sammy and Ed (Alexs brother and dad and close friends of ours) met up with us and we made a stop for some proper southern bbq and everyone ate themselves stupid. Baby back ribs, corn on the cob, potatoes, gravy and everything else you would expect. Two guys were singing songs up on stage at the restaurant and they sounded good. The venue was yet again a basement called the basement not unlike the one in Columbus. We had a pretty awesome time and there is something about the south that always lures us in. The place has soul. Two more stops to make before the long retreat home to Southern California. The first of which was Little Rock Arkansas. This was probably one of the best gigs in my mind. Great people and just really relaxed vibe in the air. We got to play longer than usual and did about nine songs to a nice reaction from the locals. At one point the vacation guys and I wondered across the street to an art show where people were painting and they were giving out free drinks. After the show Dutch (vacation bassist) bought a bottle of whiskey and Wulff kept our rep. by beating an ex-pro pool player. Score one for The Shys. Waking up with a hangover in the van with the hot southern humidity and the sun beating on your face is always great. We arrived in Texas a little out of it and stumbled into a Mexican restaurant and basked in the glory of the air conditioning. We got a decent hotel and we spent the next day driving through the never ending state that Texas is. Listening to Willie nelson, Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams, and Gram Parsons we drove throughout the day and night. Stops at dairy queen and truck stops on our 1,300 mile drive home. We made it home safely and soundly and had one day off before we had to shoot a music video. We did the video in one day in Culver City. We love you all dearly we live for you.
God Bless You and Yours
Wednesday, August 23, 2006 22:22PM
Off we go again. This time around with the help of some harmless cheating bribing stealing and good karma via the commune. We're traveling the great North America with our finest friends The Colour. And the romance doesn't end there. We've even got the Delta Spirit on the west coast run. Check two shows off the list.
