THE SHYS

NORTH AMERICAN FALL TOUR

2008-10-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Oct 27 2008 8:30P
TT The Bearsw/Von Bondies & The Takeover UK Cambridge, Massachusetts
Oct 28 2008 7:30P
Union Hallw/ Army Navy & The Takeover Uk Brooklyn, New York
Oct 29 2008 8:00P
Castawaysw/Army Navy & The Takeover Uk Ithaca, New York
Oct 30 2008 8:00P
Club Cafew/ Army Navy & The Takeover Uk Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Oct 31 2008 8:00P
The Crofootw/Von Bondies, Army Navy & The Takeover UK Pontiac, Michigan
Nov 2 2008 8:30P
The Beat Kitchenw/Von Bondies , Army Navy & The Takeover UK Chicago, Illinois
Nov 3 2008 8:00P
High Noon Saloonw/ Von Bondies, The Takeover UK Madison, Wisconsin
Nov 4 2008 8:00P
Turf Clubw/ Von Bondies, The Takeover UK St. Paul, Minnesota
Nov 5 2008 8:00P
Vaudeville Mewsw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Des Moines, Iowa
Nov 6 2008 8:00P
Cicerosw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK St.Louis, Missouri
Nov 7 2008 8:00P
Czar Barw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Kansas City, Missouri
Nov 8 2008 8:00P
The Bottleneckw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Lawrence, Kansas
Nov 9 2008 8:00P
Box Awesomew/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Lincoln, Nebraska
Nov 10 2008 8:00P
The Soiled Dovew/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Denver, Colorado
Nov 12 2008 8:00P
Reefw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Boise, Idaho
Nov 13 2008 8:00P
Nectar Loungew/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Seattle, Washington
Nov 14 2008 8:00P
East Endw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Portland, Oregon
Nov 16 2008 8:00P
Rickshaw Stopw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK San Francisco, California
Nov 17 2008 8:00P
The Troubadourw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Los Angeles, California
Nov 18 2008 8:00P
The Catalystw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK Santa Cruz, California
Nov 20 2008 8:00P
The Coach Housew/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK San Juan Capistrano, California
Nov 22 2008 8:00P
Beauty Barw/ Army Navy, The Takeover UK San Diego, California

***MORE TO COME

Artist Of The Month

2008-09-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

In june the guys paid a visit to thegood people at Groupee dot com to preform some music and talk about the new album. To watch the videos and read the article visit the link below.

http://www.groupee.com/artistofthemonth

A lot can happen in a months time

2008-08-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hello my Dears,
Been awhile since I last wrote, my apologies. Lets see what has happend since we last spoke... Hummmm, well quite a lot really, our album came out for starters (7.22), we played some great shows including a sold out record release party at the Troubadour (THANKS very much to those of you who made it out for that), a sold out show supporting the great Albert Hammond Jr. at Spaceland as well as a nice trip to Las Vegas for a record release celebration with our friends out there. We have also shot two new videos for the new album this past month."Savior & "La Costa Verde". My very talented older brother and his friends shot "Savior" and our gifted pal "Jack Coleman" and his crew did "La Costa Verde". I am excited to say the man who shot and is editing the "Savior" video also has the new Bond film "Quantum Of Solace" on his resume. I'm betting it is going to look pretty ace. Expect to see the new videos sometime this month. Since putting out this new album their have been so many wonderful people in our corner lending their support, so many people to thank, my goodness... All of you who went out and bought the album and told your friends to check it out as well as the good people at College and Indie radio stations all over North America who have been playing the new tunes. All the great bands who have had us open for them and the bands that have supported us these past few months ( Hot Hot Heat, Albert Hammond Jr.,Emily Wells, Eastern Conference Champions). Its been a pleasure doing business with ya.

Cool things coming up; We play this Sunday Aug.10th at our home town festival with our good buds Delta Spirit & Dawes. We play for Jack Colemans art show at Detroit Bar Aug.23rd and we are back at The Roxy with Dusty Rhodes and The Riverband on Sep.3rd. For more info on those gigs head to the bands myspace page. www.myspace.com/theshysmusic

You may be wondering where the tour dates are??? Hang tight,we've got a lot in the works right now and in the next coming weeks we should have it sorted. We are going to try and get around the US at least a few times this year as well as a trip to the UK.

What else can I tell you, oh YES! Believe it or not we are already writing songs for the next album. Everyones got a lot of tunes and when we find the time we will probably begin recording again between shows and all the other engagements. Unless I am forgetting something thats pretty much it for now. Y'all come back now ya hear.

Au revoir
SHYS

New News

2008-07-07T02:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,
The band has been running around ragged as of late promoting and basically just gearing up for the release of their second full length LP ("You'll Never Understand This Band The Way That I Do" 7.22.08) To follow up the brilliant Vern Moen "She's Already Gone" video there are two new videos being shot this month by some very gifted folks. (more on that very soon) The band just finished off a local residency last month in their hometown and played the first ever Sunset Strip Music Festival with Hot Hot Heat to a sold out crowd at the Roxy. A couple of early reviews of the new record and singles have started to pour in and the feedback is phenominal. Check out what the first to hear it are saying.

The Shys second full-length release, You'll Never Understand This Band The Way That I Do is a winner. It is a fascinating mix of 60's British psychedelia, 70's pub rock and indie-punk channeled through the vision of a young southern-California band.

The band makes a bold move by starting the album with a mid-tempo instrumental (not the typical Side 1, Track 1) which features both a violin and glockenspiel. One needs to listen to the whole album to really appreciate the depth of the band's songwriting abilities. Across this disc, the band embraces a variety of musical styles that range from The Beatles' psychedelia-era (Revolver and the White Album), Nicky Hopkins-era Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street and Goats Head Soup) and pub/roots-rock (The Kinks/Dr. Feelgood).

The standout tunes are on this disc are "Savior", "She's Already Gone", "Find Some Courage". All of which have a sort of a John Lennon vibe but singer Kyle Krone makes these tunes his own. Kyle Krone has a great voice that matches the band's style of music as his delivery ranges from John Lennon-ish fuzzed-out psychedelia to world-weary Mick Jagger-style blues (on "Mercy" and "Brother Please")- Brooklyn Rocks NYC Music Blog

The Shys
"The Hangman"
They've taken a leap forward as far as sound and songwriting are concerned, which is nice. More importantly though, they're still having fun. I think it's great how the guitar riffs are as big and loud and possible and I really love the way the guys revert to the number's sing-a-long worthy chorus as much as possible in its three-minute runtime. Grab a beverage and turn this baby up so the neighbors can hear it.-Side One Track One

The Shys
"She's Already Gone"
I’ve listened to it loads this weekend and it’s really good. This song is Mott The Hoople meets Oasis while hanging out with The Band. Sorta- Classic Rock Magazine

For a free download of the single "The Hangman" go visit
Junk Media

Also attached is the main promotional poster for the new record.

Extended Digital Single Available Now / Pre-Order New Album

2008-06-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE FOR SHES ALREADY GONE EP SINGLE ITUNES

ORDER THE SHYS NEW FULL LENGTH ALBUM

Feature

2008-06-02T14:33:00.000-07:00

Click Here For Digital Edition

The piece on The Shys is on the very last page. Also included is an article on our favorite place to hang The Ramos House.

INTERVIEW / ARTICLE

2008-05-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO READ AN INTERVIEW AND ARTICLE ON THE SHYS

She's Already Gone Video

2008-05-06T22:05:00.000-07:00

Directed By. Vern Moen
The Hobo Soul

Music Video

2008-05-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Location- April 8th 2008 the five of us Shys took a short drive up the road to a place we consider our second home, The Ramos House Cafe in the historic Los Rios district of San Juan Capistrano. Its a part of town where I spent the better part of my childhood growing up and have many fond memories of the entire district. In 2004 the hand of fate intervined and we met the mastermind behind The Ramos House Cafe (John Q). He gave both Alex and I jobs at his place and we quickly realized we had a lot of common interest, perhaps the most common of them being music. The job he offered me was working in the garden looking after the home grown herbs and vegatables that they use in meals at the cafe. This job apealed to me for many reasons, I was outside, alone, in the garden listening to good music and free to take smoke breaks. So a few days a week from the early morning to the late afternoon we would spend our time working and listening to a heathly dose of Tom Waits, Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, among many others. Sometimes we wouldn't work at all and we would sit around on the porch sipping pints, playing and talking about records. As the band became more busy Alex and I eventually stopped working at The Ramos but we really never left, in fact we started hanging around more than ever. John and all our friends at the resteraunt became very near and dear to our hearts and we could think of no better place to shoot the video than the place where we spend most of our free time natrually. Other locations in the video include the San Juan Mission and the petting zoo. For more information on The Ramos House visit www.ramoshouse.com

Director- Vern Moen, The Hobo Soul. You've seen his incredible work all over the place from popular short films, documentaries, to music videos (Delta Spirit, Cold War Kids). To learn more about this talented fellow check out his fantastic website. Vern is currently working on a documentary of the Cold War Kids making their new album as well as planning a trip to Africa to shoot a film.

Coachella

2008-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

LIGHTSPEED !!! Coachella

2008-05-01T01:46:00.000-07:00

a play by play if you will...

Thursday- After one day of relaxing at home and taking a break from what has been a non stop sorta month Wulff called and said something to the effect of "hey man! what are you doing? lets go to coachella, we have a house." me "yes OK good lets go, I'll pack my swim suit". I packed a quick bag of what was clean and Wulff and I got in the car and Riley followed us as we drove through wine country and the mountains (basically the back way) to the house in La Quinta (less than a mile from the festival) that we felt so grateful to have for the weekend. We hit the store to stock the fridge and make sure we had enough goods to host at least a few BBQ's. Oddly enough the first thing we did when we arrived to the house was go for a quick round of golf. Just one hole, a par 5 I believe. It was very enjoyable and even more strange we all did a half decent job of it. The pool was perfectly desert heated and the incredible back drop of the golf course palm trees and silhouetted mountains made the sunset picture perfect as we ate our dinner. Afterwards we had plans to attend the annual Coachella kick off party at the nearby yatch club with some friends. Courtesy of our friends we drove right up to the party and were ever so easily ushered in through the back door. Does It Offend You?Yeah were Deejaying the party and Chris's Dad Willie (whom if you haven't met is basically a legend)hit it off with everyone. It really was a proper kick off party and we all enjoyed our free drinks by the water and catching up with old friends. Our new friend Simon so kindly sorted us out with artist passes for the weekend. When we got home that night Alex had just arrived and after a quick dip in the pool we called it a night.

Friday- I woke up to the phone ringing and Alex answered, on the other line was good news. Friends were headed down for a pool party/bbq and it was clearly the perfect setting for it. It was nice in the sun if you were in the pool but most of us preferred the shade and a cold beverage. Wulff cooked I made pitchers of margaritas and as the sun was dying down we decided to head over to the festival to catch some bands and meet some friends. We opted to take the golf cart and our drive took a little longer than expected. Jason our buddy from NYC was ejected from his spot on the back of the cart but managed to somehow hang on as his feet moved at a Fred Flinstone speed and we all laughed and Chris eventurally slowed down long enough for him to hop back on. Finally we arrived safely and we wondered around backstage and elsewhere checking out some music and meeting some nice interesting people. We watched The Raconteurs put on a pretty rad set that made it feel like it was 1976. It's always nice to hear a good loud rock n' roll band at a festival. Next up was The Verve whom we have been fans of for years and never seen live largely due to the fact the last time they played live I was probably 12. The band came on to David Axelrod's tune "Holy" and a lot of anticipation was in the air. I always imagined that they must be brilliant live. The stage was all lit up with cool looking lights and Richard Ashcroft came out from the darkness and shouted "This Is Music" and the band kicked in to the tune and from start to end it was one of the best live shows we've seen in a long time.

Saturday- Coffee and breakfast put us back in the game pretty quickly and we had the gang over for another pool party BBQ. Brandon (Delta Spirit) came out and met us with his lady and even more friends from all over showed up. Our buddy Jeff came out from San Diego and brought his amazing RV which became a real ace up our sleeve. We drank margaritas, floated around the pool, ate and enjoyed each others company and eventually headed over to the festival. I personally didn't watch much music this day but I did catch most of Portishead who was pretty rad and Alex saw Mark Ronson and said it was ace. We missed Cold War Kids and MGMT went on too early. At some point everyone ended up on top of an RV watching Prince. We somehow got lost on the ride home in the RV but it was somehow more fun to be lost than home. I never hit energy drinks but to stay awake through the long day I drank about three red bulls and didn't notice anything strange until I layed down to fall asleep and my heart was pounding. Brandon his gal and I all fell asleep squeezed into the same bed and they woke up early to head back to Long Beach. I was still in bed when Brandon texted saying he was home and moving boxes in the sun.

Sunday- A nice lazy sunday. Took a ride on the cart around the golf course and sipped some cold beverages. Got a little antsy and we made our way to the festival early this day. We wanted to catch Does It Offend You ? Yeah. After surving the hear and dust all day we were pleased to see the sun going down. We caught about 30 minutes of Roger Waters set and the best thing about it was hearing Wulffs Dad talk about 1979. I'm a Pink Floyd fan but most of the stuff he was playing was really pretty borining. A few classic tunes were great but no one wants to hear the solo stuff and without David Gilmour its just not the same. Knowing this was our last night I couldn't in good conscience just go home so our friend Larissa brilliantly organized vans to transport us around to after parities. I Sat in a jacuzzi for about 3 hours and hung out with friends and had a relaxing night for the most part.

Monday- I stayed over at our friends hotel but really did very little sleeping, I made myself a little bed on the ground out of pillows and passed out for a couple hours and had to wake up and head back to the house. I got a cab back , sorta got lost and ended up walking about a mile in the sun. I must have looked like hell to all the senor citizen golf crowd as I staggered down the street in a festival beaten black suit and slippers. As soon as I got back I felt better and got in the pool. It was time to go back home. We stopped for coffee, stopped for sandwiches and stopped because we ran out of gas in the fast lane and ended up on the side of the freeway off ramp one exit from our house. Must be God's way of humbling us. Eventually we were rescued and back home for a quick nap and then headed up to the Detroit Bar for our the last night of our month long residency. Alex and I slept in the van until a few minutes before we were meant to be on stage. We got up there and gave what we had left to give and got off stage looking like we just climbed out a swimming pool. I said good night to all our friends from New York who came out and my brother took me home made me grilled cheese and I very happily fell asleep.

Interview

2008-04-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Click Here To Read About The Shys

Trouble In Paradise Bliss On The Farm

2008-04-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Shys Load Magazine

No

2008-04-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last week tried to kill me but I survived

2008-04-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

4-07
1st night of the Detroit Bar residency. Being in a big rush before a show is really a bad move so we packed up nice and early and went to the pool to swim around for a bit and lay in the sun. That turned out to be a really good move and everyone felt properly chilled out on the way to the club. After soundcheck we watched Kansas win the final four game in overtime and Greg from ECC won some $kratch on that. We hung around played pool met and chatted with friends as the night progressed. Eastern Conference Champions played a gorgeous set as a duo and we celebrated Josh's birthday.(I LOVE YOU MAN!) By the time we went on all our friends and some family were in attendance which made for a enjoyable set. D.Spirit was back in town so naturally it was good to see our bros and Brandon decided to spend the week with us in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. bat planned on coming but to no ones suprise slept in to late.
4.08
Brandon and I fell asleep watching Lord Of War after the show and woke up semi early to get ready for Vegas. We hit some tea, a few cigarettes, packed up a couple suits and the band picked us up around noon. The drive out was lots of laughs and virtually painless. We saved our stop at Mad Greek for the way home and got to the hotel with time to spare. As a band if you can ever stay where you play than you are stoked on life because it saves you the trouble of all kinds of nonsense. The club was inside the hotel we were staying so after loading in we simply took the elevator to our rooms cleaned up and relaxed before heading to the hotel bar and meeting up with some friends who met us in Vegas. We did an interview took some photos and watched our old buddies Satisfaction open the show and they sounded good as ever. We got on stage around midnight and after the show we ran all over the casino playing roulette and black jack and eventually everyone ended up downtown. We had a good group of close friends and family sitting around a fire enjoying each others company and the insane city that Las Vegas is. Time doesnt seem to exist out there and after what seemed like only a couple hours I looked down at my phone to see it was actually 6am and probably time to get some sleep. Brandon and I stumbled back to our room slammed a vitiman water and passed out in these really comfortable beds.
4.09
To our suprise everyone woke up feeling refreshed and we decided to cruise down to the bar for a mimosa and then to the pool for lunch and some cold drinks. It was a beautiful day and and the town seemed nearly deserted. We enjoyed the afternoon and made a few phone calls to arrange to stay for another night which made everyone happy. A few pina coldas later and a stint in the hot tub and everyone felt amazing and rejuvenated for a second night in town. Through some friends we managed to get a reservation at Michael Mina's resteraunt in Mandalay Bay. Most of us got ready and headed down there and before to long we were enjoying fine wine and some of the best food we'd ever eaten in our lives. Luckily some of us had done well at the tabels earlier that day or we would have been eating at the buffet once again. Completly full we headed back to our hotel to meet the rest of the guys and make one last night of it before heading back home the next afternoon. The people at the club we played invited us back with the promise of free drinks and that was all it took for us to say yes. Very kindly they gave us our own section and a few bottles to share amongst friends. A couple drinks into the evening we noticed an unfamilar after taste from our drinks and asked the waitress if we were drinking some rare vodka we'd never heard of. To our suprise we quickly learned that the ice was soaking in Absinthe and that's what was giving the drinks an almost licorce after taste. Before to long the club was closing up and we headed out into the casino to try our luck at the tabels. A friend of ours that came with us couldnt lose at Roulette and with what little money I had it seemed good luck was upon me and it made for an even better trip. Basically we spent the rest of the our night having as much fun as possible and amazingly doing it for free.
4.10
Packed up, late check out, and we were out of town. Stopped at the Mad Greek for a milk shake and I even drove part of the way home. The drive seemed to take forever and seeing the van pull up to my house was the best thing I'd seen all day. Brandon and I cooked a pizza chilled out on the couch and passed out watching that film "25th Hour".
4.11
Leaving for LA from Orange County at 3:30pm. on any week day is basically walking straight into the lions den doing it on a friday is the 7th circle of hell. Sure there is the toll road but that is just a momentary break from the un-relelnting traffic of the 405 N. I tried to sleep in the back of the van but that was useless with the sun shining so bright in through the windows. Our load in at the club was 6pm and somehow we made it in time. The club we were playing had a huge flight of stairs and no elevator. I wondered in the back of my mind if this was the price to pay for having so much fun in the desert. The weather cooled off the gave us some cold pints and everything was cool as we waited to go on stage. Sometimes it is really nice to go on early to avoid waiting around the whole night. Alex and Riley went over to the bar at the staples center to watch the Lakers destroy the Hornets and the rest of us walked back and forth from our dressing room to the outside patio for a couple hours killing time eating drinking and smoking some cigarettes. 9pm. showtime. A few hundred people gathered to watch the band as we played through a set comprising of the new and the old tunes. When you open for someone "bigger" than you, more often than not they have a crew of at least 3 guys and somehow one of them is always British and in there 40's. These guys usually want to get you on and off stage as quick as possible and this night was no exception. No time for a soundcheck just a quick line and bang off ya go. I had no idea how the show was going as we jammed through about 9 tunes. The lights were to bright to see anybody but those in the front row and the sound on stage was all drums. After the set we laughed about the sound on stage and didn't really know for sure if the show was any good. To our pleasant suprise we had never had so many people tell us how incredible the sound was out front in the auidence. So I guess we did alight and after the show we headed to 7th and Grand downtown to meet friends and family for a nightcap before heading home to relax for the weekend. It feels like summer again doesnt it ?

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND GET PLENTY OF REST

2008-04-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

I have the Flu. Dirt Dirt Dirt Dirt Dirt !!!!!! I am rubbish at taking care of myself when I'm ill. On the brighter more healthier side of the days events... We are shooting a video tomorrow with our pal Vern Moen (Cold War Kids,Delta Spirit,Etc) I will probably looked screwed or maybe this is only a 24 hour flu bug in which case I would be so very grateful. I need to go make soup and food to eat and fall asleep. Oh by the way go rent "Sleuth" it's a first class piece of work.

Troubadour / Epicentre

2008-03-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

photo credit.timothy tran

¡Felíz Pascua!

2008-03-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

March 27th we play San Diego. Friday there is a chance we might play unplugged at the Swallows Day Parade in San Juan Capistrano sometime in the early afternoon but either way we will be taking her easy at The Villa on the main drag there in SJC.

Did you enjoy Easter weekend ? Ours was just delightful. Good friday was a good day with a good message and Sammy Owens was bearing gifts of fine art work. Riley headed to New York City while the rest of us enjoyed the beach, bbq's,lazy sunset croquet, wine and cheese, pitchers of pomegranate mimosas, hot tubs, mexican food and backyard basketball on the little tikes court. Not all at the same time of course. Oh and Caps wrote the best song of his life.

We find out the release date of The Shys cd/single EP that will prelude the album any day now so sit tight for that.

Buenos Diás

Detroit Bar

2008-03-19T01:01:00.000-07:00

Guru

2008-03-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

Aforementioned Updates

2008-03-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier we had plans to record some bonus songs to be released as b-sides to the a-side singles that would act as a prelude to the proper release of the record which is now set in June. We have found the time to record two of these tracks one of which will be added to the record because we were so pleased with the result and felt it complemented the album quite well. We are in the process of completing the art work and mastering of the album and getting all our ducks in a row before it hits the shelves as they say. Not that there are many shelves left to hit but we will always remain dedicated to finding a way to get our music into your hands and ears. Check out our very talented friend Sam Owens who is doing the album art as we speak. www.samowens.org

We are so excited about this record and are anxiously waiting to make it available to everyone. We feel strongly that this is our best work to date and the songs and album as a whole really mean a lot to us and we hope you find meaning in the album as well.We have a few things coming up to let you know about.

1st. We have an all ages San Diego show at the Epicentre March 27th with some great bands like The Prayers and My Pet Saddle also on the bill. There is more info on our myspace page. www.myspace.com/theshysmusic

2nd. Next month we start our residency at the Detroit bar in Costa Mesa and we encourage you to come join us for that. Lots of cool support bands on those shows as well. New limited edition merch will be available at those shows to coincide with the single release.

We miss the hell out of you and will be seeing ya soon.

-The Shys

Station House Part.3

2008-03-14T02:52:00.000-07:00

I Won These Socks Playing Cribbage

2008-03-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Along with releasing a new album in June we will be releasing b-sides and various tunes with special guest musicians. This is a short clip that was shot late last night as we worked in our rehearsal studio on a demo for one of these new songs.

The Piano Has Been Drinking Not Me

2008-03-10T05:03:00.000-07:00

ps.the piano is al

Time For A Bigger Boat

2008-03-08T20:58:00.000-08:00

Last night Alex, Radley (my brother) and I went to the Troubadour to see D.Spirit. For all the time we spend in each others company I realized I haven't seen my pals play a proper gig for months so I felt it time I came out and showed my support. I'm not sure who got scratched off the list to make room for me plus one but I'm grateful. It was a shame to see the pretty girls outside that showed up to late to buy a ticket after they sold out. Clearly the band will soon be suited for a bigger venue. The room was packed in from wall to wall and luckily one of the first persons I ran into was our dear old friend Nathan whom you know from his fantastic new band We Barbarians. It was really a joy to see him and we got all caught up over a few drinks and reminisced with old tour stories and things. Lots of cheers laughs and smiles later the band came on to every ones warm welcome. I recall Matt days before saying something about doing a version of Louis Armstrong's "St.James Infirmary Blues" and naturally they opened the show with just that. You know the band is stellar so I will spare everyone the in depth show review. It was tough to move around downstairs so I retreated to the upstairs area where I could watch the show and enjoy a cigarette at the same time. I met a couple nice guys from Port O'Brien and ate a few vegetables while I chatted with Jessica Dobsin. Shes got a cool band called Deep Sea Diver that you should check out if you havent yet had the chance. After the show we all ended up in the bar and then outside. I had a few smokes and a nice conversation with the charming Caleb and Jacob of My Pet Saddle and got to see my brother Mikey Brixx. I'm sorry I'm missing your show Mike but its my brothers birthday and I'm getting ready to go out for ice cream with him. We made our way to a place that is quite possibly one of the most genius bars in LA, Alex and I have decided. I shouldn't mention the name but the bar tender is quick witted Italian and at times they have even let us smoke inside and stay after hours and they make a first class cappuccino. It was a good night and I think I promised to be three places at once to three different people and genuinely somehow thought that was possible. At the time it seemed like it was anyways. Today I watched Ronin twice and ate two pizzas and I realized this morning I forgot to eat yesterday, minus a handful of vegetables from the bands little platter. "Everybody love everybody"- Jackie Moon said that. Good Night.

-Kyle Half Awake

Yer Blues

2008-03-07T02:28:00.000-08:00

Northern California Wanderings

2008-03-02T14:18:00.000-08:00

Santa Cruz

2008-02-27T04:24:00.000-08:00

It Doesn't Have To Make Sense

2008-02-26T20:02:00.000-08:00

I Fought The Pool & The Pool Won

2008-02-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

I love it when you don't have to be at a club super early, so naturally I was happy to sleep in and watch a movie then leave after "rush hour" traffic to go to the Silverlake Lounge. We arrived around 7:30 and got to see a really cool set from Nicholas Alexander & The Matadors. We were originally booked to play with our friend Robert Francis whom came down with pneumonia this past week and we are happy to hear he is getting better. We had a few refreshments and chilled with our buddies from Dawes. As the night progressed more and more people showed up. We went on around 10:30 and by that time all our friends were hanging out. It feels great to play the new album live and to have all our close friends and some family in the room makes it all the more enjoyable. Our dear old friend Luke Macmaster got up and blew some harp with us. You should check out his tunes.

After the show and a few $2 pints our boys informed us that they had heated up the pool in plans to go swimming around all night. Wiley from Dawes and I cruised over to the house and the band followed in the van with all sorts of buddies. The pool was literally at least 95 degrees and felt genius. At one point someone broke out a bottle of Absinthe from Europe and we swam around with our glasses full of the neon green liquid having a nice little evening. Lots of people were jumping off walls and railings into the pool and it looked like fun so I gave it a shot. It didn't work out so well for me as I slipped and fell which would have been fine if I had fell into the water but I missed. I opted to have pipes dirt and a concrete wall break my fall instead. Don't try this type of foolish behavior at home kids. My Mom saw my leg and ribs and appropriately dubbed me a knucklehead and rolled her eyes. Boys will be boys I suppose, and my friends are the best a guy could ask for because they didn't even get mad at me for breaking the pool. Because apparently the pipe I broke was the water main and had been leaking all night so on the hottest day in months we woke up to a pool with one foot of water left. On the 5 south headed back home my brother and I got stuck behind a van that said something like "booty tossing ring girls" all over it. It was hysterical to look at this van and I had to take a photo. I got a phone call from my friend Johnny (Aeronaut Records) as we were driving next to the van and he informed me that its a "world famous" traveling stripper show that he saw on Howard Stern. We hit In & Out and called it a day. Delta Spirit is back from tour so its nice to have our friends back home and the stories they told me while still on the road were amazing. Brandon called when I got home and in an hours time we only managed to get through three stories which were all insanity. Now im gonna ice my knee which looks like a large plum. Lord forgive my foolish ways. Thank you to all our incredible friends for coming to the show and everything else you do for us. See you in santa cruz.

Love,

Kyle

Coffee Beer & Mexican Food

2008-02-23T01:27:00.001-08:00

Wulff called around noon asking if I could be ready in 15 minutes. I skipped my usual routine of coffee,news,cigarettes etc. and put on a suit. We had some affairs to attend to in Los Angeles and our traffic karma was good and it didnt take to long to get there. We did what we came to do and in the process drank a little bit to much coffee so like any logical self respecting young man does we switched to mexican food and beers to bring us back down to earth.

Mollys.Tommys.Ramos House

2008-02-20T20:38:00.000-08:00

On the jukebox @ our favorite local bar "molly blooms"

Smoke break

Walking home from "Love Burger"

Robert Francis & Kyle after the show

Al and his "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"

Caps puts sugar in his ice tea and poses with the King

Al at the "Ramos House" inhaling a giant cigarette

I Left The Spanish Village By The Sea For The City

2008-02-20T01:29:00.000-08:00

That’s what they call the town we come from and that’s the name we gave to the instrumental song that opens our new record. Everyone went to a studio tonight where our pals The Deadnotes are recording. From what I could make out on the phone it sounded like a ruckus little party. Al tried to get me to come along but it’s seemed like a bigger bite than I could chew. Saying hello to lots of people at once can be overwhelming and often ends up in awkward high fives that missed their mark and calling people by the wrong names and strange half hugs. Id rather be one of the first to show at a party than to walk into one people have been at all night.

Valentines Day I went out to dinner with Caps. I think he had a fried fish sandwich and I got a tuna melt and we both had ice teas. At dinner I learned that Caps had never put sugar in his own ice tea before. I took a picture of him with Elvis to celebrate this milestone in his young life. We thanked Greek Pete for the meal and I bid farewell to Caps and headed up to Los Angeles to meet Alex and Lauren. The drive made my first drink my best. An ice cold beer after an hour on the freeway is as calm as a cold pillow at the end of a warm bed. We met at the Old Paps Blue Ribbon Brewery downtown ended up in our brother’s loft playing some records and having a few glasses of scotch before we went out. Good fortune smiled on me and I somehow lucked out with a young lady far out of my league as a date. The four of us ran a muck downtown bouncing around from bar to bar and running into all kind of friends. Alex and I drank scotch most of the night and happily accepted a round of tequilas from a new friend. The next day it seemed we didn’t appreciate the kind gesture as much as the night before.

Friday I rolled around in bed most of the day setting up pillows and sheets just right to block out the sunlight. A shower and a Sheppard’s pie brought me back to life and after dinner we headed to the hotel cafe to see our friend Emily Wells play. On the way we ran into our old friend Mikey and convinced him to miss the bus and come to the show with us. We toasted his recent engagement and his baby girl due in June. Emily was spectacular and really charmed the whole place. After the show as we headed back to the car we walked past a familiar bar where some friends worked and popped in for a night cap. Alex and his lady stuck to the plan and I on the other hand welcomed a handful of nightcaps and stayed behind to catch up with friends. I ended up back at my friend Taylor’s house and made a southwestern omelet before falling asleep during a party.

Saturday Taylor suggested a late morning brunch and everyone seemed to like the idea. Less than a hundred yards from his home a cafe' was empty between breakfast and lunch rush. The 7 of us quickly turned into 14 as more and more friends showed up to eat blueberry pancakes and French toast and drink bloody marys & mimosas. Our friend Blake ordered a screw driver and I suggested he try a Harvey Wall Banger and the drink quickly became a hit as everyone passed it around. Sooner than later we all had a few of our own and were doing our best Kennedy impressions. "foooourrr mo arrrr vyyyy wall bangas fa me n my men". Aaron met us and received good news about one of his new shows and this gave just reason to celebrate with a pool party up at his house. After brunch we headed up the hill to heat the pool invite over friends and get out of our clothes (it was day 3 for me of the same suit) and into some swim shorts. More good fortune came our way when we received a phone call informing us that we had been invited to London in March to celebrate a friends birthday. It was a golden day of splasing and lounging around the pool carelessly. Eventually I ended up on the couch with season six of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Shane Max and some of the other guy went out to see a band at the echo. Aaron and I stayed in and after a few hours on the couch I retired to my part-time room downstairs and fell asleep watching the Devils Advocate and had weird dreams about mental hospitals.

Sunday morning I figured id go home but as fate would have it that wasn’t the case. I woke up well rested and walked into the kitchen to find Shane had already made coffee which in my book is a close second to anything. We chilled out and chatted watched Family Guy smoked a few cigarettes and eventually Aaron woke up and we went out to lunch at the Crepe' place down the hill. We all got fajitas and Aaron re-enacted the "What Am I" YouTube video over and over again until we couldn’t laugh anymore. We took a trip downtown to recover my car and we decide to have a little get together to watch Aaron’s new show later that night. A quick stop at the store for drinks and things and we were back at the house and in the pool again. I think it was almost a 100 and the steam rose up into the lights and set a chilled out mood. We ordered pizzas that never came which worked out great cause they felt bad and gave them to us for free for coming down to pick them up. We watched the show "Breaking Bad" and I enjoyed cheering on my friend's great new accomplishment. A few games of pool later I decided to head home for the busy week that lye ahead. I said my goodbyes to good friends and looked forward to taking off the same suit Id been wearing for four days straight. On the drive home "Superstition" came on the radio and I again realized what an insane song that is. It felt good to sleep in my own bed and hang out with my brother.

Monday morning I got to work on band affairs. Mainly preparing for the release of the new record. After a French press worth of coffee and some catching up with the family Alex and Caps picked me up for a band meeting to finalize all the album stuff. Wulff cooked up some steaks and we drank some wine and took care of what needed taking care of. The album comes out May 13th and is lovingly titled "You'll Never Understand This Band The Way That I Do". (This is meant to be taken from a personal point of view of course) We have a small show on the books Feb.25th next week at the Silverlake Lounge where we will play the new record, nearly in its entirety. Then its up to Santa Cruz for a gig and possibly a few house parties. Its all free so come hang out hear some new tunes and have a good time.

-Kyle

Of Nickname Fame

2008-02-19T23:11:00.000-08:00

In this blog often times band members may be referred to by their many nicknames. In an effort to avoid any confusion, here is a small list of these names...

Chris Wulff-
Wulffy
Wolfmother
Wolfenstein
Wolfenstein 3d
Wo Mo

Riley Stephenson-
Len
Lenny
Leo
Leonard
Iranian
Nimoy
Rocko

Tony Cupito-
Caps
Cappie
Chiki
Richard
Chick
Chick Hern
Dick
Laki
Loch Ness

Alex Kweskin-
Kwesk
Ol' Fats
Kwesky
Al
Alejandro
Albatross

Kyle Krone-
Kronie
C-Dome
Dome

Zack- (Kyle's Brother)
Zachary Zackaroo
Radley
Roo
Roo Radley
Booze
Boo Radley
Rattle Stick
Boozey
Arang
Arangatang
Radley In Action
Bazzle
Bazzle Expedition
Roozer
Roozer Boo
Rattle Snake
Battle Stick
Activity Man

One Day Two Shows

2008-02-11T01:13:00.000-08:00

It was very nice to see all of you. You made both shows so enjoyeable for all of us. Thank you for all your spirit and enthusiasm throughout the evening. Looking forward to seeing you again.

We would like to thank our friends Robert Francis and his incredible band for a truly stellar performance. If you have not yet heard these guys yet please do yourself a favor and pick up their record "One By One". Its genius and most certainly one of our favorite albums.

Troubadour Images

2007-12-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

The Shys @ The Troubadour December 11th 2007

Thank you to Kane Stewart for the fine photos.

Happy Birthday Chris

2007-10-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Twenty four years ago today at 8am (true to form for the early riser )

Christopher Andrew Wulff was born and a great life began. A truly gifted young man Chris posses a wide verity of skills Including but not limited to: Culinary Arts, Cocktail Engineering, Various Water Sports, Social Event Coordinating, & Most Notably Craftsman like Musicianship. An impressively cultured soul, Chris also enjoys a wide verity of activities.International jetsetting, wine tastings, fine dining, & a deep rooted love for the blues, soul, and rock n' roll music.

Today we celebrate the birthday of one of our own.

Happy Birthday Wulffy !

We Love & Appreciate you dearly.

Latest Press

2007-08-08T01:38:00.000-07:00

Orange County Weekly

Saturday Night Magazine

Done Waiting

Free At Last

2007-07-07T01:33:00.000-07:00

Friends,

There is reason to celebrate. The holiday brought good fortune to The Shys. As of last Monday we are no longer signed with a record label. Some of you may be asking yourself why this is such good news. For months we had tried sometimes desperately to convince the powers that be to release a new record for you to hear. One failed attempt after another the label refused to put out any new material. This left us frustrated and also gave us time to reflect on what values we hold most dear. Naturally we decided the best thing for our music and fans was to break free from the record company and if need be release new music ourselves.

Creating the best music we can and making it available to our fans has always been our number one priority in this group and now we are free to do just that. This means more new music more often for us to share with you. We have taken all matters into our own hands thus obtaining 100% creative control. We have built our own recording studio and are currently in the process of recording new music. The plan is to wrap up the recording by the end of the year and have the record available to everyone as soon as possible, followed by tours of North America and the UK. Along with the record we have the freedom to release new videos, merch and other knick knacks straight from the band to you. Thank you all so much for your continued support and love. Because of you we can continue to make records and play our music as far as it takes us.

Always grateful

Kyle, Alex, Chris, Riley, & Tony

Tour Archive

2006-03-01T02:41:00.000-08:00

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.