May 18, 2012 
d’enregistrement mobile
Back in December, my one and only computer crashed on me. For once, nothing was lost and I was able to get it up and running again within a few weeks. I had been using this ancient thing to record my music for years with the most basic of setups (Journal of Retreat was almost fully recorded on it), but once I got it revived, it was obvious I needed a new system.
I set out to start building a whole new recording studio in February, but soon after ordering the computer I was, as you may have heard by now, robbed blind. It’s now mid-May, and I’ve only recently been able to replace all the equipment and instruments that was lost in some form or fashion enough where I can begin building the studio again.
I now have everything I need to start demoing out new songs (there are so many, of varying colors and shapes and in many forms in incompleteness) but the new hardware has not been making it easy for me. Once I get one thing working another fails. The pieces are there but they have yet to sync up to where I can actually create some tracks! This has been going on for a few weeks and it is beginning to drive me a bit crazy.
With all these unfinished songs in me, it is only a matter of time before I simply explode, shooting verses and stray choruses in every direction- song shrapnels piercing houses, children, and any nearby vehicles.
Hold my hand as I’m lowered into studio hibernation mode…
DUP
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April 22, 2012 Make a friend when you listen to SS
Or just make a drink.
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April 16, 2012 Great Scott, exploring the Atlantic states!
By now, I’ve accustomed myself to running up and down the East Coast for two weeks every few months or so for tour. I’ve done the the run from North Carolina to Maine quite a bit in the last four years, but I must say, this most recent jaunt was the most fun I’ve had touring since heading out West in 2009 (mmm…those were the days…). Maybe it was the group we had going this time around (Lee White joined us on bass for the fist time), maybe it was the new songs we were playing (“The Curious Weights” translated to guitar is by far our new favorite to play), or maybe it was just getting out of town. Whatever it was, after the mess of the robbery in February, and my ensuing misery, it was really nice to hit the road and get my head out of the ground.
Our first few shows went off without a hitch- and it set the pace for the rest of the tour. In Charlotte, we met new friends from The Bear Romantic in Charlotte. Thank you Emily and George, and their amazing grey bengal cat Wesley, for their last-minute hospitality in putting us up. I haven’t had to book a hotel room once in all these years of touring, and we came as close as we’ve come before they offered their couches and floorspace. Not to mention they had oodles of vintage equipment for us to drool over. TWO Space Echos? That is unheard of.
By day two, I realized Durham is beginning to look a like Asheville with its coupled breweries and food carts, and Thomas and Jeremy began to perform a solid repertoire of 1980s pop culture references that proved that I needed to watch Ghostbusters and Back to the Future again. They were making me feel old. Note: upon returning from the road, I have watched both and they are still brilliant films.
The most dangerous places to go with this group is either music equipment stores, or record shops. The past 2 tours I’ve nearly avoided them because keeping vinyl in the car is so tricky when we’re already fully loaded with our gear. This time we said fuck it. Thomas proved to be the most trigger happy vinyl shopper- he started compiling a stack the first day at Lunchbox Records in Charlotte. I waited til Providence to spend the money I didn’t have- Analog Underground had me at hello with its surf record $5 finds. Not to mention the owner, Dave, was neither a dick or a snob- rarity these days, I swear. Lee bought two Molly Hatchet records for the album artwork alone (he’s a graphic designer and a metalhead- a sublime combination).
In Jersey, I swam the frigid sea, as per usual. Jeremy’s parents treated us to home-cooked meals on our day off.
Returning to Northampton, MA felt a bit odd, since it was now officially my ex-future home. But I still love it there, and in return it gave me a new hemp backpack (I was berated for this purchase by my bandmates despite its functionality, and my need to shed my long-faded man purse). We re-animated the Baystate at the Sierra Grille that evening, once home to the long-closed and much-adored dive bar. Lee’s Southern charm proved to be invaluable at the merch table. New fans were made. Morale was high. The Fawns let us into their home with my old friend Jose from A Severe Joy (and formerly of Spouse), and we stayed up late trading stories.
By this point I had consumed many pints of Arnie Palmers, my new favorite road beverage, and at least one hemp tea which both smelled and tasted of pot. Were we in California? No, too cold. Must be Vermont!
We climbed mountains and waterfalls there and had a rollicking good time with my dear old friend Tristan, whose band, Villanelles, unfortunately had to bail out of the Burlington show with us at the last minute. Nevertheless, we rocked the Monkey House til it shook out all its clientele, made friends and enemies alike, and learned that, despite whatever the drunk girl in the front row says, Thomas is not her cousin. No sir.
Portland is always a peak of the tour in many ways, and this time we had the pleasure of playing a benefit for some fire victims in Fort Kent (wayyyyy Northern Maine) and as a result, we played to a bunch of new ears. They loved our short but empassioned set, though it was tragic to not be able to play our Manic Street Preachers cover. There were actually people in the audience that night that might have known the song, for once (educate yourself). Somewhere we have a recording of this show, we’ll have to dig that up soon.
On our next day off, some of us metal detected and some of us took it easy and played drums. I drove up the coast a little and said hi to my mum and my hometown. As it always is this time of year, Maine was cloudy and grey, but it felt good to be there nonetheless.
In Boston, the band convinced me to eat at Chipotle and we found kindred pedal souls in the band Drifterswift. They have 3 Eventide pedals between their two boards…yummmmm. That night we actually had to break the streak and stay at a motel because all our Boston friends live in tiny apartments. Strangely, I do love Boston, but things like that make me realize that I do not miss living in a big city.
We realized near Mansfield that we had yet to eat a cheap diner brunch. We stumbled upon a 60 year old one that fit the bill and we devoured some watery eggs and brown bacon. Quantity not quality! Then we fished our way down to NYC (without a single toll, ha!) and played to a very attentive audience at the Living Room. My patience for New York is extremely limited (as I have blogged/bitch about before), so much to my delight we were in and out of the city in less than 8 hours. No tolls or tickets- that’s a first.
It rained, it sunned, and then it rained again. We played Ithaca on a rather mellow note, but were treated to an $80 tab paid for by a stranger. We connected the dots between the small worlds of Asheville and Ithaca, and downed as many kombucha cocktails as we could, before settling into root beers for the drive to the next motel (yup, another…dammit). The drive back to Asheville was long but not as long as we figured, and then we were back home, feeling surreal and spun as one always does after visiting 12 places in 14 days.
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March 30, 2012 Day of tour
So many things to do the day before tour, and then the day of tour happens and we’re driving and I’m free of all responsibility…just driving and strumming and singing, and this time around Nick Cave will be ever-present on the stereo I do believe.
We depart today in a white minivan, with big dreams and average talents by our side.
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March 20, 2012 Spring tour
Starts next week…
3/30: Charlotte, NC: Snug Harbor
3/31: Durham, NC: Motorco
4/1: Washington D.C.: Velvet Lounge
4/3: Philadelphia, PA: The M Room
4/4: Providence, RI: AS220
4/5: Northampton, MA: Sierra Grille
4/6: Burlington, VT: The Monkey House
4/7: Portland, ME: Empire
4/9: Boston, MA: Church
4/10: New York, NY: The Living Room
4/11: Ithaca, NY: Culture Shock
February 22, 2012 $5K in gear stolen from my space
ASHEVILLE, I NEED YOUR HELP.
On Sunday, February 19th, my practice space got robbed of about $5000 worth of musical equipment. I suspect it’s a musician, a guitarist, specifically, who took the stuff- it was not a random crime (for instance, they took my pics, slide, and capo).
My two biggest and most painful losses are my (only) guitar and (only) bass, not to mention every one of my effects pedals. Below is a picture of the guitar and a list of everything that taken…if anyone knows/notices anything in pawn shops/craigslist/ebay around town, let me know at booking@saintsolitude.com. Or you can call the Asheville Police Department at (828) 252-1110.
I’m offering a $500 reward to anyone who can return or give me information leading to the reclamation of at least the Telecaster.
Keep an eye/ear out for the following (this is just the main stuff):
*2008 Fender Telecaster, American Deluxe- White w/ white pickguard and black lightning bolt apoxied to the body, serial number D27296302
*Univox Hi Flier 4-string bass, sunburst, early 70′s, serial number 0154209 with additional number scratched in below: N566060CA
*Rode NT1-A Condenser mic
*Acer 20″ LED Computer monitor
effects pedals:
Electro Harmonix Big Muff (large version)
Electro Harmonix Pulsar Tremolo
Danelectro Daddy-O Overdrive
Danelectro Fish and Chips EQ
Boss RC-20 Looper
ProCo RAT distortion
Ibanex TS-9 Tubescreamer
T.C. Electronics Nova Delay
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal, VP Junior
Analog Man Bi-Compressor
Akai Head Rush looper/delay
Peterson Strobo stomp tuner
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February 13, 2012 One more tour
We’re going to do one more tour for By Some Great Storm, and it’s going to start in late March. We’re posting the dates as they come in the tour section. We’ll be hitting all those New England spots we missed last time…
Currently listening to: Big Star’s #1 Record…recently purchased on LP
“ain’t no one going to turn me round…”
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January 8, 2012 7 days of 2012
One week into the new year and I sure do feel neurotic as ever. Is this because I haven’t been down to my space to make music in over 2 weeks? Probably. Computer crash, out of town for the holidays, trying to find a new bassist at the last minute…it has been a little hectic here in my brain.
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December 2, 2011 We are all amateur cyber-archivists
I easily forget how much a year can date you on the internet.
While making By Some Great Storm, I tried my best to stay off the internet as much as I could. To some degree it was easy because I didn’t have to keep up with the never-ending task of booking and promotion for the band. Now that the web has sunk its teeth back in me though (hey, our new album is out!), I sit here in awe of how bands ever got anywhere using some of the old tools of band networking- specifically, Myspace.
The last tour I used Myspace for was in 2009, when I went to California and back for 3 months solo. Even before then, I remember talking to fellow musicians (the only people still using the site at that point) and specifically, Ken from the Rocket Club (R.I.P.) about its imminent demise. Facebook had rightfully taken over that world, and that was that. Bands could either choose to switch over (though you may have noticed Facebook isn’t so band friendly) or focus on building your own site that much more (like mine, or my friends Birds and Arrows‘). Instead of lamenting our loss, I figured it would help each one of us design our own site to our particular needs and flourishes. Man, maybe we could even have fun at it!
Myspace these days has become an internet ghost town, which is way different from a real ghost town because you might actually want to visit those. They retain historical value and the spirits are supposedly metaphysical, rather than the GIFs and ads for escorts and pharmaceuticals that breed all over Myspace now. I dare you to skip around the site today and not be blasted by adware from EVERY SINGLE ANGLE. It’s a minefield in there! Medals awarded to any Windows browser or computer that avoids being frozen after 5 minutes on the site. Trophies to those individuals who don’t crack their head on the screen due to frustration at its impressive inefficiencies.
If hackers had tried to make Myspace dysfunctional, they couldn’t have done a better job than what Tom and the Myspace people have done. Seriously, they deserve a round of applause for how terrible they have made it. Bravo!
Fellow bands can commiserate or nod in agreement, yes, but we still have to sign on once or twice a year to update an email address or let the spyware population know we have a new record out, and that yes, it’s worth buying. And I’m sure once (not if, once) Facebook falls and the next new thing comes around, we’ll look back at it in embarassment at all the wasted hours we spent on it.
I’m gonna go outside now.
DUP
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November 30, 2011 Siamese immersion
I could go on and on about how glorious the new Smashing Pumpkins remasters/reissues are, but I can’t hear myself type over the WALL OF GUITARS emanating from my speakers (which are about at their limit, I’ve noticed- thankfully they’re made for tests of magnitude and power like this).
DUP
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