Alright so I’m starting to feel like we are gonna get back to some sense of normalcy. Very very excited about these shows starting April 7th in Philly. Can’t wait to get back out and start playing again. There have been lots of behind the scenes changes around here. New management, new agent, new business managers, new merch folks, etc. Takes a bit to get all these things in place and functioning on all cylinders. Meetings/introductions with the label and management last week went well and now we are formulating plans for the next steps with The Wreckage. In other ‘change’ news our pal Devin Malone will no longer be anchoring down guitar duties for us. He’s decided to try and spend some more appreciable time at home and with family and such. We wish him all the best. He’ll probably still make the occasional appearance with us and surely with some other Nashville folks as he’s just too good to NOT play right? Right!(got that Devo??) He will be doing the WFPK live lunch in Louisville with us on the 19th as kind of a last hurrah. Only in Nashville could Blade and I go to a bar to talk about what to do for a new guitar guy and then onstage walks a dude playing guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, dobro etc. I introduce myself after his show, ‘hi my names Will. Wanna join a band and tour?’ He says ok. Bam we are done. Actually there were a few more conversations and one audition/rehearsal but allow us to introduce Mr Adam Ollendorff as our newest rock n roll pal. We will break him in as much as possible between now and April for yall. What else? Siggi flys in today and we hit the studio tomorrow. Blade and I have been doing guitar/vocal pre-production at my house the last few days. Songs done so far are ‘my American dream’ ‘nothing to lose’ and ‘the illegal line’. We will get one called ’silver chain’ and ‘no mans land’ done today. Then more later in the week. Will have some photos and videos from the studio later as well. Is there more? Probably. But the weather is kinda nice so i’m heading outside before I get myself all locked in studio world for the next bit. Yall be well, spread the word and we’ll see yall soon.
Written by admincwPosted in BlogTags: Baltimore, Barnes and Noble, Ben and Jerrys, Blade’s, Chapel Hill, Great Lake Swimmers, Langhorne Slim, Morgantown, Mountain Stage, NYC, Philly, Regina Spektor, Sonny Landreth, The Bowery, The Record, The Wreckage, World Cafe, WV, WXPN, Yo La TengoOctober 4, 2009
So today we are in Morgantown WV to tape a Mountain Stage performance. It’s a stellar lineup with the Great Lake Swimmers, Sonny Landreth, Yo La Tengo and Regina Spektor. I think it’ll air November 6th so be looking for that. I’m currently in love with our Fairfield Inn here as it offers a great exercise room and pool PLUS pints of Ben and Jerrys in the lobby. Nothing helps after my rehab workouts like a pint of ice cream. Sorry to have to cancel the Chapel Hill gig but there was just no way we could make it from Baltimore down there, do the show then load up and be back here today. Don’t worry we will make it up to you later. Baltimore was alot of fun. A few yappers in the crowd trying to ruin it for everyone but they didn’t. Thanks to all of you non-yappers. Now let’s talk NYC. The Bowery show was just perfect. If we could bottle that experience as a whole, the venue, the staff, the production, the crowd(all non yappers btw), the load in/out and take it with us everywhere I’d do it so fast it would make your head spin. All I can say is thanks. It was a pleasure. Maybe we could do it again next year? Afterwards we drove through the night to Philly for a noon show at WXPN which was awesome! Played with Langhorne Slim who I like alot. He’s got a new record out too. This performance also solidified that the only venue I’m interested in playing in Philly is World Cafe. See prior NYC comments and you could insert this instead. I love it. It’s been so cool seeing the reaction to the new album in a live setting. Folks singing along to all the songs and the record only came out Tuesday!?! I don’t even know all the words yet I don’t think. Also a heads up that Barnes and Noble is featuring The Wreckage on their listening stations nationwide. So if you’ve not been able to find the album try that. Speaking of the album, each of the guys had written a little piece about it a while back. Siggi’s got posted a while ago and now I thought we’d give you Blade’s thoughts. As always thanks for the love and support. Take it Blade:
The Record
For me, this record will hold a very unique place in my memory. Never have I ever just stopped in the middle of a project and taken 9 months off. It was strange, to say the least. The day after the accident was one of the most unsettling days of my life. We had all been at the hospital until late, so no one had slept much. We had to tie up a bunch of loose ends and pack up the studio. Sig and I spent all day on the phone with management and the label trying to make sense of what was going on and what we were going to do. It was truly something we’d never expected would happen.
Loading in the studio the 2nd time was like visiting the house you grew up in as a kid. We had already worked a handful of songs almost to completion, and now we were back to finish what we’d started. The first day back tracking, we were all so excited that no one was even a minute late. This time was different though; we were all very aware of how quickly things can change. I believe that mutual admiration is one of the reasons that this record came out like it did. We were all really happy to be there doing what we were doing—with the people we were able to do it with.
We weren’t afraid of trying anything. Some of my favorite things came about because we were simply trying to find what was right for the song. Most days we would start working on an arrangement for a song, and have it mostly done by late afternoon. The day we recorded “The Wreckage”, I don’t remember having ever heard it before. I had gone from the studio earlier in the day after tracking another song, and just stopped back by late in the evening. Getting to hear the song for the first time in its raw form with just Will and Sig was an amazing experience. Ken and Charlie were ready to call it a night, but I made them stay while I put down the bass part—right then. It was one of those things you just can’t wait for. That song also has one of my favorite percussion sounds of the whole record on it. Sound Emporium Studio A has these old, funky chambers that engineers used to have to use for reverb and echo back in the old days. Imagine what a huge shower would sound like, and you’re pretty much there. The door to the chamber is this small, 3×3 hobbit door that’s about 4 feet off the ground. Sig decided that he wanted to climb through the tiny door and into the chamber to play the tambourine part. It turned out to be one of my favorite textures on the record. Something out of left field that some people wouldn’t have even tried, was perfect for the song.
I really enjoyed all of the great musicians that played on the record with us. We were really fortunate to pick up Devin in the time between starting the record and getting back in to finish it. He brought a level of musicianship to the process that we all immediately responded to. Not only can he play like 10 instruments, he can sing and make coffee too. It was also great to have Ashley Monroe come in to sing on Goodnight Goodbye. I had recorded the original background vocal part back in the fall, with the intention that she would redo it. Nine months later, it was amazing to hear the finished version with her voice on it.
Listening down to a record for the first time is a cool experience. Listening down to a record that you’ve just spent the better part of a year thinking about and working on, brings mixed emotions. You’ve spent a lot of time/money on it; first and foremost you just want to make sure it’s not terrible. The last thing we need in the world is another terrible album. The last day in the studio, we decided to listen down to the whole thing straight through. It was apparent early on, that it was in fact, not terrible. We had some guests in there with us who proudly announced that “That should be the first single” after hearing each song for the first time. It’s amazing hearing something that you’ve heard a million times before, but this time it’s different. It’s a record.
So the St. Louis show was the best one we’ve had there yet. Great crowd. Many thanks to the folks at the Duck Room for always giving us a great place to play. Plus there’s free food and a photo booth. What more could one want? Well, a shower? Good news, they’ve got that too.
Headed over to Columbia, MO on Saturday. Back to the Blue Fugue. Another great night. It’s nice to finally have a cool club run by cool people to let us come and play and help build a little something there.
We were loaded out and heading home before the sweat even dried. Getting some work done on the bus and preparing to head for the northeast on Thursday. Looking forward to Philly. I love World Cafe. I love Gino’s. Plus I’ll get to hang with my brother and his posse that night too. Hopefully one of us will have somewhere to be early the next day. If not, all hell could be breaking loose. My apologies to your fair city in advance. haha.
So the mysterious ‘free live CD’ is finally done and back. They’re sitting in my garage as we speak. I’ll be up early tomorrow stuffing envelopes and getting them out to y’all. Most sincere apologies for the delay. Thanks for being understanding. At least now you’ll have them in time to dance off the extra Thanksgiving weight from next week. See, we’re always looking out for you.
I suppose that’s it. Really looking forward to all the shows this week. Hooking up with the Avett Brothers again will be a pleasure. Plus we’ve got NYC and Boston so what’s not to like right? Ok, gotta go. See you all very soon.
Heading into Baton Rouge. Some concerns about the weather, but it looks like it’s gonna be fine, just a little wet. Had fun as always at Rick’s in Starkville last night. Rick is the shit. There was a period after the we left Atlantic and after we fired CAA that lots of clubs and promoters wouldn’t even call us back, but Rick was always the exception. He’s always given us a chance to come and play and for that reason I will ALWAYS play his room. Thanks my friend for all of that. Good show. Molly is back out with us for the week so that’s always a bonus. After the show I was out signing some stuff and these two guys say that they’d just gotten back from Iraq. They were really wanting to hear “Bible -vs- Gun”. They had only been back for a few weeks and were going back in January. “…don’t worry, we’ll hear it when we come back next time…” Fuck that! This is not acceptable. These lads go over and put up with the most hellish shit a human being can put up with for far far too long at a time and we’re gonna not play the song they wanted to hear? I think not. We set up semi circle on stage and play it for them and a couple of folks still hanging around. They seemed so very appreciative. I hope they know how appreciative WE are to them. It was a good moment.
Last week was nice up in the northeast. Though we’re getting familiar with NYC, Philly, Boston, etc. The Vermonts, New Hampshires and Rhode Islands of the world are still very new to us. This trip was good though. We finally got in all the right rooms in each place. Nice sized rooms that’ll be good to build in. Other than some drunk dude in Newport, and some sappy drunk dork from a local band in Burlington the shows were good. We had our new friends Hoots and Hellmouth with us all week. Really really cool band. Great guys. We’ve got more shows coming up next week and I’d highly recommend you check them out.
Just gave final approval for the artwork for the vinyl release of “Draw The Curtains.” This is gonna be cool as hell. I spent my childhood aping my dad’s record collection. Big Koss headphones with the curly cable. Needle scratching the vinyl. Studying the artwork, the photos, the liner notes. (and not needing a magnifying glass like you do with a cd) I’ve always wanted our albums on vinyl and now we’re doing it. You should certainly check it out and give it a listen. It’s a whole different experience.
Lots of other things getting going with the album and the release. Hope everyone’s digging the preview track that’s available. There’ll be more stuff coming soon. Letting everyone know now that the Sunday night WRLT show at 3rd and Lindsley on Oct. 7th is gonna be way cool. We’re gonna do “Draw The Curtains” start to finish for the on air portion of the show. LOTS and LOTS of cool surprise guests that we’ll talk more about later, but I assure you it’s gonna be a killer.
Ok, I’m done for now. See y’all soon and as always, my most sincere thank you for the love and support that you continue to give me and the band.
Ok, so I told y’all I’d be better about this. Did you doubt me? Don’t answer that. Ok, Brooklyn was a great night. The folks that run that place are totally top notch. Great to us. Great to the Deadstrings. They actually treat the bands like they LIKE us being there. Total pleasure.
Philly the next day(actually Camden, NJ) was killer! One of the only great daytime shows we’ve ever had. The guys and gals at WXPN have always been so supportive and they’ve got a great room up there at World Cafe Live I should’ve known their festival would’ve been awesome and it was. Got to see the Cat Empire guys a bit. They were really good. Wished we could’ve hung longer but it was a long drive back to Nashville.
This was the first week having Russell back on the road and that was good. Make sure and give him a big welcome back hug when you see him. Started meeting lots of the label execs at the shows in NY and NJ. Cool fucking people. I know, label people=cool people???? Hey, I’m shocked too. But like I’ve said before these Ryko folks seem like a different breed. More news coming there soon. We’ll be debuting our new fiddle player/background singer Ms. Molly Thomas this weekend. She’s a very talented young woman and I know that Erica is excited that she’ll have another gal on the road a bit. Y’all will dig her. Can’t wait for you to hear her with the band. It’s gonna open up a whole new thing for us. We’re excited.
I suppose that’s it for now. Gotta go get things together for the Atlanta and Charleston shows. See y’all soon.
Started off this week in Philly. Great show! Best we’ve done there. I really love World Cafe Live. I know I’ve probably said it before, but it reminds me alot of WorkPlay in Birmingham so you know we like it! Cool people on staff, just a great night.
Next night was Annapolis at the Ram’s Head. One of those sit down rooms, but always turns out to be fun. That held true again. Many thanks to everyone there for all the love and support. I was worried that I may have burned a bridge there when I made a comment in between songs about porno films. See this place has a very strict NO TALKING policy. Now that’s GREAT!! There’s plenty of other shows that I wish people would be more quiet, but in between songs it’s just awkward as hell. To which I responded something about, ‘….this must be what it feels like to do a porno film. You and a couple ladies go at it. You’re feeling like the man. Super pimp. You finish(you know what I mean) and then there’s a room full of people just standing there. ummmm….nice work. Could we try that again. Maybe hold her leg a little higher, and you, moan a little more….’ blah, blah, blah. Anyhow, I felt lucky that it came off funny. You gotta love adult film humor.
This leads us to last night in NYC. Two days ago I’d gotten an email that the presales for the show were good. We were all happy as this was to be our first time headlining the Bowery Ballroom. Got there yesterday and the numbers were even better which is great because the club folks get much nicer to you. Anyway, the club was just great. Finally felt like we were in the right room in NYC. Well the show sold out!! A couple hours before we went on they told us and we were just thrilled. It was a killer night. The Trews played first and sounded great. Good to catch up with them again. Hopefully more of that soon. Good bunch of local guys called Wormburner played next. It was good to know them. Then Matt Mays and his gang and then yours truly went on. It was one of those nights that just felt good from the get go. Had lots of our friends there. Our booking agent Jordan was there and I was as proud for him as I was for us. Thanks for all the hard work! Our new lawyer Reid was there. Great to get to hang with him a bit. Then all sorts of folks from other shows around the area. Thanks to y’all for making this whole thing happen. The folks at the club were really supportive and we’re already working on getting back again. So please keep on spreading the word!
Heading down to Pittsburgh tonight. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
Should have some more exciting news for y’all soon. Keep on listening………
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