Look Mexico vs. HOH Fest

So last week we played the Harvest of Hope Fest in St. Augustine. It was freaking awesome! We stopped by Slate’s parent’s place for a real fine meal his mom prepped for us, and then made way to the festival. We arrived punctually, signed in about four hours before our set, and were so pleased to find that we had gotten a very large write up in the HOH Guide Book, along with a Lujo Records ad for Gasp Asp on the opposite page. We met up with our friends Tony and Cam from No Idea, Nate and the Merchline dudes, Eric and Val from O’Pioneers, and Matt’s, Smith’s, and Slate’s parents all showed up to support.

(courtesy of ceephoto)

We did have a bit of a messy start to the night though. Our keyboardist Dave left Tallahassee around six o’clock for our set scheduled for at nine fifteen. That would have just barely been enough time to make it, but alas, it was the beginning of spring break for college kids all over, and there was plenty of traffic. With about ten minutes until our set, more stressed out than we’ve been for a long long time, we had to compromise our set and play a completely new one. We had practiced all week, and had incorporated three completely fresh songs into the set, but all three of them feature Dave. So we had to revert back to stuff we played as a four piece. We took to the stage a bit ill tempered, but after the first song, amazing crowd, and beautiful smiling singing familiar faces beaming up at us, it was hard not to put all that mess behind us. We played, if I might say, a real fine rock and roll set. It was so much fun and such a relief that the night wasn’t botched. Dave apologized to us profusely as we got off the stage, and all’s well. Granted, he probably won’t live that one down for a very long time.



The line up for the festival was incredible. I got a chance to see Girl Talk, Propaghandi, Lucero, Summerbirds in the Cellar, Less Than Jake, Against Me!, JohnVanderslice, The Mountain Goats, and Tilly and The Wall, among others.

After the show Smith and I took a spin on the whirl-a-gig carnival ride. It was a real fine bro- date, and I captured it with my phone. Later Smith went again with Matt. Smith is a big fan of the whirl-a-gig. Matt also captured it with his phone...



I think the stand out band of the weekend was Monotonix from Tel Aviv, Israel, who are hands down the most rock and roll band I have ever seen (we had the pleasure of playing the Summerbirds in the Cellar CD release show with these dudes over a year ago, and were amazed by them then). They wrap their arms around something more rock and roll than any band from the states could pull off without seeming a bit contrived. This three piece hurls their bodies across the stage, out into the crowd, ripping off their shirts, moving their drumset from place to place, as the singer crowd surfs like a drunk monkey, lands, chugs a beer out of some dudes hand, and hangs on to anyone within arm’s length. I caught wind from a friend that after our show in Orlando with them that the band offered him some drugs and led him to their rental car, in which they had cut out some of the carpeting to hide their whatever. Rock and Roll. If you get a chance to see these dudes, do it. If that opportunity doesn’t present itself- check out their youtube videos, and you’ll get a sense of what I am talking about.

On Saturday we were treated to an amazing meal by the Smith family, who live in Jacksonville. Afterwards we made it back to the festival for good times with our friend Nate and the awesome dudes at the Merchline booth who brought along some awesome yard games, and tons of candy and beverages. Those dudes are awesome. It was a stellar weekend. Only regret- we didn’t get to stick around late Sunday to see our good bros Fake Problems. Luckily they’ll be out in Austin for SXSW the same time as us.

The last week we’ve been working hard on demoing two more tracks. If you’re keeping count, we’ve demoed four completely- and have them in a very solid spot. We have about four other songs we have yet to demo for the new record. Yesterday we laid down some bell tracks, drums, and guitars for the forth of the new demos. We’ll hopefully have those squared away to show off before we head out on tour. We are super stoked about this record. Matt said last night, “Sometimes I listen to Gasp Asp just to be proud of it. I think I may listen to these new tracks because I honestly want to listen to them.” And I think that’s how we all feel.




We leave for tour on Wednesday with our first show in Austin on the 19th. It’s going to be awesome! Stay tuned. More blogs from the road to come!

+Joshua