Freakin’ tour! We rolled out of Tallahassee around six? Seven? Or eight p.m. on Wednesday with two full tanks of vegetable oil bound for our first couple of shows in Austin, TX. We drove all night, three hour shifts, and made it to Houston Texas around nine in the morning. We crashed at our good friends Eric and Val’s place from I Heart U Productions, and Eric was kind enough to let us get a quick practice in at his band’s, O’Pioneers, practice space. Following practice, we loaded up and hit the road.
South By Southwest was ridiculous. Hands down some of the most fun we’ve had in a good long time. Enough fun, in fact, to make us consider a future move to the music hot spot.
We arrived and met up with our friends at Amp energy drink, who gave us dangerous amounts of their product, and then caught up with our dearest bros Fake Problems and loaded in for our first show at Plush. We played after Consider the Source and Frank Turner. It was a real tight space, but we made due and played an all right set. Particularly in thanks to our main man John B., who helped keep folks off the dude’s pedals and cords. Our new Austin buddy Jerome, was front and center (um, mildly intoxicated) singing along, and it was real nice to know we had some friends in the audience. We were followed by our good friends Constants, to whom we owe our vegetable oil salvation. They owned and have gotten so tight and full as a three piece. Thanks to James from Consider the Source for getting us on that show.
Following the set, we took to the streets of Austin for Thursday night’s festivities. We followed Fake Problems into the artist lounge- which we would do all weekend- helping ourselves to free booze and fruit drinks… yep… fruit drinks.
Good and tired from the long drive, show, and party times, we crashed on our Tallahassee bros, Matt and Costa’s, Motel 8 floor. Those dudes are real solid.
We woke and made it over to our second showcase, the Consequence of Sound day party. We played a fine show amongst a real healthy line-up: Sybris, Gringo Scarr, among others. Oh yeah and Rachel Ray’s husband’s band. Yep… you got it. Rachel Ray- as in 30 minute meals. She failed to show, and he and his band failed to be any good. The showcase was a lot of fun though, and we are real lucky that Dan, Mike, and Alex at COS are solid enough dudes to have helped us get on that one. Not to mention we got free PBR.
After the show we rolled over to the Amp energy drink’s Rock Paper Scissors battle. The winner would walk away with five grand. Spoiler alert: we didn’t win. Smith put up a valiant effort, but was cut down in two sets. Matt, who adopted the RPS nomen “The Barber” won his first battle and miraculously by some stroke of luck or pulled strings, made it to the final eight. I, in the meantime, won five dollars from a busty babe bartendress in a side game.
The barber’s reign at the top was short lived, as he fell to the soon to be winner, and we left the tournament sad for the loss, but harboring a great deal of pride for the journey. NOT- the barber was f-in pissed. He’ll be back next year and cut their dreams.
That night we picked up a house show that our new buddy Jerome put on. It was freakin’ awesome. Hot dogs, keg beer, good people, and Jerome’s band “The United Snakes of America,” were both kind to us and a real awesome rock and roll band.
That night we got our party on with our friends Fake Problems. We crashed the artist lounge again, and were the last to leave. It seems we still have things to talk about when the beer dries up.
The next day we partook in the Austin Festivities yet again, catching sets from our friends Slow Claw and One Small Step For Landmines. Amazing to see those dudes. Smith and Slate later caught a set from Cursive which they hailed as “f-ing awesome.”
That night we rolled over to catch the Fake Problems set. Matt played horn along with them, having written the horn stuff for their latest record “It’s Great to be Alive” released earlier this year on Side One Dummy. They owned, as usual, and we stuck around following the set to again partake in the free booze and food that was offered up at their showcase spot. We eventually made our way to the Vice party, and well… things got raucous. Highlights- Casey Lee puked in a beer bin. Frank Turner (from the U.K.) got a tattoo of Texas. Party. Party. Party.
The next morning we woke and bid farewell to the sweet Fakers over a hearty lack luster meal at Denny’s, and hit the road for San Antonio.
That night we played the best set of the tour thus far. Also playing the show was Frank Turner, who wailed, and punk rock legends Kepi Ghoulie from the Groovie Ghoulies, Kevin Seconds, from the legendary 7 Seconds, with his folk project. And Steve Soto from the legendary Adolescents. It was our first show on our tour with Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts, and we were real impressed with their effortless musicianship.
It’s been a solid tour thus far. After our short stay in Austin we have been seriously considering the option of relocating to that musical hub. There will undoubtedly be more on that to come. We’re in route to a show in Phoenix tonight. We drove all night. Smith and I are coming down with something… but things are still looking good. Thanks for reading. More to come.
+joshua
PS- Dave has been cooking a bunch of stuff in the crock pot.
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