Victoria w/ Gentleman Auction House, Early Day Miners & Grace Basement @ The Bluebird

go...

Ok, so maybe we jumped the gun...

mixing is almost there

a few changes need to be done, which Devin will be taking care of tomorrow - shouldn't really be a big deal

otherwise, we are in the home-stretch and just about ready to let TJ tag in to master the record

everything sounds so great - chad and eric really rocked this stuff!
-----

in other news:
we will be touring/playing this Spring with some of our favorite friends; Bald Eagle, Witch's Hat, Elsinore, Cameron McGill, Sinkane, Canada, Light Pollution, Headlights, etc.!!!!

let us know if you'd like us to come to your city as the touring bug seems to be infecting all of us and we are all itching to get out on the road...







-----

we hope to see you at The Bluebird on February 8th! we are so lucky to be playing with Early Day Miners, Victoria, and Grace Basement

-mike

Update!!!!!!!

as Chad and Devin are holed up in the new Silver Sonya location, surely tearing out their hair [sic] at the seemingly endless number of layers and tracks, the mixes are coming together and a light is beginning to show at the end of the tunnel

we were finally able to snatch a listen to "Angry Town" yesterday and it is so exciting to hear the record begin to finally take shape - we are SOOOOO close, you can almost taste it

----

since returning DC, we have been fortunate enough to share time and the stage with some great old friends, as well as some very awesome new ones - here's a little recap...

*November 7th @ The Bluebird (St. Louis, MO): we played with one of our most favorite St. Louis bands, Say Panther, and one of our most favorite Champaign bands, Headlights, who are now playing out as a quintet with Kenny and Nick of Decibully joining the ranks on guitar and bass/accordion respectively - simply awesome!!!

-as an aside, both Say Panther and Headlights have new records in the works, please save your lunch money, take your piggy bank up to Coinstar, snatch some bills from your momma's purse, or whatever you have to do to make sure that you own these records the day that they come out!

*November 16th @ Cowboy Monkey (Champaign, IL): the Cowboy Monkey is absolutely one of our favorite places to play in the country, hands down, and this looks to have been the last time we will ever get to play there - they are rumored to be changing things around and tearing out the stage come New Year's - we did get to play with some great new friends though, Des Moines', Jacob Tyler Wolfgang, Chicago's, Rachel Ries [amazing!] and Champaign favorites, Casados

after the show, Tristan took us back to Headlights' chalet, which is nestled in between two corn fields in the northern part of Champaign-Urbana, where Erin, Brett and him live and record - this was our first time staying with Headlights and we all were up uber-late drinking PBR, eating Pokey-Sticks and smoking our corn-cob pipes

good times had by all

*November 17th @ The Bluebird (St. Louis, MO): it is a rare treat to play in STL and get to share the stage with not just 1, but 2 bands that we have never played with before. this was just such an occasion! we had such a blast with St. Louis', Bo & The Locomotive, and Michigan stalwarts, Saturday Looks Good To Me

there were so many things working for us on this night, playing with SLGTM: 1) it was a Saturday, 2) it was their first time playing in St. Louis, and 3) Ryan Howard, of our other favorite MI band, Canada, plays drums!!!

----

it is nice to be home to not only get a chance to relearn the songs after we dissected the crap out of them in the studio, but to also spend time with family and friends and just chill out a little

there is so much on the horizon:

*two cool shows left this year
December 8th
@ The Mad Art Gallery for the 4th installment of The Rock n Roll Craft Show
December 22nd
@ Off Broadway for A Very Merry Christmas Spectacular w/ So Many Dynamos, Light Pollution and Laite

*new record/tour this Spring

*Kiley and Steve's wedding next August!

*Stephen and former Team Up!!! counterpart Mario Martinez have been playing together again - they're performing tomorrow, Nov. 25th, as Thankful Tree @ The Lemp Arts Neighborhood Arts Center

*Ryan is gearing up for a Dock Ellis Band tour this January

*Eric H. is finishing a full-length Slow Parade album as we speak

*Mike is recording albums for both Geoff Koch and The Makeshift Gentlemen this winter

*Eric E. has most likely written about 30 new songs since we have been home and being that the Christmas season is his most prolific time of the year, expect many more songs to be in the works

etc. etc. etc.

stay tuned for more updates as the mixes begin to pour in - there is talk of us possibly getting to hear 3 more tomorrow!!!!!!!

Tracking Day Four...

capital city conundrums and monkey bread madness bring day four of tracking to a close...




drums - done
bass - done
$30k piano - done
eric's guitars - done

---

tensions are high - we are running about a day behind the original schedule
chad and devin seem confident that we will finish on time, which is extremely helpful considering the extremely long list of things that have yet to be tracked - here are just a few of those items

percusion overdubs
mike and steve's guitar
xylophone
kiley and steve's keyboards
stomps and claps
flute
trumpet
vocals, vocals, vocals
etc. etc. etc.

kiley leaves to go back to st. louis tomorrow, so we are hoping that we have all of her tracks completed by the end of friday
cross your fingers

that being said, we have discovered a wonderful new place called Best Buns Bread Co. - MMMMMMMonkey Bread!!! - man this stuff is good - it has inspired multiple impromptu songs in its honor

hearing Headlights' record playing through the walls has been a good boost for us - we are definitely excited to play with them again on November 7th @ The Bluebird

aside from the stress of trying to complete a record in two weeks, we are all having a great time - the weather has been wonderful, the sites that we see on the way to and from the studio are amazing and we arrive everyday to a place that has begun to feel like home - devin, nick, chad, tj and don have all been so wonderful to work with

plus, this shit is sounds bangin!

Watching:
The Office

Listening:
Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation"