Saturday, May 13, 2006
Maggie McCall's - CD Release
performed with: "Third Frate"Setlist:
1:52
Tonic
Run Away
Satisfied>
Sit Down
April
Drive Just To Sleep
I Will Survive
Laid
Smile
Pennsylvania
Midnight
Knockin' On Heaven's Door*
Tenacious D
Omaha
See You Again
Indecision
Don't
Take Me Back
Rockin' In The Freeworld*
* = guest guitar by Jeremy Francis
> = fade into next song
Review:
It was some what of sad day because it was the last day of our two day tour, but we were still excited to play and traded war stories from the night before. There were a few winners from those stories:
Most Rockstar Story: Myself and Paul, for our "pit stop" on the way back to Omaha.
Cutest Story: Jeremy, for falling asleep after he got home at 4am on his son's miniature couch.
Staying Up The Latest Story: Tim, for staying up until 5am.
Sleeping The Longest Story: Paul, for sleeping until 6pm...with load in for this show at 7:30.
Owning A Van Story: Nate, for owning a van.
Needless to say, set up was fun at Maggie McCall's...nothing like trading stories and eating Domino's pizza. Once we got things situated, the night kicked off with Third Frate rocking again, and me running the light board for them...which was awesome! However, this favor wasn't returned as no one ran lights for our show. (Not even an attempt fellas...what's up with that?)
Our show got underway without most of the problems that we had the night before, since we didn't do our grand entrance again. Everything was going just fine until I had to open my big mouth and say that "last night we got shots during this song, I'm just saying." Suddenly, we had shots coming out of the woodwork...Jaeger, Tequila, Jack...not the best when you are trying to actually play music. But, it did make for a fun evening, at least for Connealy and I who didn't bitch and only take two of the four shots we had...that's right I said it...got a problem with it boys?
I will say this, the quality of the music may have dipped ever-so-slightly, but everyone was drunk by that point, so no one really noticed or cared. We did have so kids who watched us from outside the window of Maggie McCall's the entire evening, which was awesome. Apparently the two of them had seen our show at the Rock and enjoyed the music, so we gave them a free CD...and one Justin gave them musical history lessons while another Justin gave them skateboarding lessons. Good times.
All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better CD release weekend...I mean it couldn't have been worse than our first one back in 2004, where we didn't sell any CD's. A huge thanks to everyone who came out to support us and to Third Frate for taking time out of their busy schedules to go on tour with us. You all rock.
posted by Stein # 11:59 PM
Friday, May 12, 2006
Knickerbockers - CD Release
performed with: "Third Frate"Setlist:
1:52
Don't
Run Away
Satisfied
Laid
April
Pennsylvania
See You Again
Drive Just To Sleep
Omaha
Tenacious D>
Touch Myself
Smile>
Sit Down
Tonic
Summit
Knockin' On Heaven's Door*
Indecision
All We Do Is Lounge (tease)
Rockin' In The Freeworld
Take Me Back
* = guest guitar by Jeremy Francis
> = fade into next song
Review:
CD release parties are just awesomely scary. First off, a lot of planning goes into something like this; for instance, we had to coordinate the dates with different venues, get the CD's mastered and pressed on time, find a band to open for us, promote the shows, and keep Connealy in town. Seemingly not that long of a list, but not as easy as it seems when we all work all day long.
Luckily, we know some people that know some people that robbed some people, so we were able to accomplish much of this without problems occurring...because people that know people that rob people get things done.
Fast-forward to the day of our first CD release at Knickerbockers. Back at Ryan's house we pack up the stuff and debate how many CD's we should bring. We decide to bring 82, you know, a nice even number. Sure, we didn't figure we were going to sell 82 CD's...two of them were for promotional use only. We arrive at Knickerbockers and inform the sound guy of our grand scheme that involves A) recording the show straight from the sound board directly to Connealy's computer; B) soundchecking before Third Frate to get the levels right and having them stack in front of us; and C) playing a CD between bands, dimming the lights, and making a grand entrance.
Turns out most of those things didn't work properly. While trying to get Connealy's computer to record properly we wasted all of our soundchecking time without really soundchecking. (Though Connealy was able to get it to work using some sort of red button that said, "Don't push this red button.") The whole stacking thing worked for the most part, except Third Frate's drummer had to use my set. And as for the grand entrance...well...it wasn't extremely grand. We did eventually enter through the crowd in the dark, but when we got on stage it was...get this...dark, thus making it tough to...get this...see. So we started 1:52, a brand new song no one had ever heard before, and as we get going I realize that my snare drum isn't turned on. But it's dark, so I have no idea where the lever is to turn it on and am scrambling to find it with what little light I have before I really need to come in with the whole drum kit. So right out of the gate I'm thinking, "Damn, if only our planning list had been a little longer."
But, we power through and really get going with the set. Two songs later, Trooper brings us up some shots on stage during Run Away, and then we really start rockin'. If you were there then you know, but if you weren't I'll tell you...this was the most rocking on stage that we have ever done. At different points in the set Paul, Ryan and Connealy are crazy all over the stage. Ryan's all over the front edge of the stage, in the crowd, who knows where else...I think on top of Paul's amp at one point. Paul was thinking about jumping off my kick drum, was a madman with that guitar (I'm super cereal), and I know he was on top of his amp at one point. Connealy was just spinning around like a crazy person and I, well I was just doing my thing behind the drums...but I've never been that tired or sore from drumming ever before.
There were too many highlights to count; Ryan rocking Satisfied and Laid, the extended end of See You Again, Paul's solo in Drive, Connealy's solo in Omaha, being able to play Summit when Connealy just learned it the night before, Tenacious D fading into an impromptu version of The Divinyls "I Touch Myself"; but far and away the highlight of the evening was when we busted out Knockin' and brought up Jeremy Francis of Third Frate fame to guest on guitar. That was just a freakin' blast...five of us up there, cluttering the stage, taking turns solo-ing...you really should have been there.
And when the show was over, we sold some CD's, and were so pumped about the next show, we weren't sure if we were ever going to get to sleep.
(to be continued...in the next review)
posted by Stein # 11:59 PM
Sunday, May 07, 2006
V.I.P. Graduation Party
Setlist: (In close to the real order...)Don't
Run Away
Follow
April
Satisfied
Tonic
Drive Just To Sleep
Midnight
Omaha
Sit Down
Laid
Pennsylvania
See You Again
Save Us
Smile
Sit Down (again for Nate and Jaime)
Indecision
Take Me Back
Tenacious D (edited version)
Review:
We had just a wonderful time playing this wonderful person's graduation party. Turns out, this was pretty much just a warm-up show for the weekend to come because Connealy was on some type of "beer tour" in Chicago so we played without a bass player (unless you count Brian McFayden's weak attempt at it). But he did deliver three demos to different bars, so maybe we won't kick him out of the band just yet.
Also, this show seemed more like a comedy routine with music inbetween. But that's ok, because that's what the people in the backyard seemed to enjoy the most. What's more disturbing; however, is that we were instructed to wait to play our good songs during the second half of the show (not sure what that means) when all the important people showed up, but they ended up staying for like four songs and then leaving. What's that about?
