Feels like prepping for D-Day, which I guess I am in a way.
Maybe should have done more in the previous days but fuck it. Still need to pack and pickup CDs from Affordable Sound. Sign an return contract for Magnetic Eye Recordings, details on that coming soon. Load gear from Goldie Hawn to Boss Hoss in pre for tonight. Pick up tubes for SVT, which I haven't heard from the guy all week and that worries me now. Early load in at Headhunters, we have an 8:30pm interview with Stephanie's Rock Show. Then blow the doors off the place, say goodbye to friends and family while trying to manage somehow NOT getting drunk, then get home at 3am to be on the road by 8am. Ouch.
Here are the dates for this first leg. I will report as often as I can, also follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @erictessmerband, @dannygrocks, @russetb, @ robdisaster.
Fri May 27 Ft Smith AR @ Webby D's
Sat May 28 Kansas City MO @ Trouser Mouse
Mon May 30 St Louis MO @ Old Rock House
Thu Jun 2 Eau Claire WI @ House of Rock
Fri Jun 3 Minneapolis MN @ Whiskey Junction
Sat Jun 4 Yuba WI @ Full Throttle Bar
Mon Jun 6 Madison WI @ High Noon Saloon
Tue Jun 7 Chicago IL @ tba
Sat Jun 11 Horseheads NY @ Jake's Saloon
Mon Jun 13 Boston MA @ Church of Boston
Thu Jun 16 Manchester NH @ Milly's Tavern
Wed Jun 22 Leesberg VA @ Downtown Saloon
Thu Jun 23 Johnstown PA @ Thunder in the Valley
Fri Jun 24 Johnstown PA @ Thunder in the Valley
Sat Jun 25 Roanoke VA @ Martin's Downtown
Tue Jun 28 Pittsburg PA @ Thunderbird Cafe
Wed Jun 29 Sellersville PA @ Sellersville Theater
Thu Jun 30 Dover NH @ Fury's Publick House
Fri Jul 1 Framingham MA @ Chicken Bone
Sat Jul 2 Ogunquit ME @ Ogunquit Theater
Mon Jul 4 Quebec City Canada @ Le Cercle
Tue Jul 5 Montreal Canada @ La Sala Rossa
Wed Jul 6 Ottawa Canada @ The Rainbow Bistro
Thu Jul 7 Pointe-Claire Canada @ Calistoga Grill
Fri Jul 8 Ottawa Canada @ The Rainbow Bistro
Sat Jul 9 Toronto Canada @ The Silver Dollar Saloon
Until then, Let There Be Rock
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Taking care of last minute things before heading out with ETB.
So survived Rapture Day in Georgetown TX, playing Hardtails. And to be honest I was more worried about the tornadic severe thunderstorm passing just north of us, and that the stage was outdoor, and metal, and not covered in case it rains. Which it looked like it was going to do just that. So after soundcheck we moved our amps back inside the cutout metal cargo trailer which served as a drumriser/green room/storage locker. Amps sounded like ass back there, but at least they'd stay dry. Checking the weather on my phone app had 4 separate weather warnings for Georgetown: Sever Thunderstorm Warning, Tornado Warning, Flood Advidory, Severe Thunderstorm Watch. Nice.
But we played a good set despite some sound problems, but no big deal. Got sprinkled on a little but never rained like sky was threatening to, and we could not see the spectacular lightning display forking over our heads. Good times.
Monday was our last Monday at Friends, for several months at least. Was a decent night, we are all exhausted but played our asses off anyway. Gonna miss that place. Almost felt like a graduation of sorts, which I hope that's just what it will be.
Yesterday wound up helping Rob with his new drum case, adding a separator and installing handles in the sides. Works like a charm, good to use my power tools again and get some dude time with Rob and Eric before we hit the road. Then went for a nice dinner with Triniti at Uchi Sushi on S Lamar. Matthew McConoughay was there, cool. Had some really good whatever the hell it was we ate and some amazing beers. But after spending almost $100, we were still hungry so went to the food trailers down the street \m/,
Today restocked some toiletries and got a proper laptop bag. Have already gotten a British camo jacket for $20 and a new overnight bag. My shit is falling apart. Still need to pick up my last minute run of 15 "Ocean of Stars" albums to take on the road. (Edit: they called as I typed, turns out I had 30 digipacks left. Sweet!) Affordable sound had some problems with the art I gave them but they'll being done right. Stocked up on cigarettes as well, Amercan Spirits can be hard to find on the road.
Tonight having a going away bbq/get-together with ETB and our friends. Thursday we blow the doors off Headhunters for our tour kickoff.
WILL REPORT FROM THE ROAD!!!
So survived Rapture Day in Georgetown TX, playing Hardtails. And to be honest I was more worried about the tornadic severe thunderstorm passing just north of us, and that the stage was outdoor, and metal, and not covered in case it rains. Which it looked like it was going to do just that. So after soundcheck we moved our amps back inside the cutout metal cargo trailer which served as a drumriser/green room/storage locker. Amps sounded like ass back there, but at least they'd stay dry. Checking the weather on my phone app had 4 separate weather warnings for Georgetown: Sever Thunderstorm Warning, Tornado Warning, Flood Advidory, Severe Thunderstorm Watch. Nice.
But we played a good set despite some sound problems, but no big deal. Got sprinkled on a little but never rained like sky was threatening to, and we could not see the spectacular lightning display forking over our heads. Good times.
Monday was our last Monday at Friends, for several months at least. Was a decent night, we are all exhausted but played our asses off anyway. Gonna miss that place. Almost felt like a graduation of sorts, which I hope that's just what it will be.
Yesterday wound up helping Rob with his new drum case, adding a separator and installing handles in the sides. Works like a charm, good to use my power tools again and get some dude time with Rob and Eric before we hit the road. Then went for a nice dinner with Triniti at Uchi Sushi on S Lamar. Matthew McConoughay was there, cool. Had some really good whatever the hell it was we ate and some amazing beers. But after spending almost $100, we were still hungry so went to the food trailers down the street \m/,
Today restocked some toiletries and got a proper laptop bag. Have already gotten a British camo jacket for $20 and a new overnight bag. My shit is falling apart. Still need to pick up my last minute run of 15 "Ocean of Stars" albums to take on the road. (Edit: they called as I typed, turns out I had 30 digipacks left. Sweet!) Affordable sound had some problems with the art I gave them but they'll being done right. Stocked up on cigarettes as well, Amercan Spirits can be hard to find on the road.
Tonight having a going away bbq/get-together with ETB and our friends. Thursday we blow the doors off Headhunters for our tour kickoff.
WILL REPORT FROM THE ROAD!!!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Got called into work last night.
ETB didn't realize we were on the bill for Friends. We are already playing there tonight. Got the call at 9:30pm. So Rob and I rushed to get our gear and go. I didn't even have time to eat dinner or take a shower. We had been loading Boss Hoss with Rob's new drum cases to see how/if everything would fit before we loaded for the tour and found out it didn't. Then burgers at Culvers and another song-writing session which went very well. New stuff really coming along. Was planning on hitting Continental Club to see Grady with Trinidad Leal on drums, but alas. It can be good to get called in when you could use the money, and it was a pretty good show so win/win.
About to get ready to head north for the session with Stanley Man today. We got together Wednesday for a rehearsal. Same team, myself, Josh Zee and Trinidad. Fucking awesome. Can't wait to hear the final product for all of this.
Still negotiating my own record deal and finally making progress, would like to have it all finalized and in motion before we leave next week.
Gotta run, y'all.
ETB didn't realize we were on the bill for Friends. We are already playing there tonight. Got the call at 9:30pm. So Rob and I rushed to get our gear and go. I didn't even have time to eat dinner or take a shower. We had been loading Boss Hoss with Rob's new drum cases to see how/if everything would fit before we loaded for the tour and found out it didn't. Then burgers at Culvers and another song-writing session which went very well. New stuff really coming along. Was planning on hitting Continental Club to see Grady with Trinidad Leal on drums, but alas. It can be good to get called in when you could use the money, and it was a pretty good show so win/win.
About to get ready to head north for the session with Stanley Man today. We got together Wednesday for a rehearsal. Same team, myself, Josh Zee and Trinidad. Fucking awesome. Can't wait to hear the final product for all of this.
Still negotiating my own record deal and finally making progress, would like to have it all finalized and in motion before we leave next week.
Gotta run, y'all.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Next two weeks are going to be a shitstorm, in a good way.
Prepping to leave town til mid-July with ETB. Writing a new ETB EP in the meantime which we will record in Madison WI on tour. We came in third for the Samsung thing and they still want to give us $5000 for recording. We will take it! Shows over the weekend at BD Riley's and Phoenix Saloon in New Braunfels were all kinds of awesome. Saw Dixie Witch Thursday night at Emo's with The Roller and Russell Abbott's (Super Heavy Goat Ass) new band Fur King. Great show, good times. Talking to Curt from DW afterwards learned a very valuable piece of gear lore that I can't believe I didn't know, and wish I had known sooner. My SVT can run TWO 4-ohm cabinets. Shit. Guess I should have read the manual! (But mine didn't come with one, heh).
Anyway, here's how my week is shaping up:
TODAY:
Bank to deposit a Teacher Retirement System IRA check. Had an IRA from when I worked at ACC years back. Have not worked in education since so I could roll it over or cash it out. Went for option B, and it will allow me to retube my SVT, have bills paid, and have some money to take on the road. ETB practice 12-3pm. ETB tonight at Friends 9:30pm til close.
Tuesday:
12pm-8pm marathon ETB writing session. If gets out early will swing by Saxon Pub and catch part of Moonlighters happy hour set (Josh Zee of TMT, Lonnie from Deadman, couple cats from Stonehoney and Shurman as well).
Wednesday:
Practice for another recording session with Stanley Man, again with Josh Zee on guitar and Trinidad Leal on drums. Gonna be awesome all over again. No gig at Speakeasy, due to mis-communication we have next 2 Wednesdays there off, they thought we'd be out of town but weren't due to Air India Pilot strike. Well shit. If I didn't have the TRS check I would be very worried about losing 2 money gigs b4 going out of town.
Thursday:
Recording session with Stan has been moved to Friday, so probably ETB jam instead. Then maybe go downtown with Triniti and see what kinda trouble we can get into.
Friday:
Rescheduled session with Stanley. Then pack up rig to load in at Friends 6:30pm. Early set with ETB 7:30-11pm.
Saturday:
ETB plays Hardtails, a biker bar in Georgetown TX. Sounds pretty awesome.
Sunday:
12-3pm ETB jam scheduled. Probably have a going-away brunch here at House of DDT.
So yeah. And in between I need to spend time with my lady, my family coming up next wknd for lunch since I have ZERO time to head down to Corpus Christi. Restock toiletries for the road. Buy strings, buy tubes, pay bills, refill asthma med prescrip.
Prepping to leave town til mid-July with ETB. Writing a new ETB EP in the meantime which we will record in Madison WI on tour. We came in third for the Samsung thing and they still want to give us $5000 for recording. We will take it! Shows over the weekend at BD Riley's and Phoenix Saloon in New Braunfels were all kinds of awesome. Saw Dixie Witch Thursday night at Emo's with The Roller and Russell Abbott's (Super Heavy Goat Ass) new band Fur King. Great show, good times. Talking to Curt from DW afterwards learned a very valuable piece of gear lore that I can't believe I didn't know, and wish I had known sooner. My SVT can run TWO 4-ohm cabinets. Shit. Guess I should have read the manual! (But mine didn't come with one, heh).
Anyway, here's how my week is shaping up:
TODAY:
Bank to deposit a Teacher Retirement System IRA check. Had an IRA from when I worked at ACC years back. Have not worked in education since so I could roll it over or cash it out. Went for option B, and it will allow me to retube my SVT, have bills paid, and have some money to take on the road. ETB practice 12-3pm. ETB tonight at Friends 9:30pm til close.
Tuesday:
12pm-8pm marathon ETB writing session. If gets out early will swing by Saxon Pub and catch part of Moonlighters happy hour set (Josh Zee of TMT, Lonnie from Deadman, couple cats from Stonehoney and Shurman as well).
Wednesday:
Practice for another recording session with Stanley Man, again with Josh Zee on guitar and Trinidad Leal on drums. Gonna be awesome all over again. No gig at Speakeasy, due to mis-communication we have next 2 Wednesdays there off, they thought we'd be out of town but weren't due to Air India Pilot strike. Well shit. If I didn't have the TRS check I would be very worried about losing 2 money gigs b4 going out of town.
Thursday:
Recording session with Stan has been moved to Friday, so probably ETB jam instead. Then maybe go downtown with Triniti and see what kinda trouble we can get into.
Friday:
Rescheduled session with Stanley. Then pack up rig to load in at Friends 6:30pm. Early set with ETB 7:30-11pm.
Saturday:
ETB plays Hardtails, a biker bar in Georgetown TX. Sounds pretty awesome.
Sunday:
12-3pm ETB jam scheduled. Probably have a going-away brunch here at House of DDT.
So yeah. And in between I need to spend time with my lady, my family coming up next wknd for lunch since I have ZERO time to head down to Corpus Christi. Restock toiletries for the road. Buy strings, buy tubes, pay bills, refill asthma med prescrip.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
I have not been keeping up with this Blog very well, and I apologize to my 8 loyal readers!
Last night played the Pitter Pat Gathering, a big backyard party out past the Y in Oak Hill. Was awesome! Like the entire crowd that hangs out behind the Continental Club all in one spot. The owners had recently built a proper stage, which was really good. Did 3 songs on bass with Tinpot Messiah, Tim Abbott from the Figurado's solo band. Last minute deal, as I was supposed to be flying to India for an ETB tour yesterday, but will get to that. Good people, good food and great music. John Smith and The Drakes really brought it. Awesome awesome awesome.
As for the Samsung Sidekick 4G promo:
ETB came from behind to take 3rd in the online voting portion. We'd like to thank our fans and the Samsung people who were all super cool and very helpful in the 2 phone giveaway shows we did during that time period, one at the Dirty Dog and another for a Red Cross benefit for Alabama tornado victims. But Samsung is feeling generous with all the promo that the band in turn gave the new Sidekick and seems that tho we lost to Jake Miller they want to hand out some concillation prizes for the other bands. Cool, will see what's up on Tuesday I believe.
The winner Fred with us at Molotov for the Red Cross benefit, photo by Triniti Young
So yeah, lot going on.
The ETB India tour has been postponed til September or so, as there was a massive Air India pilot strike which was grounding most international and regional flights for an indeterminate amount of time. Meaning that we could probably get INTO the country, but then we'd be flying from city-to-city for gigs, meaning chance of getting stranded somewhere were more than 100%. That and the death of Bin Laden made for a hairy time to be travelling abroad... so not the end of the world, we now have 3 more months to add more dates and reschedule/promote the ones we had. Sweet.
In gear news, I now have 2 fully functioning bass rigs. First time in a long time. And actually have played them both a few times, sounds like GOD. The SVT running the Mergilli Dietz replica 2x15, and the Fender TB-600 running my new Emi-loaded Dietz 2x15. TONE!
Still hammering out the details of my solo label deal. Have literally been too busy to really focus on that and get everything finalized. But I am off thru Wednesday, so that and mowing the lawn are on my to-do list.
Last night played the Pitter Pat Gathering, a big backyard party out past the Y in Oak Hill. Was awesome! Like the entire crowd that hangs out behind the Continental Club all in one spot. The owners had recently built a proper stage, which was really good. Did 3 songs on bass with Tinpot Messiah, Tim Abbott from the Figurado's solo band. Last minute deal, as I was supposed to be flying to India for an ETB tour yesterday, but will get to that. Good people, good food and great music. John Smith and The Drakes really brought it. Awesome awesome awesome.
As for the Samsung Sidekick 4G promo:
ETB came from behind to take 3rd in the online voting portion. We'd like to thank our fans and the Samsung people who were all super cool and very helpful in the 2 phone giveaway shows we did during that time period, one at the Dirty Dog and another for a Red Cross benefit for Alabama tornado victims. But Samsung is feeling generous with all the promo that the band in turn gave the new Sidekick and seems that tho we lost to Jake Miller they want to hand out some concillation prizes for the other bands. Cool, will see what's up on Tuesday I believe.
The winner Fred with us at Molotov for the Red Cross benefit, photo by Triniti Young
So yeah, lot going on.
The ETB India tour has been postponed til September or so, as there was a massive Air India pilot strike which was grounding most international and regional flights for an indeterminate amount of time. Meaning that we could probably get INTO the country, but then we'd be flying from city-to-city for gigs, meaning chance of getting stranded somewhere were more than 100%. That and the death of Bin Laden made for a hairy time to be travelling abroad... so not the end of the world, we now have 3 more months to add more dates and reschedule/promote the ones we had. Sweet.
In gear news, I now have 2 fully functioning bass rigs. First time in a long time. And actually have played them both a few times, sounds like GOD. The SVT running the Mergilli Dietz replica 2x15, and the Fender TB-600 running my new Emi-loaded Dietz 2x15. TONE!
Still hammering out the details of my solo label deal. Have literally been too busy to really focus on that and get everything finalized. But I am off thru Wednesday, so that and mowing the lawn are on my to-do list.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)