Still Flyin' + The Calorifer Is Very Hot!
IT Ecco un altro regalo rigorosamente fatto in casa. Bastano un paio di microfoni panoramici, tanto vino e una ventina di musicisti da tutto il mondo stretti tra la cucina e le scale con i più improbabili strumenti in mano. La più classica delle jam, o meglio una felice joint venture. Semplici melodie. Racconti di vacanze al mare. La prima fidanzatina spagnola. Le baie della California. La luce fioca della primavera svedese. Il tramonto sull'oceano in Australia. I messicani buoni e il messicano davvero buono. La storia della nebbia padana questa volta fingiamo di non ricordarcela, ma gli Still Flyin' ci stanno dentro a meraviglia. Portarli in tour in Italia è stato come avverare un sogno.
E poi, tra il tuono di uno space echo e le prove piene di risate e stupore, ci incantiamo su One Fell Swoop di Chris Knox. Suona come la bonus track ideale per questi giorni fantastici.
EN Here's another homemade gift. All we need is just a couple of microphones, a lot of wine and a dozen of musicians from around the world caught between the kitchen and the stairs with the most different instruments in their hands. You can call it a classic jam, or rather a successful joint venture. Simple melodies. Tales of holidays. The first Spanish girlfriend. The bays of California. The dim light of spring in Sweden. The sunset over the ocean in Australia. Nice Mexicans and a very good mexican. We pretend not to remember that joke about the fog in Emilia but Still Flyin' suit the situation perfectly. Bringing them on tour in Italy was like a dream for us.
And then, between the thunder of a space echo and rehearsals full of laughters and amazement, we enchant ourselves on One Fell Swoop by Chris Knox. Sounds like the ideal bonus track for those lovely days.
Flying smile in a hot hot summer EP by wwnbbcollective
Posted by: Nic (from The Calorifer Is Very Hot!)
MONDAY, MAY 3, 2010
2010 SXSW Retrospective
Posted by: Shark
MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
Gabe's Euro Tour Diary
Hej Hej,
It's Gabe. The lord of the big. The man in charge of being oh so large. Apparently I was on tour in Europe a month or two ago. I seem to recall something like that happening but details are hazy. Well, I've been assigned the 4th week and I have Bren's photos here to help jog my memory, so let's just dive in, shall we?
Monday, February 22nd
It was a short drive to Milano today so we were all happy to sleep in a bit. One of the awesomest and most dangerous things about Samu's house is that every window is outfitted with these rad wooden shutters which completely block any light from entering the room while you sleep. So if you're as sleep deprived as we were after 3 weeks of tour, and you decide not to set an alarm before your drive to Milano, you're probably not gonna be getting into town early enough to check out the sights.
We arrived at the venue at about 8pm, to find that this would be our first Italian show not to provide an incredible 4 course meal. I think we even had to haggle for a drink ticket! It felt like I was in the UK. Left to our own devices, we wandered the streets looking for a quick bite before the show. I'd pretty much had enough Italian food for the rest of the year at that point, so I settled on a little Chinese. A couple other dudes joined me, and though we were all initially wary, it turned out to be pretty good. The crowd was decent for a Monday night and the bartender ended up liking us enough to toss a couple more freebie drinks our way. Score! I probably had more than I should have, and ended up taking my second dance floor spill of the tour. Ouch!! Some weird perv even taught me how to say "Hey, nice penis" in Italian, for some reason. Plus, Samuele's band, The Calorifer is Very Hot, played right before us, and they were fun, fun, fun. Oh what a night, late February, back in 2010!
Tuesday, February 23rd
We were all a little excited/apprehensive about our show in Pregnaziol tonight. All we knew is that we'd be playing on a commune there for their monthly feast. We were additionally concerned to hear that our trusty GPS would not be able to get us there, as they had just built their first highway through the town, so the new roads had yet to be mapped. We drove as far as we could, then gave up and called for a member of the commune to pick us up and lead us to the concert. For a second, I was reminded of the Juggalo gathering, but I quickly realized this was going to be a vastly different sort of affair.
It turns out the commune was the property of a 75 year old man, who initially built it as a senior citizen's home, but after not receiving too much interest from elderly Italians wanting to live on a farm, opened it up to students from nearby Venice, looking for a shot at the Simple Life. The farm had lots of adorable chickens and guinea pigs, even a peacock, though we learned that their primary output was bread. The first few courses were vegan, but for the main we were fed a delicious bowl of curry chicken, and I tried not to think about where they got the meat.
The show itself was tons of fun, there was lots of dancing and drinking shots of strange Italian liquors while we played. I wish I knew hippies like this in the US! It turns out the residents all played in an awesome band together, and had a lot of connections to music friends of mine in San Diego. It's a small world after all.
I put some clothes in the washer that night and left it in front of a space heater to dry.
Wednesday , February 24th
I was awakened to the sound of the elderly man who owns the commune chopping wood to place in his oven so my clothing could dry in front of it instead. Awesome dude!! It definitely dried much faster that way. Unfortunately, I placed a pair of socks a little too close to the stovetop. I had breakfast and returned to find them on fire and their tips melted into a tar-like goo. Sick. I scraped them off the stove, put the rest of my semi-damp clothes away and it was on to Croatia!!!
Croatia is not part of the EU so we were expecting to get a little hassle at the border. We even went to the trouble of getting an official letter from the government saying that we were welcome to perform in Zagreb that night! Totally seems nuts but we still got hassled. First we had to drive through Slovenia, and were pulled aside at the border for secondary inspection. The border guard (who didn't seem to speak English) was awesome. As soon as he saw Bren's bongoes on top of the pile, he just banged out a quick drum solo and waved us through.
Once out of Slovenia, we had another dose of border hijinx as we were dealing with a real comedian. When we told him the name of the band, he looked down at our paperwork for a second and responded, "Well, you're not flying anymore, are you?". It was off to secondary inspection for us. The guard poked around a bit, but quickly let us know that "The show must go on", and we were on our way to Zagreb!
Croatia was engaged in a bloody war with Serbia about 20 years ago, and they've got the craters to prove it! Luckily, a great deal of beautiful buildings survived, and not the least of which are the many Mexican restaurants to be found there. I must admit, I'd pretty much given up on finding the food of my people in any decent form in Europe. Turns out I just had to leave the EU! After many excited attempts, only to find overpriced sub Taco Bell garbage, I'm surprised I took the chance at all. Luckily, I did though, and it paid off with a surprisingly delicious carne asada chimichanga!
We were also treated to a little theatre! There was a play being performed in another room of the venue, and we were invited to watch before our show. Glad I took them up on the offer. Weeeeiiiirrrrddddd stuff. It was kind of like watching "the time on Sprockets, when we dance" only instead of fading out quickly, it went on for about an hour and was set to the music of Joe Meek's " I Hear a New World". Disturbingly awesome. After that, we played a fun set and I was stoked to see some of the performers in the audience. Unfortunately, they weren't doing any of their Sprockets dancing. :(
Wyatt, the band's comedian, has a habit of asking strangers to tell him a joke. The promoter for our show was a super serious dude named Kornel. After the show, he offered to take us to a bar for one last drink before bed. When Wyatt asked for his favorite joke, Kornel shot back with, "Well, I asked you out for a drink, didn't I?". It was really funny at the time, but I can't remember why now. Let's go to Austria!!
Thursday, February 25th
The first thing you'll notice about Austria is how it might as well be Germany. Everyone speaks German, and walking into the gas station convenience store I found most of the same items, bratwurst, shnitzel, and even that weird ham loaf with the cheese in it.
Arriving at our venue for the Salzburg show, we actually learned the major difference. People in Austria have mad cash. The venue was really fancy and we were treated to all the fancy food, drink and money we could eat. During dinner, Sean asked the promoter what the difference was between Austrian and German food. His reply: "I wouldn't feed German food to my dog." Harsh. He went so far as to claim that, before the European Union, it was actually illegal to do so, due to the low quality ingredients Germans use. Sorry we asked. After eating the halfway decent shnitzel served at the restaurant in the venue, we hit the stage and I proceeded to blow the room away with my awesome musicianship. Then, I went to sleep, I guess.
The next morning, someone was taking too long coming down to the hotel lobby, so I decided to check my email on the concierge's computer. For some reason this was really funny to everyone, so I included the gag shot for your amusement.
Friday, February 26th
Today we played in Aflenze, a small resort town that was home to Klause, the man who booked a lot of our shows. Aflenze is a very small town and most of it was covered in a thick bed of snow, so we weren't expecting much of a crowd. It actually turned out okay, though I'm not sure the audience really enjoyed us as much as the DJ who played mainstreamish indie rock for about 6 hours after us. It was actually Klause, and he drunkenly played most of the same Pixies and Flaming Lips songs over and over again, while still finding the time to throw in a little, I shit you not, "Mmm Bop" by Hanson!!! People seriously went apeshit!! Apparently, he played it once a couple of years ago as a joke, and hasn't had a DJ gig since where it wasn't requested of him. Maybe it's time to reevaluate those guys. Klause is an awesome dude, though, AND he was very generous with the free shots of whiskey all night.
At some point, I stumbled back to the hotel and managed to find my room for some much needed shuteye. A couple of my bandmates (I won't name names) weren't so lucky. At about 6 AM, I was awoken by the sound of #1 pounding on the window of his room, a few doors down from mine. He wasn't getting an answer, as his roomate, #2, had gotten lost on the way back to the hotel. I later regretted it, but I ended up letting a drunk and screaming #1 in from the snowy cold to my room, where he fell on his face and then proceeded to curse #2 at the top of his lungs. He then left my room, minus a shoe, and apparently was able to get into Licky's room where he passed out on the couch. #2 came in looking for him a half hour later and shattered a bottle of vodka on the ground before passing out himself.
I remember my first beer. It was exactly like that.
Ever the heavy sleeper, I had to tell my roomate, Yoshi, all about it the next morning. I also had to tell #1 and #2 about it when I handed #1 his wallet that the concierge had found in the street that morning. Mmm Bop.
Saturday, February 27th
At some point on the drive to Leipzig, I noticed that the zipper on my pants had given out. Being as they were my last clean pair, I knew the first thing I'd have to do in Leipzig was find a laundromat. Luckily, I got to have a little fun before that, because as I was asking the promoter about the nearest laundromat, my dick totally popped out of my fly! I had nothing to be embarassed of, of course, but it was still pretty funny. I suppose that's what I get for buying the used slacks of men who died in the 70's. Luckily, he didn't notice (HOW COULD HE HAVE MISSED IT?), and I was able to finish my laundry in time for a springtime clean set of dancey white reggae. After that, more sleep…
Sunday, February 28th
A short drive and we arrived in Hamburg, my favorite town in Germany. We got to play with our old pals, Tripping the Light Fantastic, and stayed in a band apartment right on the Reeperbahn. The show tonight was at Prinzenbar, a beautiful room with a classy gothic style that made you feel like you were in an old Adam & The Ants video. After dinner, (where Wyatt grossed me out by eating snails), I headed back to the club to hang out with TTLF. They were chillin' in a coat check room, as the club had rented out our dressing room to the crew for Dead by Sunrise, the singer from Linkin Park's new band which was apparently playing at the club next door. No matter, as the coat room was generously stocked with all the booze and snacks we could want. The club forbid us from entering the dressing room, but according to Yoshi, that didn't stop one of Dead by Sunrise's groupie's from gaffling one of our beers when we weren't looking. A firm believer in a head for an eye, I snagged a case of waters from their trailer as they were packing up.
The show itself was a lot of fun, and afterwards TTLF took us out for a drink at their favorite twee-pop dive. They actually played an entire Smittens album while we were there! Most of us stayed up for several hours there, and it wasn't until we got back to our room that we realized none of us had a key to enter the building! I took the opportunity to have what was, unfortunately, my only German frankfurter of the tour at a 24 hour stand, while Sean and Yosh frantically texted and screamed for someone to let us in from the cold-ass-cold night.
And then, Bren started memorizing what happened.
Posted by: Gabe
MONDAY, APRIL 5, 2010
Hey Europe. Thanks.
Recently back from an amazing five week euro tour. That thang flipped the script like an intergalactic wishing stone. We played tons of amazing places and met the most righteous folks. We drove through snow, rain, give way signs, and wind as fierce as the America's Cup. Most importantly, the shows seemed to go really well. That's all that we could have wished for. Anyway, here's a small list of people that we couldn't have done it without. Kudos.
London: Alice/Kristine/Rebecca
Leeeeeds: Barry(milk white white teeth)/Adam/Birgitte/Rachel/Go Johnny Go
Glasgow: Gregor/Tracyanne/Tim
Hull: Izzy/Paul/Sarah
Paris: Josh/Catherine/Nicola/Julien Francois
Basel: Donat/Sandro
Genova: Mattias/Immanuel
Cesinatico: Piero
Ferarra: Nicola/Nani/Violeta
Carpi: Club Matatoyo(for all the travelers)
Milan: Calorifer is very hot hot hot
Venice: Soren/Alberto
Zagreb: Kornel
Salzburg: Herman/Gunther/Markus
Aflenze: Klause
Liepzig: Markus/Markus/Rene
Hamburg: Henry/Tripping the Light Fantastic
Goteburg: Christian/Ake/Agnes/the LIA crew
Stockholm: the dude who stocked our brews/kalle
Malmo: Anna
Berlin: Anna/Laura
Also, a couple of people went above the mark of Still Flyin' Hamm Five. Tasty kudos.
Ulitmate Bro for Life: Samuelle
Ride share/life jamms/merch help: Josephine
Stay tuned for a report from SXSW. Still Flyin' jamms Austin to the bone.
Life.
Posted by: Thrill
MONDAY, MARCH 29, 2010
Viva Italia!
Hello, SF blog readers! This is Licky, signing in better late than never, to reminisce about what was certainly a great week in our Europe tour – our trip to Italy! May I preface this tale with these words… Italy is an amazing country to tour. The crowds were great and the clubs treated us kindly and fed us amazingly well. I apologize in advance for the multiple descriptions of meals that are forthcoming but… THIS WAS THE BEST WEEK OF EATING OF MY ENTIRE LIFE! Well, I’m getting ahead of myself… When we last left our heroes (i.e. us dudes), we had survived hangovers and an all-day drive through the stunning Swiss Alps and embarked upon our first dinner in Italy. Afterwards, we continued our drive into the dark countryside outside Bologna. After a little confusion, we found the house belonging to our awesome host, Samuele Palazzi of the Calorifer is Very Hot!
Let me take a moment to pay tribute to Samuele… This is a man who wears many hats: booking agent, musician, host, cook, tour guide, mail man, mega hammjammer, and friend for life. According to Brendude, he is also the handsomest man in Italy. Samuele booked our Italian shows, let the 8 of us crash his house for the better part of 9 days, left us breakfast food every morning, cooked for us, and let us raid his refrigerator… Then, he’d fuss at me to stop when he caught me washing a few dishes! This man’s generosity knows no bounds. Cheers to you, Samuele! (Here’s a shot of Samuele jamming the double bass, with Wyatt and Nicola from Calorifer, courtesy of Bren).
A mythical man needs to live in a mythical lair… And such is the house of Samuele. A beautiful two-story house with marble floors and stairs… A terrace for smoking and watching the sun rise… (Sometimes we saw it rise on the way to bed)… A huge kitchen and a bunch of rooms for sleeping and lounging. Also, Samuele’s neighbors own goats and make wine, which they generously shared with us. This is a Barbie Dream House for touring bands.
So… we were in a state of exhaustion and happy disbelief when we disembarked at Samuele’s country manor. We settled in and met our host late-night when he came in from a gig. Many hours of sleep followed, at least for me, who slept in a no-snore zone.
Monday, February 15
Ahhhh… today was the first non-traveling day of our 4 day mini-break from playing shows. Accordingly, I slept for 9 hours, pigged out on the baked goods that Samuele left for us, and then jammed a 2 hour nap. Shit felt good!! Thrill woke me up when it was time to do our only ”work duty” of the break, which was playing on the air at an indie radio station in Bologna. However, first things first! This is Italy, my friends, so our radio interview and show were briefly delayed so that the band could walk around Bologna and enjoy a delicious dinner. Brendude and I had the same meal – gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce. Wyatt, at my left, had a tasty-looking carnivorous lasagna and Marky, to my right, had a yummy but bizarrely named pasta – “priest stranglers”! Afterwards, we hurried to the station to play on the show “Thermos”. We were packed into a tiny studio – Yosh couldn’t use all his drum kit and I was playing keys while sitting at a table… odd but really fun. The dudes at the studio were super nice. Sean, Bren, and Phil did a brief interview and we jammed some brews and played songs including “All Lips Touch”, “Forever Dudes”, and “Rope Burn”. (Photos courtesy of Bren).
Tuesday, February 16
We spent a lazy morning breakfasting at Samuele’s and, in a controversial band decision, lunched at Hello Kitty Pizza… a restaurant that Samuele later declared had the worst pizza in town. Who could have guessed? Yoshi, Bren, Wy-Wy, and I then made a trek to the historic city of Modena. It’s a beautiful city, and we took the time to explore a historic church and walk around the city squares. From Modena, we met up with Wyatt’s wife, Josephine, who is a lady dear to my heart. Josephine joined us for the rest of our tour of Italy! Love my forever dudes, but I was psyched to have another girl around.
Back at Samuele’s, the Calorifer is Very Hot! was busy at work composing and recording a new song featuring most of the Still Flyin’ crew. Samuele made a delicious pasta for dinner and what must have been gallons of sparkling red wine were flowing. Everyone contributed some drunken “Oh oh oh oh!”’s to the recording. Can’t wait to hear the completed song!
Wednesday, February 17
Our final day of vacation was spent in the romantic city of Venice. Most of the band (sans Gabe and Thrill, who desired a little extra chill down at home) made the 2-3 hour car trip and boat ride to get into the city. Venice was pretty magical. Aging brick and stone buildings and bridges, canals and gondolas, narrow alleyways, and clusters of fluttering pigeons… The city is like another world and in Sean’s words, a good place to run into a vampire. We tried to escape the overly touristy parts of the city and found some quieter city squares and residential areas. Beautiful city! I can’t adequately put it in words, so enjoy some pictures…
Thursday, February 18
On with the tour! Our first show in Italy was in the historic city of Genova at Teatro Della Tosse. Our really lovely promoter Matteo met us and took us out for focaccia (mine was smothered with Nutella and M&Ms, of course) and a walk around the city, including a trip to the striking black and white Cathedral of Genova. After sound check, Matteo and some friends took us for an amazing 4-course meal at Da Maria. My dinner included: pasta with pesto (a Genovan specialty), stuffed peppers, stuffed sardines, and tiramisu made with rum instead of coffee. And plenty of red wine. Um, amazing! Stuffed to the gills, Still Flyin’ ventured back to the club and… ohhhh ughhhh… tackled the only real hardship that comes with playing shows in Italy… which is playing a mega-jammin’, mega-dancin’ show while your body is in a food coma. Man, what a tough week. Anyway, we overcame adversity and delivered a good show to a surprisingly large and jammin’ crowd! We were called for at least one encore – maybe 2? Some classics including “Bird Is Aware” and “Never Gonna Touch the Ground” were busted out. After the show and a few more brews, Matteo (on his motorbike) led our van up winding mountain roads to our hostel. (See the rainy view from our hall window.) We had a bunk bed jam… which mostly consisted of hours of zzzzz’s.
Friday, February 19
Upon leaving our hostel, Matteo met us at the door and delivered some breakfast focaccia. (Could this dude rule a little more?) We then made the drive to our next city, the seaside city of Cesenatico. Adventurous members of the band explored the city’s harbor and fish market while, erm, I jammed a nap on a couch at our club/gourmet restaurant, Retro Pop. After sound check, Retro Pop treated us to a 4-course dinner so fantastic that I TOOK NOTES ON WHAT I WAS EATING. I will make a bold move and venture that this was one of the best meals of the whole tour and perhaps of my entire life. Peep my menu: salmon carpaccio, strozzapreti (the notorious “priest strangler” pasta) with shrimp and zucchini, white fish with tomatoes, potatoes, and frisee salad, and ice cream with brandy and caramel sauce. Heavenly! Pescetarians rule in Cesenatico!
So, after this amazing meal, we watched our opening act – a team of BMX bikers! Space was cleared in the club and several bikers performed tricks, which mostly consisted of hopping around on their rear tire. One trick involved a biker hopping towards a seated woman and planting the front tire between her legs. (Hot! Am I right, ladies?) A lot of the tricks bordered between impressive and laughable… The bizarreness continued. Between songs in our set, an elderly Italian gent approached us, began speaking loudly (si, in Italian), and handed me a 50 Euro bill! He seemed enthusiastic about the music but it’s hard to say for sure, as he didn’t speak English. Quite stunned, I left the bill on the keyboard and we finished the set. Anyway, the money went to the band, so I guess we should thank our patron! But I’m slightly afraid that someone in Cesenatico owns a piece of me…
The closing act of the night was a fashion show with models strutting down a catwalk! I was busy hiding from our Italian patron, so I missed most of this. Afterwards, the club turned into a dance party! Bren, Thrill, Gabe, and I kept the late night dance fires burning.
Saturday, February 20
Our mornings were spent doing laundry, strolling around the city, and having yet another pizza lunch. We then made the trip to Carpi, a city with an incredibly beautiful Renaissance piazza. I also saw a memorial for Jews killed during the Holocaust. Later, I read that Carpi was a large center of the Resistance during WWII. The day was drizzly and cold, and not great for sight-seeing. A group nap jam took place in the van whilst Josephine, Wyatt, Marky, and I decided to start our brew groove and Internet jam at a café. My Irish coffee was perfect for a cold afternoon. Here are my drinking buddies and a shot of the town:
A delicious pizza, pasta, and risotto (for me) dinner was had before our show at Club Mattatoio. Our promoter actually walked us to the restaurant and then disappeared… We were initially unsure about whether our meal was actually being paid for… We decided to just go to town and order whatever we wanted, a risk that paid off in the form of lots of red, red wine. Our bartenders at Mattatoio gave us pretty free range of the bar as well and we played a fun, drunken show. Our crowd was not prone to dancing, but SA offered up space on the stage to any brave souls. One major highlight of the show was the breakdown on “Rope Burn” during which Thrill and one tipsy young lady from the crowd silently danced together on-stage… Hilarious! Another big dance party broke out after the show. One energetic Still Flyin’ member took an impressive spill at the dance, but I can’t name names. Other members swapped shots at the bar. The late night drive back to Samuele’s was… the craziest van jam I have ever encountered. Everyone was dancing and partying. I’m pretty sure Bren was on the ceiling at some point. Our brave and sober driver Phil braked in a lot at some point so that he could dance as well! Ahhh, good times! In the aftermath, some puking ensued. One poor dude barfed as soon as the van door opened at Samuele’s! Just the price you pay for mega jammin’…
Sunday, February 21
Ohhhh, my head. We had a slow morning of recovery before setting off to Ferrara with our host Samuele. A delicious spread of snackers awaited us at the cute and friendly Zuni Club, where Nicola (from the Calorifer is Very Hot!) presided as our generous bartender and cook. Before the show, Samuele took us on a walk around Ferrara where we visited a castle, the oldest wine shop in Italy (dating back to 1453) and an amazing open-air market. (I loved the marzipan fruits and the free hot chocolate I was able to score – again, note the generosity of Italians!) The show at Zuni was very well-attended and great fun. Sean strolled into the bathroom adjacent the stage during “Hott Chord”, just for the hell of it. I somehow wound up with grease from my mic on my hands, the keys, and my face over the course of the show… Jammin’s not always pretty. We were treated to a delicious vegetarian meal, including curried pasta and potatoes, after the show. Gabe and Sean snuggled on a couch together before we made another late night drive to Samuele’s….
This is where my memory leaves off! Take it away, Gabe!
Posted by: Licky
MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
Still Flyin's European Vacation
Monday February 8th
In his final day's post, Sean did neglect to mention that, since we only booked six beds for the eight of us, there was the small matter of sneaking two of us into the hotel; a tradition as old as music itself. So, having drawn the proverbial short straw, Wyatt and I hung out in the van while a plan was hatched by our cunning bandmates, already checked-in to the hotel. An elaborately confusing scheme involving a back door, a muddy field, and much standing around was put into action by our nimble-minded counterpart Big Lord.
However, as 2am neared, and, with all kinds of holes appearing in the plan (and now also locked out of the van, and getting rather frosty), Wyatt and I were beginning to make alternate accommodation plans for the night. These plans included (but were not limited to) a skip bin, old newspapers, a pile of wet thistles and a can-do attitude. Outside the van we lingered, enjoying the bonny Scottish midwinter evening, when finally a text message was received and the Big Lord was back on track. Soon enough we had once again stumbled through the slough and were through the backdoor by the tennis court, right by the security cameras, and inside to watch the Saints giving it to the Colts! Warm and dry at last. WHO DAT, indeed. Just glad the bellhop didn't show up at our door asking that.
In the morning, we sheepishly evacuated our rooms and wasted no time getting the hell out of wherever the hell we were. Our next stop was breakfast. Somewhere picturesque if possible. A sleepy seaside town. Somewhere with a post office nearby perhaps. And a quaint tea room that serves Cullen Skink. No problem Still Flyin' — here's one right now!
As you've noticed, it's only lunchtime and already this Monday is more stacked-arse-stacked than most others… Well strap on in friend, and read on…
Our next order of business was to pick up Bren's bag, our one casualty from the Leeds blow-out thunderdump. Traffic was slow as we pulled into town. After a long day behind the wheel, Wyatt dawdled the van into the Brudenell Social Club carpark, happy to see our gracious host Adam toting Bren's sorry bag of neglect. We cheered him a(nother) fond farewell, and swung out of the dirt-strewn cul-de-sac, Warren G and Nate Dogg regulatin' at top volume! Feeling perky, it was time to bust it to Hull for an Open Mic freakfest... All of a sudden as we wove through the Leeds backstreets, the van screeched into an intersection; with a slam of the brakes and a loud crash and an even louder "FAAARK!!!", the front fender of our beloved Mercedes van was drastically reshaped, along with the driver's side of the sporty little coupe that we slammed into. The Insurance deductible quickly disappeared along with Wyatt's clean driving record. Luckily no-one was hurt. Wyatt did however inform us that whilst at the police station, the cops told him they could think of better places to visit than Hull. Awesome. Onwards to Hull then!
Just when you're thinking this Monday couldn't get any more balls-out balls-to-the-wall, upon rolling our sorry jalopy in to Hull town, we had our increasingly unlucky path crossed by a spectacular foot chase featuring a couple of Hull bobbies and eight or so Hull hooligans. From our vantage point, it seemed like the cops had apprehended one guy when the dude's hooligan pals all leapt onto the cops and started giving it to them, Hull-hooligan style. While we sat stupefied, half-a-dozen extra cop cars arrived on the scene and got started on restoring some order in Hull.
At last we made it to the legendary Adelphi, and rocked a solid blinder that was, I'd like to think, on par with the rest of the Open Mic acts. A fun night all 'round, hanging out with our new friends The Rocky Nest. I think I can safely say we really gave Hull a good crack.
Tuesday February 9th
After the largest Full English Breakfast that any of us had ever seen, we reconvened at the local Hull pawnbroker's to stack up on DVDs to watch in the van. Here's a list of the DVDs we stacked up on, in no particular order:
All's Fair
The Search for One-Eye Jimmy
The Goonies
One Man Force
The Howling 6
Three Kings
Combat Academy
Memory Run
Two Hands
David Blaine Showman
Ali G Indahouse
Plus this awesome box set that we spotted as we were about to leave:
"Rewind to the 80s Collection"
Footloose
The Naked Gun
Beverly Hills Cop
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Trading Places
Flashdance
Airplane!
"Crocodile" Dundee
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Pretty in Pink
Tonight's show in Preston had been cancelled (after never really being booked), so we decided to load up some Naked Gun and head back to London. Although I really really really like to avoid London, three things appealed to me with this plan: getting to hang out with our buddy Alice again, getting to sleep on Alice's floor again, and thirdly, the chance to see Slow Club play at the Garage. Their show was refreshingly loose and refreshingly ace. Afterwards, Sean and Phil and I jammed a few brews with them and the Moshi Moshi dudes at the Buffalo Bar; a fun night-off was had, and yes, I admit I was once again proven wrong about London.
Wednesday February 10th
This day started out identically to how most of my past few visits to London have started out. Breakfast at Cafe Z Bar in Stoke Newington while my dirty laundry receives a fluff 'n' fold at the nearby laundromat. Stoke Newington is my old stomping ground from when I lived in London a few years back, so it makes me happy that my bandmates all love the baked Turkish eggs at Cafe Z Bar.
Somehow though, leaving London always takes a stupidly long time. Maybe it was a sign that we shouldn't go to Southampton. On the surface, Southampton seems cool, but I think it may actually be kinda shitty. Tonight's show wasn't great. The audience was mostly made up of members of the three other bands, and to make matters worse, our tiny backstage room took on a particularly nasty odour. As I only had 93 pence to my name, for dinner I ate a quarter of Phil's felafel which also was shitty.
As usual, no accommodation was organised, so we figured we'd just drive and try our luck again with Britain's warm and generous hoteliers. We had a 10am check-in time at the Dover ferry terminal, and as the drive wore on, it became more likely we'd skip the hotel search and just try and get on an earlier ferry. As luck would have it, at around 1am, we hit a seriously wild blizzard. I was driving and Sean was riding shotgun, doing his best to guide me through my first ever snowstorm. It was total mayhem, like trying to drive through a wall of fairy floss while someone shoots bottle after bottle of champagne in your face. This lasted around 90 minutes. Our speed on the freeway was now less than 60km/h, and sometimes as slow as walking pace. Without having any sense of what was more than a couple of metres in front of us, I was mostly just concentrating on not letting the van slide around too much. Bringing it down the hill into the ferry terminal was a real test on the ol' brain-domer but we made it, by jingos, we made it! Chalk it up: Still Flyin' 1 — Mo' Natch zip.
Thursday February 11th
Luckily, we managed to wrangle our way onto the snow-delayed 3:30am ferry, and it was off across the Channel again. We wasted no time claiming some quality couches to recline upon and steal a couple of hours' kip while the vessel battled some high seas. Then, somehow Wyatt got us from Calais to Rotterdam. I'm not sure how he did it, but I'm glad he did. Once there, we managed to check-in early to our hotel rooms and string together a few more hours of sleep. Sean and I took a walk and got some dodgy felafel and frites. Lacklustre as they were, I was just stoked to be back on the Continent. The show was in a nice gastro-pub called Rotown, and because they fed us delicious food we jammed it extra hard! The Dutch understand the simple equations.
Friday February 12th
A good old fashioned gorge-a-thon buffet breakfast at our hotel kicked off the day. I loaded up on at least six different types of bread to squeeze my Vegemite tube onto. Arriving four minutes late for lobby call, Licky was the first to fall victim to Sean's newly-implemented late-arrival payment docking law — €50, ouch! A Dockees Union was quickly established, and within days, following what appeared to be an outright protest from a few of the more dilatory members of the band, the new docking system was unceremoniously put out to pasture. We can laugh about it now, but this was a dark period that threatened to undermine the whole carefree philosophy behind HAMMJAMM. Thankfully, sanity has prevailed, and once again, no-one gives two shits if they're late for a lobby call.
Groundskeeper Sharky had, prior to the tour, come up with a cool plan to send two video cameras along with the band to capture footage for an innovative rockumentary. Unfortunately, the cameras arrived late at Sean's place, and upon route back to the Shark, were stolen by postal workers. So, here we were on Friday afternoon in Paris, dodging doggy doo on the footpath, looking for a shop that sells video cameras. Alas, no baguette, and we're left to documenting our rad time on this here humble blog.
Tonight was good fun. After soundchecking at La Fleche d'Or which is a nice venue in an old train station, we proceeded to drink a lot of wine in the backstage mezzanine. Sufficiently sauced, I got on with writing a press release for the new Still Flyin' single "Runaway Train II" for Lost And Lonesome. I like to think the press release has a crisp bouquet and unmistakable fruity overtones. After the show, Licky, Sean, Bren, Wyatt and I grabbed some Heinekens and Leffes and jammed a delightful mini-soirée with Thrill's old pals Josh and Catherine.
Saturday February 13th
Tipped off by Josh, who's soon to open a restaurant in Paris, Bren and I took a stroll this morning amongst the lazily trickling Parisian snowflakes, in search of some vegan "croissant ordinaires, sans-beurre". The girl at the patisserie seemed to grasp what we were on about, so we stocked up, and soon began devouring our cherished booty. Sure enough though, our croissants were a little too delicious and particularly buttersome, so I handballed mine over to Thrilla, always happy to find a home for some discarded food scraps. Licky meanwhile ate two croissants and two pain au chocolats, and felt like a French fondue set for the rest of the day.
Off we rolled to Basel, Switzerland, and a show with the Raveonettes at a venue called Kaserne which is housed in an old military barracks. In the downstairs area of the backstage, there are some sweet-arse preserved ancient walls from when it was a horse stables. I imagine some jousting activity would have taken place down there back in the day. A pretty cool venue, and well decked out with a massive rider. As well as a stack of beer and wine, we got stuck into some Irish whisky and a bottle of tequila. After feeding us some local Thai food, we were then shown to the bandroom which had a table smothered with fruit, chips, and pistachios. These dudes understand the equation too, and thus, we jammed it way beyond the bone, winning over all the Raveonettes fans, except for one hardened young lady who I presume had an artificial derriere as well as a terminal heart condition and a general sour disposition.
All kinds of hamming and jamming ensued after the show. Thrill was mixing up some classic metal and yacht in the bandroom, and in the midst of a wild dance party, some orange towels were converted into capes and various headgear. Some interesting conversations took place with the Raveonettes' crew who were jonesing for something harder than tequila and orange towels. Their soundguy was dressed like a motorcycle cop, complete with tight leather pants, and looking generally quite hilarious. In the meantime we became good friends with a fella from the venue named Donat (sounds very much like "donut") who was having a good time partying with us, whilst somehow still getting his work done. At one point, he helped us carry Sean, seated in a throne-like armchair, up the stairs into the venue's dance party for the most awesomely obnoxious crowd surf ever.
Sunday February 14th
After the daily vitamin B double-dose of Vegemite and Berocca, we loaded out of Kaserne and bid Donat a fond adieu. We look forward to seeing him again, and if he makes good on his promise to move to San Francisco, that may well happen for most of the band. En route out of Switzerland, we popped by the postcard town of Luzern and looked for something edible within a touring band's price range. This was a good challenge, as it meant we got to see almost the entire town in the process.
Fed up with cobbled lanes and castles, and also — eventually — fed up on various affordable baked goods, we hit the road for Italy, excited at the thought of a few nights off in a farmhouse somewhere in the north. Pretty soon, bored with looking at mind-blowing snow-peaked scenery, we settled in for an Australian movie marathon with the two titles we had on hand — "Crocodile" Dundee and Two Hands. Initially surprised with how well "Croc" was holding up after all these years, I promptly slipped into a deep slumber. Thankfully I awoke in time to watch Heath Ledger and Rose Byrne light up the teensy screen in the darkly wry Two Hands, a tale of a Sydney bogan who meets cute, innocent, country-style bogan Rose Byrne and somehow manages to transcend his bogan world by stealing lots of money before moving to Byron Bay to hang with Rose Byrne's boat building uncle.
Arriving in northern Italy at dinner time, the search was immediately afoot for some top-shelf 'za, direct from the source! Wyatt nixed the first place we came to (a cheap pizza/pasta buffet) stating he would never eat at a place that has a billboard. We ended up somewhere else soon enough, the name of which escapes me, and got our first taste of real good food. Real real good food. Not much more to say on this other than Italy, you really are delicious! Licky, tell us more...
Posted by: Marky
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010
From the U.K. with Love
Webwarlock's Note: Apologies for the lack of posts the last couple of weeks. Obviously the band is on tour right now in Europe which sure makes weekly blog posts slightly more difficult, but we did have a plan to keep posting while they were away… sort of. Anyway, this is the first of hopefully a few more tour diaries from the road. Enjoy!
Sunday Jan 31st:
Yosh and Bren and I were on the same flight to Amsterdam. SWISS. We were hoping for Swiss lavishness and they somewhat delivered. We took full advantage of the free drinks by asking for whiskey, beer, and a bottle of champagne each. The highlight of the flight came when Bren opened his bottle of champagne and the cork launched off the bottle, ricocheted off the ceiling, and landed somewhere a few rows ahead of us to the right. This happened at a time when a lot of people were asleep. We laughed pretty hard at that one. We also laughed pretty hard at this movie Zombieland that we all watched in sync. Funny flick.
Monday February 1st:
At our Zurich layover we met up with our new keyboardist Licky who was coming from Brooklyn. It was a very short flight to Amsterdam where Phil the Thrill was waiting for us. We all piled into a cab to our hotel.
The Sphinx hotel was closer to a hostel than a hotel, but it was cheap which is the reason I booked it. Marky and Gabe were waiting for us in the lobby looking haggard as heck. We stuffed ourselves into our "six person suite" which pleasantly had an extra bed in it already. Some people were frothing at the mouth to "experience" Amsterdam and some people were frothing at the mouth to "experience" sleep so Bren and Licko and Yosh went out while the rest of us jammed a nap.
A couple hours later the last member of the touring party arrived from Gothenburg – Mr. Wyatt Cusick. We said some long hellos and all decided to go wander the town and eventually grab a bite to eat. After wandering around in the cold for hours and having a chuckle at the red light district and our favorite outdoor public urinal we decided to go back to the warmth of the Sphinx. The people who didn't take a nap were back in a delirious jetlag slumber which we totally ruined.
Tuesday February 2nd:
Today we woke up feeling pretty refreshed and kind of spent the day hanging in our suite and getting some unplugged rehearsals in. At five our dude Gijs came with our albatross of a van and our backline and drove us to the Paradiso where we were playing that night. This was the first time we could afford a behemoth van and backline so we were pretty excited about our situation.
Another reason the Paradiso rules is because they gave us our whole rider – two cases of beer, a bottle of tequila, a mountain of water and healthy snacks. The show was understandably rough as three of us hadn't had any real practices with the full band, but we did well overall and we had a nice crowd. The people from the large venue downstairs got into our show for free but let's just assume everyone was there to see us.
After the show we partied backstage and snuck the remainder of our rider into a nearby bar. Feelings were definitely uppppppp.
Wednesday February 3rd:
Woke up hung as fuck. I seemed to be the least hung so I drove to the Calais ferry while everyone except Phil slept. We went through British customs and one of the officers looked like a gnome and thought he knew everything about America. “So… Athens, Georgia? Ever heard of REM? I've got some Georgia crackers in my family. Where in the Bay Area do you live? Dublin? Hayward? San Mateo? (Man, I know everything about America!)”
I slept on the ferry to Dover. I have trouble crossing the street in the UK so I sure as heck didn't want to drive a van full of pals around, so Brendude aka Bogan aka TM took the wheel for the brief drive to Canterbury.
Canterbury?! Why were we playing in Canterbury?! Because the promoter books a bunch of bands like us. Still, why were we playing in Canterbury?! Because the small joint called the Farmhouse was packed with people. The show went so well that we had to play the long version of NGTTG as an encore. They took a knee and everything. After the show we drove with our friend Alice back to her place in London. Had a killer new Nite Drive Mega Mix going all the way there. Pig piled into her apartment at 3am.
Thursday February 4th:
Due to the extremely late night we didn't get to breakfast until 4pm. After that it was straight to soundcheck at Proud Galleries, one of our least favorite venues because it's packed with kids who want to dance to the Gossip and not watch indie bands. But packed is packed, right? Lots of friends came to the show and the promoter said it was the best live show she's ever seen. Hahahahahahaha. What a compliment! A good night. We got to the label boss's house at 3am and there was some miscommunication about us staying there. Uh oh.
Friday February 5th:
Alice was heading up to Leeds with us and on the way her friend called and asked if we wanted to play a free show after our regular show. It was some dude's birthday party but he promised us free beer and liquor and a packed crowd so we agreed. Doesn't take too much for us (more on this in few days).
We arrived at our original venue the Cockpit. They treated us well and there were a ton of people there. We played with a good local band Milk White White Teeth that probably drew a lot of the people. But we invited everyone to our free show later that night and a lot of people went to that.
Said show was at our local friends' favorite venue the Brudenell Social Club. The place is an old man's hangout with super cheap beer. A totally awesome old timer's joint. We played a wild set, complete with a power outage, and danced for hours afterwards. The dance party migrated to someone's dingy basement and we ended up partying until 8:30am. Leeds is wiiiiilllllld!!!!
Saturday February 6th:
We slept for two and a half hours in Leeds before having to hit the road to Glasgow. Rough times. The Captain's Rest is just a nondescript pub with a small room downstairs that bands play in. After soundcheck the pub served us some good pizza. Sitting in the booth next to ours was a friend I hadn't seen in several years and I didn't know lived in Glasgow. Turns out his new band was playing the show!
I made my way downstairs to check out the first of four bands. On the way I heard the singer introduce the band and say they'd been playing to no one in Edinburgh for years and now they were playing to no one in Glasgow as well. As he was saying that I walked into the room and literally zero people were in the room. The band was good – they were called the Wintergreens – but I was thinking it was going to be a sparse ass night. Slowly more people came into the room – my friend James's band Water Wolves were great. The next band How To Swim were great too. By the time we played the small room was totally packed to the gills. We didn't play so hot due to our fatigue but they loooooved it. We had some totally insane fans there.
We split up between two houses and one group stayed up until 6:30am! Glad I wasn't with them, but we love Glasgow.
Sunday February 7th:
Up to this point things had been going way too well for the UK and this is where it started to turn around. The day started off great – I ate some delicious haggis (sheep intestines?) at some award-winning restaurant and we made the quick drive to Edinburgh, a mind-blowingly awesome city for the eyes. Tonight was the Superbowl, and my somewhat favorite team the New Orleans Saints were in the Superbowl for the first time ever. My grandfather lived outside of New Orleans while I was growing up. And who doesn't want to watch the Superbowl? Most of us were totally jacked up for the Superbowl.
So once we found the teeny little venue Sneaky Pete's, the first order of business was to find out where we could watch the Superbowl after the show. There was this 2000 capacity sports bar nearby. Done. Second was where we were going to stay at 3am after the game. Turned out that was the day of the rugby world championship between Scotland and France which was taking place in Edinburgh and ALL the hotels and hostels were booked. Bad news.
The show was our first clunker as far as audience attendance goes. Oh well. Still played a good one and How To Swim played again and jammed it. After the show (and during because I kept talking about it in between songs) it was Superbowl, Superbowl, Superbowl. BUT the accomm sitch was killing us. What were we going to do?! Since there were a couple of us more interested in sleeping than watching the Superbowl until 3am, we decided to drive to a hotel outside of town and bank on the hotel tv showing it. We would miss the beginning of the game but hopefully it would work. We ended up driving from hotel to hotel looking for one showing the game and they either didn't have the game or were closed. Apparently in Scotland you can't show up and get a room late at night. We finally found a hotel that was still open and at this late juncture I'd given up on the Superbowl dream. Guess what? The tv in our room had the game and I got to see the Saints come back and win the game. A sweet end to an intensely frustrating night.
Posted by: SA
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010
Memories
Ahh memories… With a ridiculous band like ours, the best thing about it is to recall some classic stories about past shows/past tours/past hi-jinks. The only problem is it's tough to remember exactly WHO was on what tour. The lineup has been different for every single tour. It's like Bobby Valentine and the 1999 Mets. I thought it might be a good idea to log the tour rosters for each tour just so the facts don't disappear for eternity. We have to have something to do when we're sitting on the porch in rocking chairs at Retirement Zap.
I give you… JAMMER STATS (man this got really boring about a tenth of the way in).
Total performances: 169
1. Sean "SA" Rawls San Francisco [vocals, guitar]: 169
1. Yoshi Nakamoto San Francisco & nowhere [drums]: 169 (the true iron men)
3. Maria "Momo" Niubo San Francisco [keyboard, vocals, reverb tank, Flyinette]: 150
4. Phil "Thrilla" Horan San Francisco & Oakland [dance moves, percussion, vocals, 2nd drums]: 147
5. Zach "Tater" Moran San Francisco [guitar]: 141
6. Gabe "Big Lord" Saucedo San Diego & San Francisco [vibraphone, trombone, saxophone, vocals]: 140
7. Bren "Brendude" Mead San Francisco [2nd drums, vocals, bass, guitar, reverb tank, Flyinette]: 124
8. Drew "Hound" Cramer San Francisco [bass, guitar]: 112
9. Mindy "Mookers" Schweitzer-Rawls SF [Flyinette]: 100
9. Frank "Frank En Sax" Jordan Brooklyn, Toronto, Oakland [saxophone]: 100
11. Gary "Olsonkroken" Olson Brooklyn [trumpet, vocals]: 82
12. Alicia Vanden Heuvel SF [keyboard, Flyinette]: 77
13. Jaime "Prof. Jammy" Knight Berkeley & SF [Flyinette]: 76
14. Marjan Esfandiari SF [Flyinette]: 74
15. Becky "Beans" Barron Oakland [Flyinette]: 66
16. Marky Monnone Melbourne [bass, guitar]: 42
17. Ice Bergeron Atlanta [reverb tank, jammer]: 41
18. Isobel "Izzo" Knowles Melbourne [trumpet, keyboard, vocals]: 40
18. Lizeth Santos San Diego & SF [Flyinette]: 40
20. Wyatt Cusick Gothenburg & SF [bass, sound dude] 39
21. Brian "Big Brah" Girgus SF [bongos]: 38
22. Haima Marriott Melbourne [sound dude]: 25
23. Ake "Ausfahrt" Stromer Gothenburg [saxophone, jammer]: 25
24. Tara "Shaq" Shackell Melbourne [trombone, vocals]: 24
25. Dale "Doyle" "Corndog" Packard Melbourne [saxophone]: 23
26. Anna Storakers Malmo & Stockholm [reverb tank, Flyinette, TM]: 22
27. Carrie "Licky" Jedlicka Brooklyn [Flyinette]: 20
28. DJ "OJ" Hammond Atlanta [guru]: 19
28. Gus Franklin Melbourne [2nd drums, trombone, vocals]: 19
30. Nick Underwood Brooklyn [trumpet]: 18
31. Tyler "Shark" Rogers Atlanta & OK City [TM]: 15
31. Scott "Scope Bropshaw" Bradley Berkeley & SF [sound dude, bass]: 15
33. Uri Oriole Borras Barcelona [merch dude, best dude]: 14
34. Brody Railton Chicago, Seattle, Brooklyn & San Francisco [reverb tank]: 11
35. Terese Nordstrom Stockholm [Flyinette, jammer]: 10
36. Nate Nott Melbourne [TM]: 8
37. Ninah Hofmann SF [merch lady]: 7
38. Markus Gorsch Gothenburg [bongos]: 6
38. Sophy Naess Gothenburg [Flyinette]: 6
40. Richard "Dick" Baluyut NYC & SF [guitar]: 5
40. Kellie "Suth Suth" Sutherland Melbourne [Flyinette]: 5
42. Josephine Olausson Gothenburg [Flyinette]: 4
42. Jens Lekman Melbourne & Gothenburg [guitar, vocals]: 4
42. Cameron "Birddog" Bird Melbourne [Flyinette]: 4
42. Jamie "Jammy" Mildren Melbourne [guitar, jammer]: 4
42. Raul Sanchez SF [saxophone]: 4
47. Bob Beers SF [merch dude]: 3
47. Mark Wilson Melbourne [noises]: 3
49. James Cecil Melbourne [jammer]: 2
49. Paul Koehler Oakland [bass]: 2
49. Adrian Finch Atlanta [keyboard]: 2
49. David Callejon Madrid & SF [guitar]: 2
53. Andy Smith SF [trumpet]: 1
53. Jen Weisberg Oakland [saxophone]: 1
TOUR LINEUPS:
US OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2009 w/ YELLOW FEVER
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Marky - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Maria - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals, TM
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Frank - saxophone (partial tour)
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals (partial tour)
10. Nick - trumpet (partial tour)
11. Licky - Nette
12. Phil - Percussion, Vocals
US EAST COAST SEPTEMBER 2009 w/ EXCALIBRAH & PEACE GOAT
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Bren - bass, TM
4. Zach - guitar
5. Maria - keyboards, vocals
6. Phil - 2nd drums
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals (partial tour)
8. Frank - saxophone (partial tour)
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Nick - trumpet (partial tour)
11. Mindy - Nette (partial tour)
12. Ice - Reverb Tank
13. Phil - Percussion, Vocals
14. OJ - hype man
15. Licky - Nette (partial tour)
EUROPE JULY 2009
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Wyatt - bass
4. Marky - guitar (partial tour)
5. Maria - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals, TM
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Frank - saxophone
9. Jaime - Nette
US WEST COAST JUNE 2009 w/ LOVE IS ALL
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Wyatt - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Maria - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Frank - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Ice - Reverb Tank
11. Phil - Percussion, Vocals
12. Bobby - roadie (partial tour)
US EAST COAST APRIL 2009
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Maria - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals, TM
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Frank - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals (partial tour)
10. Dale - Saxophone (partial tour)
11. Terese - Nette (partial tour)
12. Mindy - Nette
13. Jaime - Nette
14. Phil - Percussion, Vocals
SXSW MARCH 2009
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Maria - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Dale - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Mindy - Nette
11. Marjan - Nette
12. Ice - Reverb Tank
13. Phil - Percussion, Vocals
14. OJ - Hype Man
15. Shark - TM
AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2009 LANEWAY FESTIVAL
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Bren - guitar, vocals
5. Izzo - trumpet, keyboards, vocals
6. Gus - 2nd drums, vocals
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Dale - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Tara - trombone, vocals
11. Phil - Percussion, vocals
12. Haima - Sound
13. Nate - TM
EUROPE JANUARY 2009
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Alicia - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Ake - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Anna - reverb tank, vocals, TM
11. Terese - Flyinette (partial tour)
12. Phil - percussion, vocals
13. Wyatt - sound dude
CALGARY JUNE 2008 SLED ISLAND FESTIVAL
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Alicia - keyboards, vocals
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone, vocals
8. Frank - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Maria - Nette
11. Jaime - Nette
12. Becky - Nette
13. Mindy - Nette
14. Marjan - Nette
15. Phil - Percussion, Vocals
16. Shark - TM
AUSTRALIA MARCH 2008 LANEWAY FESTIVAL
1. Me - vocals
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Marky - guitar, TM
6. Maria - keyboards
7. Gus - 2nd drums, vocals
8. Tara - trombone, vocals
9. Dale - saxophone
10. Gary - trumpet, vocals
11. Izzo - trumpet, vocals
12. Becky - Nette
12. Lizeth - Nette
13. Kellie - Nette (partial tour)
14. Cameron - Nette (partial tour)
15. Ice - Reverb Tank
16. Mark - Noises (partial tour)
17. Phil - Dancer
18. Haima - Sound (partial tour)
19. Ninah - Merch
US EAST COAST OCTOBER 2007 w/ LUCKSMITHS AND LADYBUG TRANSISTOR
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Alicia - keyboards
6. Bren - 2nd drums, vocals
7. Gabe - vibes, trombone
8. Frank - saxophone
9. Gary - trumpet, vocals
10. Izzo - trumpet, vocals
11. Nick - trumpet (partial tour)
12. Mindy - Nette
13. Maria - Nette
14. Anna - Nette
15. Ice - Reverb Tank
16. Phil - Dancer
17. Ake - Hype Man
18. Scott - Sound
19. Uri - Merch
20. Kim - Nanny
SWEDEN APRIL 2007
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Maria - keyboards
6. Gabe - vibes, trombone
7. Gary - trumpet, vocals
8. Izzo - trumpet, vocals
9. Tara - trombone, vocals
10. Markus - bongos
11. Mindy - Nette
12. Becky - Nette
13. Lizeth - Nette
14. Sophy - Nett
15. Terese - Nette (partial tour)
16. Anna - Nette (partial tour)
17. Ice - reverb tank
18. Phil - dancer
19. Ake - hype man
20. Uri - merch
SWEDEN AUGUST 2006
1. Me - vocals
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Wyatt - bass
4. Marky - guitar
5. Richard - guitar (partial tour)
6. Jens - guitar (partial tour)
7. Maria - keyboards
8. Gabe - vibes, trombone
10. Frank - saxophone
11. Gary - trumpet
12. Nick - trumpet (partial tour)
13. Brah - bongos
14. Becky - Nette
15. Marjan - Nette (partial tour)
16. Brody - reverb tank
17. Terese - hype man (partial tour)
18. Ake - hype man (partial tour)
19. Anna - Nette, TM
US WEST COAST OCTOBER 2005 w/ ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Alicia - keyboards
6. Gabe - vibes, trombone
7. Frank - saxophone
8. Brah - bongos
9. Jaime - Nette
10. Mindy - Nette
11. Becky - Nette
12. Marjan - Nette
13. Maria - Nette
14. Lizeth - Nette
15. Phil - Dancer
16. Izzo - trumpet (partial tour)
17. Haima - sound
US WEST COAST MAY 2005 w/ ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI
1. Me - vocals, guitar
2. Yoshi - drums
3. Drew - bass
4. Zach - guitar
5. Alicia - keyboards
6. Gabe - vibes, trombone
7. Frank - saxophone
8. Brah - bongos
9. Jaime - Nette
10. Mindy - Nette
11. Becky - Nette
12. Marjan - Nette
13. Maria - Nette
14. Phil - Dancer
15. Haima - sound
Posted by: SA
