Wednesday 1/13/10 – Chicago
It’s the first day of the World’s First World’s First Flying Machine tour! I, admittedly, only had to take a 10 minute bus ride to Quenchers Saloon, but the rest of the band made their way from further distances. It was the best Chicago show since we opened for Headlights at Schubas way back when.
Quenchers gives each band member a “$10 credit for drinks” and in order to keep track of this they have their own currency. It’s a lot like Geoffrey Bucks from Toys R US. And with the crazy good beer selection I felt like a drunk kid in a toy store.
Thursday 1/14/10 – Day Off! Our day off!
While the rest of the band went to Champaign to assemble our handmade LIMITED EDITION copies of “The House You’re Living In” (available at our CD release show at Canopy Club on Jan 30!!!), I performed at the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival with The Other Other Guys – a comedy group formed at U of I and sort of named after campus acapella group “The Other Guys.” I’ll be taking a much too early train to Champaign tomorrow.
Friday 1/15/10 – Tennessee
Far from city lights and GPS signals, a couple of us are taking night cap shots of Beefeater, waiting for the water to boil on the wood burning stove. Also, we’re in a school bus. But more on that later.
We left for Greenbrier, Tennessee around 11 in the morning. We arrived at Greenbrier, Tennessee around 6 p.m. I ate two McDouble Cheeseburgers at 6:30 p.m., I regretted eating two McDouble Cheeseburgers at 6:33 p.m. Then we went into the venue.
Loudhouse Coffee is located at a strip mall alongside a laundromat and a resale shop/ dog grooming store. It was the most fully realized all age venue I’ve ever been to. We played to some angsty small town teens, some of their parents, and some of their much younger siblings. An eight-year-old girl put her feet on the stage and doodled a bearded stick figure version of Gautam during our set.
It was really great. Not only was this our first out of state show, but it was the first time the crowd wanted an encore. That was a total surprise, considering we followed a Paramore-esque band with a light show that the crowd went bananas for. We even sold a handful of our handmade LIMITED EDITION copies of “The House You’re Living In” (skip this parenthetical phrase to avoid another shameless plug: which will be released locally on January 30 at our CD release show at the Canopy Club!!!!)
The night ended with this scream-o band that really blew my mind. They had synchronized rock out moves including “Running in Place,” “Head Banging like a Scarecrow,” and “Head Banging like a Spider Monkey.” A lot of the songs had these great talking-verses. Some choice quotes:
“If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to give in; you don’t want to grow up (Death Growl)”
“A friend once told me that you should learn to live with yourself because in the long run that’s who you’re stuck with (pause) FOR LIFE (Death Growl).”
But yeah, we got this show because of the help of the very good Nashville band Pineapple Explode. And we’re drinking a variety of beverages inside a renovated school bus because Pineapple Explode member Markus was kind enough to let us stay at his family’s farm. He’s been working on the bus for a couple months and I have to say it’s one of my favorite places I’ve been to in recent memory. There’s a bunk bed and an autoharp! Part two of the tour coming later this week!!!