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Well, it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything in here. 9 months to be exact. oops! A lof of exciting things have happened since my last post. Hillary is moving from Cincinnati to Denton! I did another tour with The Famine last fall. We went out with Underoath, Saosin, and The Devil Wears Prada. It was a lot of fun and the crowds were HUGE! 2500+ every night, with the biggest show around 6000 people! After that, I had a few months off and did a tour in Japan with WHY?. This was definitely one of the best tours I’ve ever been on. Even though it was really short, I loved every minute of it. Japan is definitely one of my favorite places in the world. SXSW was after that and a lot of work! I mixed all of the shows for Yoni (of WHY?), Themselves, and the Anticon showcase. I met some really interesting people and fell in love with the band Anathallo (SOOOOOO GOOD!). Since then, there have been some other really big and exciting projects come up, which I have to keep under wraps for the time being. Hillary is moving to Denton soon which is really exciting for both of us!

That about brings us up to about now. Tour preparation begins today with some well needed cleaning and maintenance to all my gear. I leave for Europe with WHY? in about 2 weeks! I’m so excited to get back out on the road again. This has been the longest I’ve had off tour in the past 3 years. Needless to say, I’ve been itching to get back to work.

Here are the dates we’ll be in Europe:
6/29 – Fly to Berlin
6/30 – OFF – Berlin, GER
7/01 – Dziedziniec Pod Pretekstem – Poznan, PL
7/02 – Festsaal Kreuzberg – Berlin, GER
7/03 – Bremenale – Bremen, GER
7/04 – Uebel Und Gefaehrlich – Hamburg, GER
7/05 – Tivoli – Utrecht, NL
7/06 – Garage – London, UK
7/07 – Audio – Brighton, UK
7/08 – Nouveau Casino – Paris, FR
7/09 – Les Ardentes – Liege, BE
7/10 – Waldbuhne – Northeim, GER
7/11 – ZMF Festival – Freidburg, GER
7/12 – Delta Park – Essen, GER
7/13 – OFF – Berlin, GER
7/14 – OFF – Fly to Tel Aviv, IL
7/15 – Barby Club – Tel Aviv, IL
7/16 – OFF – Fly to Berlin, GER
7/17 – Fly back to US

The tour looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun! What I’m not-so-secretly excited about the most is getting to go eat at Minh Quang in Berlin. They have the best tom kha tofu soup I’ve ever had. I’ll try and be more persistant with updating this while I’m in the EU.

 

Done!

So Europe is finished for now!

I’m home for 3 weeks until I head back out with Why? for a 5 week US tour. Even though it’s nice to have some time off the road every once in a while, I’m already itching to get back on the road. I’ve pretty much been touring since May 21st, and it’s not letting up anytime soon! I’ve got August 28th – October 8th with Why?, and then October 14th – November 25th with The Famine! Whew! Busy, busy, busy. I’ll have mixed over 200 shows by the end of the year! It’s a little crazy to think that I’ve mixed shows more than every other day. It sounds like a lot, but my career is still just a fledgling one, and I see next year being even more intense!

The weirdest part is, that I thought I would welcome this break, but I’ve gotten so used to life on the road, that I miss being in a van/airplane/hotel/venue all hours of the day. It’s an addiction. Right now, the withdrawals are just beginning to set in. Give it another week, and I’ll be having cold sweats and shaking! I feel extremely lucky to have met up with the bands I’ve been working with lately. They’re both at the top of their game, and have the highest level of professionalism. I can definitely see a large amount of success for the future of their music careers.

 

Pictures

So here are some pictures from my time over here in Europe. They’re all from my phone, so please excuse the lack of quality.

Dornstadt

Side of the road in Germany

Again, the side of the road

Brussels

Lots of people

Ukulele

Sitar

Fucking Tourists

Expensive cab ride!

Vegetarianishe

BIG MONEY!

French Riviera

Dour, Belgium

Dour Festival!

More to come!

 

FRANCE!

So, I have just returned from a working weekend in France.

It was amazing to say the least!

Here’s a recap of the weekend.

25.07.08 – FRI
We meet up around 10AM on Friday to leave for the MIDI Festival in Hyere, France. This weekend was full of hectic travel. We land in Nice, FR and get a van ride to the festival. The ride ended up being roughly 2 hours and was comprised of some of the most gorgeous scenery I’ve ever laid eyes on. Mixing sound in castle ruins on the French Riviera was incredible.

As soon as we get to the festival, we drop off our gear in our dressing room, and head straight for the wine. The set time that evening wasn’t until 9:30, so we had a fair amount of time to kill before the show. So we proceed to indulge in some tasty adult beverages and snacks from the chef, and sit and talk with Jonah from The Blow and Yacht for a while. Dinner ends up being a huge mishap, and we miss out on the good food and just end up chowing down on hors d’oeurves. Arguments with the chef happen, things get cleared up, etc, etc… The show goes really well, I’m extremely pleased with the overall sound, and at this point I’ve made a cheat sheet for myself where different types of delays and reverbs go in the songs. This helps immensely and has given me a way to add effects very consistently. After the show, we head to our hotel, which is not too far from the festival, only to have to wake up at 6AM! Keep in mind that it’s 1:30AM at this point in time. No rest for the wicked, I suppose.

26.07.08 – SAT
Saturday, we wake up at the crack of dawn, head down for breakfast, and then catch another 2 hour van ride to get on a plane in Marseilles, FR to Nantes, FR. Get on the plane, blah blah, land, and get picked up by another van, only to drive another 2 hours to the 3 Elephants Festival in Laval, FR. This is a much larger festival than the MIDI Festival. HUGE PA system, extremely professional video set up, the works! I was in heaven!

Once we arrive at the festival, we scope out the food situation, have some snacks and begin setting up equipment. The set time was at 8:30PM, so again we had some time to kill, and ended up chatting with some people and just sort of milling around for a while. The show went pretty flawlessly, and again I was extremely happy with the sound. I believe that was the best sounding show I’ve mixed since I’ve been over here. Afterwards, we head to the open bar and have a few cocktails. We all load up in the van and head back to the hotel. At this point, I’ve got a little buzz going and in the mood to get a few more drinks. Doug and Austin decide to join me, and we head back to the festival to enjoy some more complimentary adult beverages. After a few too many, we’re all in no condition to be in public and head back to the hotel.

27.07.08 – SUN
I wake up, grab some breakfast, and proceed to get ready to leave. At this time there are 6 total people in our group, 1 guitar, 1 bass, 1 keyboard, 1 vibraphone set, and miscellaneous pedals, cymbals, cables, etc… So needless to say, we’ve got a decent amount of stuff with us. Our transport from the hotel to the airport arrives and more or less, it’s a glorified station wagon. WAY too small for us. Obviously, we can’t all fit in here, so the festival arranges a cab to take everything that can’t fit… 2 and a half hours away to PARIS! The driver doesn’t speak a word of English, so there is a definite language barrier there. Yoni, Austin, and myself are chit-chatting the whole way there. Once we arrive at the airport the meter on the cab reads 614.80 Euros!! Almost $1000 USD! Thank god we didn’t have to pay for it! After we go into the airport, we have to get in this RIDICULOUS line that has about 200 people in it. So we wait, and wait, and wait. Finally we get to the agent, get our boarding passes, and get on the plane, that’s also late. After we land, we go to our favorite Vietnamese spot, which has the best Tom Kah Tofu soup I’ve ever had, and chow down. At this point we realize that Yoni left his fanny pack on the plane! We try calling the airport, but it’s all too late to handle that. After decided to wait until today to handle everything, we head back to Josiah and Doug’s to crash.

28.07.08 – MON
We get up today, grab a bagel, and head out for our trek to the Berlin airport. Let’s just say it takes a while to take the trains all the way out to the airport. We left at 2pm and returned at 6pm. Tonight’s plans are to eat, drink, and be merry.

I only have one week left here, and I have to say I’ll be sad to leave. Great company, great music, great city with great public transportation. Time to live it up, just a little longer!

I’ve been really slacking with this thing since I started it, really. I’m going to try and update more often. Maybe even some pictures!