Thursday, February 26, 2009

Strange

So there we are, rolling down some highway in south Georgia, on our way to Macon, the site of Duane Allman's death, and the sirens come suddenly, as they usually do. A few days prior a guy at a music store in North Carolina warned us the cops down here will pull you over for no reason. Just give them a reason and they'll lock you up. With that in mind, we waited for the officer to waddle to the van. Portly and Eagle Scout-ish modeling some killer Raybans, he spoke in an accent that would probably be subtitled on reality TV. "Hello, I'm Officer Strange. Pennsylvania, huh? You boys are a long way from home" (cops always say this) We present the needed identification and he waddles back to the car to run it. Thankfully there's no weed or whatnot in the van so we're not really sweating bullets. He comes back, this time on the passenger side, and asks us what in tarnation we're doing down here. We explain we're a traveling band and on our way to Macon for a "gig". He becomes very friendly and mumbles some story about how he pulled over Merle Haggard once. Apparently Merle was sleeping in the backseat and his assistant was driving. Officer Strange took a picture of Merle sleeping.
We always keep a few of our CD's up front to give to cops and whatnot. Apparently he didn't hear me say "Here, I'll get you a CD" I reach into the glovebox and Strange stiffens up and shouts "HEY, WHAT'S HE REACHING FOR" My hands stop rummaging. I'm not getting capped over this. "One of our CD's", I tell him. "I can't accept that", he says, "but if you drop it on the ground, what's to stop me from picking it up?" I drop it out the window. He picks it up and proceeds to give us detailed directions to Macon, though I'm holding the GPS in my hands. We were speeding, according to Officer Strange, but he doesn't bother giving us a ticket and sends us on our way with a smile.
I wonder what Merle Haggard looks like sleeping in the backseat of a DaeWoo? Probably like an angel.
Later,
Mark

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Get the Memo?

Not even two months in to 2009 and it's already been the most juxtaposed year in our bands near five year history. And it will certainly be the biggest. First of all, yes, in May we'll have been a band for five years. The Beatles would have already been flirting with the future of Rubber Soul by now, but things seem to happen slower in this age. At least important things. People get married later, people go to school longer, people take forever to get their music careers started.

But it's certainly starting. Good things are brewing despite the unfortunate fact that they will all happen in the wake of Adam Shash's departure. But, it went down on good terms and we've rapidly moved on with Derek White in his stead. Adam's prime chops and good humor will be severely missed; however, things change and Derek is a welcomed addition to the band. He's been a long time friend and collaborator with the band, plus he's an incredible songwriter and is well versed in the recording process. We're all looking forward to getting back to writing so we can take advantage of D White's sharp songwriting prowess.

And for those of you who aren't aware, we are in the midst of a massive American tour right now. And chances are we'll be grazing by your town in the next few months. So keep checking our dates. Also, our album release date will be on March 24th. Buy that. See you soon.

Luv,
Nic

Monday, February 16, 2009

DAHN SOUTH

We're leaving for tour today. This time we're heading down south, all the way to Flordia. So now's your chance to come check out our live show. We haven't been down south in 3 years. We're all excited and we've got a pretty big announcement to make very soon. Well, it's big for us. Maybe it won't matter to you. But it's a huge change for us. I don't mean to be crytpic, but we'll make a proper announcement soon. Maybe you can guess what it is? Probably not.
We're excited to get out on the road again, though it's never easy leaving our loved ones. But we've gotta do what we gotta do. We were thinking of names for these upcoming tours (Not that we're Bon Jovi and really need a name for our tours quite yet) and I thought "Still Payin the Dues" was apt. Hopefully we won't have to name our next 6 tours the same. Either way, if you enjoy the songs, please come see us live. And don't be shy, we're rather nice fella's and only a couple of us bite. But hey it's all the rage to bite nowadays. Just ask Chris Brown.

Later,
Mark

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Green Grow the Rushes

As you may know, our hometown Steelers won the Super Bowl. The following are pictures of the kicker Jeff Reed. Someone sent me a link and I just thought I should share them with everyone. These aren't private pics mind you, they're on several websites. But they really say alot. To me, this could sum up Pittsburgh.
And yes, this man really is a highly-paid professional athlete, the elite of the elite. See if you can guess which one he is?







Later,
Mark