Rock N Roll

As we were leaving Lincoln, NE this past Monday morning, Kevin and I were reminiscing about some of the places we’ve been with this band over the past 5 ½ years; not the venues, but some of the areas of the country we’ve had the opportunity to see.  I was saying something about wanting to see the mountains again in northern Montana, or travel back up the Pacific Coast Highway through the Redwood Forest; they were both just such impressive areas, and I know without traveling with this band I would never have taken the opportunity to go to many of these places.  Kevin commented about how amazing Yellowstone National Park was (Old Faithful was pretty impressive); or the Grand Canyon - I don’t think I’ve ever seen anywhere so beautiful.  Which then led to how cool it was to come over the mountains in southern California into Los Angeles at night; as you start to come down the other side of the mountain and the city just spreads out before you – like the lights are never going to end. 

Since we were discussing L.A. I thought about our night on the Sunset Strip.  For anyone who is a fan of 80’s Rock and Roll, this place is it.  It must have been such a cool scene back in the early and mid-80’s.  We just got there 25 years too late.  But a few years ago we had a couple shows down in the Los Angeles area and got there a day early, so we decided that roaming Sunset Boulevard was a great way to spend a night off.   We got down there on a Sunday night and started the evening at the Cat Club to see my friend’s band Whiskey Circus (now Wayland) perform.  I’m such a huge fan of Rock music, and to be able to sit in a club on the Sunset Strip and watch my old friend play a set was just surreal for me.  Very cool moment.  But that was just the beginning.  From there we went to The Whiskey A Go-Go.  For us this is the mecca of cool rock venues.  All the greats have been on stage there.  Just walking into the place kind of gave me chills.  My uncle has actually played at The Whiskey before too; so even though it was late on a Sunday night (especially back east), I had to give him a call and tell him where I was.  Anyway, from there we went a little further up the strip to the Rainbow Room, where we ran into the Phil Lewis from L.A. Guns, then tried to head back to the Viper Room, but they were having some private party that night and wouldn’t let us in.  Not bad for a Sunday night though, right?  If you’re like me and a huge fan of 80’s rock, you’ve got to take a trip to Los Angeles and spend a night down on Sunset Boulevard. 

Random side thought: as a fan of music, if you could go back in time to any scene, where would it be?  For me, definitely L.A. in the mid 80’s ranks right up there.  Or maybe Seattle around 1990-91.  Ooh, how about Britain in the 60’s?  Great music over there back then.  So, where would you go?  EMAIL us and tell us your favorite time period and place for the music scene.   Or just comment at the end of this post too, that works. 

Since I seem to be on a rock music kick right now…

On one of our rare nights off when we weren’t traveling, I got to actually just sit back and listen to music for an evening.  Damn I miss that. Just being able to put some music on and relax for a while.  That doesn’t happen very often for me.  Even on our nights off, I seem to be so busy catching up on the business side of the band that there is no time to relax.  So anyway, as I was skimming through my I-tunes, I came across the old Hema-Huh album.  I know 98% of you reading this will have no idea who that is.  They were a rock group back in the mid/late 90’s in Bloomington, IN.  A couple of friends of mine were in that band, and we’d go see them at the all-ages club in town.  I used to love their music (like I said, I’m a huge fan of rock n roll).  So as I started listening to their songs on my I-Tunes, I realized I was singing along; every word of every song.  How, after something like 15 years, do I still know all the words to the songs of this local band?  Was I really that big of a fan back then?  How could those songs and lyrics stick after all this time?  It kind of surprised me that I remembered it all so well.  But then again, I spent a lot of my late teens listening to that album and going to their shows.  I’m sure we all have bands or artists like that; those that influenced us so much that even after all these years we still remember their words and their music.  And probably always will.  As a songwriter and a performer, I hope that someday 15 or 20 years from now a few people will still know all the words to my music.  When I’m long gone from the scene, hopefully someone out there will still have my songs on their music players.  Either way, it was such a nostalgic moment for me; sitting there listening to this rock band’s album I used to enjoy so much and still being able to sing along to every word.  I hope they know how influential they were to us teenagers back then. 

Well, the new album has been out for a week now, and I must say I’m quite surprised with how well it has been received so far.  I’ve really appreciated all the feedback that people have been giving us up to this point.  Sales at our shows have been much better than I have anticipated so far, and so many of you have emailed and let me know that they’ve already purchased the album on I-TUNES as well.  For all of you out there that have taken the time to send us messages and feedback about the new album, Thank You.  For a band like us that is out here on the road trying to get our music out there by playing endless shows, it really means a lot to hear what you think of our music.  Please continue to send us your thoughts on the new material.  And I know I mentioned this on FACEBOOK the other day, but also wanted to mention it here as well: it is so cool for me as a songwriter to see people at our shows already singing along to the songs off of “Back In Town”.  A large part of why I do what I do is to be able to express myself through music; and to know that my expressions have had any sort of impact is just incredible.  As the song ‘Friends Like These’ says, “When you sing along to the songs I write, you want an encore at the end of the night, I’m glad I get to be with friends like these”. 

I have a few more exciting things to write about from this week, but think I’ll save them for next week’s post.  As always, I hope you all enjoy reading about our time out here on the road.  If there are things about what we do that you’d like to hear more about, definitely let us know.  You can EMAIL us, or send us a message on FACEBOOK too.  And don’t forget to follow us on TWITTER as well.  Oh, and if you haven’t heard the music off of our new album yet and would like to preview it before you get a copy at one of our shows, you can listen to it for free at www.themichaeldband.com.  Until next time, be safe out there, and we hope to see you at a show soon!