Okay, yes, I know I haven’t written in a couple
weeks. Have you missed my weekly
rambling about our life on the road?
Probably not, but for my sake let’s just assume you’ve been anxiously
awaiting another ‘journal entry’. So,
where have I been? Why haven’t I written
in the past couple weeks? Simple answer:
laziness. Actually, I’m kidding, it is
completely the opposite. I have been so
overwhelmed with work the past few weeks that the journal has had to take a
back seat to all the other things that were a higher priority. As I write that I am thinking to myself, ‘if
I was reading this from an outside perspective I would almost laugh at that
statement; a musician being overwhelmed with work? Ha. Don’t they just get up on stage and perform?’
But those of you that really know me know that I probably put in twice as many
hours off stage as I do on stage, including set up and tear down. That’s just part of the deal when we’re
trying to succeed and move up the ladder.
So yes, I have definitely slacked on the journals lately while focusing
on all the other ‘off stage’ stuff that needed to be done. And actually, lately we’ve been working on
some things that could turn into really big steps forward for this band;
hopefully I’ll be able to elaborate on that in the next few weeks! All that being said, I’m back writing today
and all the other items on the to-do list can wait.
So, where did I leave off last time? Oh yeah, we were in Chadron, NE after the
semi flipped over on Interstate 80.
Okay, let me think back over the past few weeks and try to remember a
few of the notable things that happened.
We were in Chadron on Wed. and Thurs. of that week, and actually had
pretty decent crowds for week nights. It
is a college town, and historically we’ve not done well selling our merch or
our albums there, but for some reason several people wanted copies of our
latest record “Back In Town”, which was a nice change for us there. From there we had to get up super early
(again, super early for us is like 8 am) for a nice seven hour drive to Craig,
CO. Craig is a pretty cool small town
out in the middle of nowhere Colorado.
And the people there are pretty down to earth; especially the staff
there – very cool group of employees that treat us really well. I would definitely say I feel appreciated
when we go to JW Snack’s in Craig for shows.
Anyway, so we got to the club that Friday afternoon and started to set
up. A little about this bar: they have a really cool fenced in courtyard with a
little stage, but no stage inside, and it was just a little cool still to be
playing outdoors at night. So the owner
had built a riser for us as kind of a makeshift stage for the weekend – which
was very thoughtful on his part. But for
our gear and where we were setting up, the riser just wasn’t going to work for
us, so we decided we’d just set up on the floor and play. This ended up being a big mistake on my part.
I don’t mind setting up on the floor
from time to time; as long as we’re getting to play music and there are people
there that like what we’re doing, who cares if we’re on a stage or not. But when we do set up on the floor, there is
no barrier between the musician and the crowd; there’s no imaginary line that
says ‘please do not cross into my space’.
I know that sounds like I’m saying I don’t want anyone close to me, blah
blah blah. That’s not it at all. When there’s no line, the people on the dance
floor can get as close as they want, and when they are dancing that close to
us, they don’t realize that if they bump into my microphone while I’m singing,
it hits me in the mouth. (I can’t
remember if I’ve written about this before or not, so I’ll just go on like
you’ve never heard me rant about this).
Every little bump on my microphone stand from your side feels like I’m
being punched in the face on my side. When
my mouth is right up on the microphone and the stand suddenly moves forward
from being bumped: ouch! Have you ever
been punched in the mouth? It freakin’
hurts. This isn’t really a new problem
for me, I’ve been dealing with it for years; every time we set up on the floor
and there’s a crowded dance floor; but this time may have been the worst for
me. During the first half of our show I
got hit in the face by my mic stand at least 14 times. And this one woman was spinning around right
in front of me with a purse on her shoulder: are you kidding me? Please just put the projectile purse down
when dancing. Come on!!! It got to the point where I couldn’t continue
if we didn’t come up with some kind of barrier.
We finally found some cones to set in front of us, which ended up
helping a little. So that was my Saturday night in
Colorado. It was like I went all 12
rounds with Mike Tyson. Yes, I know Mike
Tyson is an old boxing reference. But I
don’t know who the current popular boxers are, so he’s the first one I thought
of for the reference. And come on, I
come from the Nintendo era of ‘Mike Tyson’s Punch Out’. (which by the way was an awesome game for its
time; not as good as Contra though – best game ever! Ha. I actually still remember the cheat codes to
get 30 lives in that game. Does anyone
else remember the code off the top of their head? If so, EMAIL me and let me know. Or just post a comment at the bottom of this
blog). Wait, does anyone still have a
Nintendo and the game Contra? I don’t
really ever play video games, but it would be awesome to play that one again
sometime. Okay, I just got way off the
subject with that. Wow. Get back on track Michael.
When we left Colorado we still had one week out on
the road. We had 5 shows that last week,
and I’m sure some interesting things happened at those shows or off stage
sometime, but if I’m being really honest with you, for some reason this past
tour was a really long one for all of us, and we were just tired and ready to
go home and get a few days off the road.
So looking back on that week for me is all really just a blur. If someone remembers any funny stories from
that week that I’m forgetting, let me know about them and I’ll write about it
for everyone else. Oh, I do remember one
thing that stands out: We were back in Williston that Thursday night for a one
night only show (usually we’re there for 3 nights in a row, so this was
different for them), and we had the largest Thurs. night crowd we’ve ever had
there; probably better than some weekend nights we’ve had there in the
past. And they were throwing down too. It was crazy, and totally unexpected, but very
cool for us. Oh yeah, just remembered
another thing from there: I almost got in a fight with an old man that day
during our load in. I probably shouldn’t
tell that story though: I was in the wrong and I would come out looking like an
asshole. He just pissed me off though. So if by some crazy chance that old-timer, or
someone that knows him, is reading this – I apologize. You caught me at the wrong time. I should have been more cool about the
situation.
Actually, I do know why we were so wore out and
ready to be home: we started the tour with van issues and missing shows, then
crisscrossed the country a couple times while we were out. It was exhausting.
Alright, enough about that last week. We finished up the weekend, and were so
anxious to get home we left right after the show on Saturday night and drove
through the night and all the next day and evening to get back home. But finally, we were in our own beds again
for a few days.
Oh yeah, I do remember one other thing about that
week that was pretty cool, a comment made: a guy at one of the shows was asking
about our new album, so I got one for him and brought it over, at which point
he said, “no I already have this one, and your first one too. I’m ready for another new album. I have both of your cd’s in my truck. I love your guys’ music”. That was really cool for me; that although we
just came out with this latest album in January, this guy has liked our
material so much that he is ready for even more. I wish I had more music to give him right
now. Spoiler alert: we’re already
talking about it and working on some new material.
Quick side note: I just found out that we’re heading
back to Vegas in October. YEAH!
Moving on. I
was home for a grand total of 3 days before it was time to head back out. This time it was down to Lexington, KY, which
is our home base. It is our home base
because ¾ of us live there.
Unfortunately for me, I’m the one that doesn’t live there. I only say unfortunately in reference to us
having shows there that weekend; the rest of the guys got to play gigs at home
and I was back driving down the interstate and sleeping in hotel rooms for the
weekend. Oh how nice it would be to get
a show or two booked in my town and be able to sleep in my bed after the show…
ah, a boy can dream, right. Anyway, I’m
sure it’s very nice for the guys to be playing close to home. And it is great for us because, like I said,
it is our home base. The only bad thing
is that we hadn’t played in Lexington in literally a year. I worry about this sometimes: for it being
our home base, do we not get back there enough?
We spend so much time thinking about expanding fan base and stuff like
that, but are we forgetting all about those early fans in the process? To answer my own question, in a sense we
are. We have been touring nationally for
5 years now, and in those five years have only been back to play in Lexington
(or nearby) a handful of times. Why
should I expect all those people that ‘used’ to like our band to still remember
us after all that time? Truthfully, I
shouldn’t expect that. We left. We’re never there. The fault is ours. And I know why we did it too: the money was
better out on the road. The allure of
playing all over the country and really expanding our fan base was enticing. And we have done that. But we forgot about the one thing we want to
accomplish the most, keep our fans for life.
Here’s where you insert the whole lesson about hindsight being 20/20 and
all that. But yeah, looking back, we
should have gone back to our home base more often over the years. I can say right now that I regret that
decision. I should never expect all those people in
central Kentucky to still follow us after we’ve pretty much abandoned them for
the past half decade. But I did learn
one thing this past weekend: we still have some people from the old days that
remember me and come support the band and our music. That was really special for me to see those
people that came out for our shows.
I think that pretty much catches us up on the past
few weeks. After the shows in Lexington
we had a few more days off, and then headed down to Mississippi, which is where
I’m writing this from. That made for a
long trip down here (but hey, we’re used to that). I woke up early Thursday morning, met the
band back in Lexington, and we got down to MS very late Thursday night. That was a 6 state day for me: left IN, drove
through OH, met the band in KY, drove through TN and AL and made it to MS. We timed it just right to hit the rush hour
traffic in Nashville too, which is never a good time. I don’t know why, but rush hour traffic in
Nashville is horrible. I had almost
forgotten how much I used to hate the traffic when I lived down there all those
years ago. Being stuck in Nashville
traffic did give me the idea and opportunity to call Brent though (for those
who don’t know who Brent is, he was our drummer before Steve joined the band –
Brent was with us for a little over 3 years).
It was great to get to catch up with him for a few minutes. I hadn’t actually talked to him on the phone
for several months. It’s funny how
quickly time goes by for us like that; I didn’t realize until I was on the
phone with him that it had been that long since we’d talked. It’s also funny to me that even when you don’t
talk to someone for a long time like that, how quickly we can slip back into
the old routine of conversation like you just spoke to each other last
night. For the curious ones out there,
Brent seemed to still be doing really well.
He’s playing a lot of gigs around town, and even venturing out of town a
bit here and there with a couple bands.
Anyway, it was nice to catch up with an old friend, even if it was just
for a few minutes while we were stuck in traffic. I’ll have to make more effort to stay in
touch with him. Actually, I really do
need to make more effort to stay in touch with my close friends in
general. I never take time out and call
my old buddies up anymore. Just like
with Brent, it has been way too long since I’ve talked to most of them. I should make a list of the friends I need to
catch up with (yeah Mike, make another list…).
Who am I kidding, I’m not going to follow through with that. I’d just get busy and side tracked and forget
about it again anyway. It would be nice
to hear from some old friends though.
Oh, I almost forgot, we did get to see a ‘chick
fight’ a couple weeks ago. Wait, that’s
not very PC of me, sorry: two females fighting.
Actually it wasn’t much of a fight.
I’ve seen worse (or better, depending on if you like fights or
not). Let’s see if I can state this
without making it too confusing: Girl A was hammered drunk and out on the dance
floor; Girl B was dancing with her boyfriend; Girl A basically tried to cut in
and dance with Girl B’s boyfriend; Girl B didn’t like it; commence to
fighting.
Well, I think it is time for me to wrap this entry
up and head down to the fitness center here at the hotel. Again, I apologize for taking a few weeks off
from the writing. Hopefully this post
will keep me motivated and get me back on track with it. As always, if you have things that you’d like
to hear about and want me to write about, EMAIL me and let me know. I’m always searching for more topics to
discuss. Of course, if you aren’t
already, go ‘Like’ our FACEBOOK page, and be sure to ‘Follow’ us on
TWITTER. And if by some crazy chance you
don’t have our latest album “Back In Town”, stop what you’re doing right now
and go to I-TUNES and get our music.
Be safe out there.
Hopefully we’ll see you all at a show soon!
