September 18th, 2008
Our new album, "Dog's Hymns," sees its official release tonight at Slim's here in San Francisco.  Joining us on the bill will be insane crushers Tartufi and Built for the Sea.  Thread Productions will also be releasing the third installment in our "Dragon Slayers" compilation series.  We go on at 8:00 p.m. sharp, so don't blow it.

Speaking of blowing it, sorry for the lack of updates.  Things have been busy.  Soon, I will post a recap of what's been going on, including our recent Northwest tour with Finn Riggins, and some information on what's coming up.  Also, if anyone is reading this looking for the promised "additional album credits, thanks, and band information" promised inside the "Dog's Hymns" packaging, please be patient.  It's on its way.  Take it easy.

August 11th, 2008
It's technically very early in the morning on the 11th, but for us it's late in the night of the 10th. We've finished mixing the album and we're currently bouncing the tracks down for mastering. This weekend found us putting in two long days, but they were worth it. The album sounds great, and we'd like to thank Mr. Robert Cheek for all of his help, hard work, patience, and company. That dude's okay by us. Check out his band, as well. They're called Bridges By Sunlight and they're bad good. Some time in the next...oh, I don't know, hour or so, we'll head back to San Francisco with an unmastered copy of "Dog's Hymns." Sweet.

We played a last-minute show at the Press Club in Sacramento last Wednesday. We're getting pretty good at bumming out the folks in Sacramento. We played with Bright Light Fever and most of their crowd decided to stay outside during our set, while the rest decided to show up after we got done. It worked out well. We had a great time, though, and we'd like to thank Jeremy, Schuyler, Matt, and friends for showing up. Check out their respective bands, Goodness Gracious Me! and Prieta. The Cheek and his lady were there, as well, and they're pretty funny together (and drunk).

We'll be back in Sacramento on Thursday to play Old Ironsides with Goodness Gracious Me! and Them Hills. Girls who want to hear Muse will be bummed.

July 31st, 2008
NEWS!

We're in Sacramento, at the Hangar, hanging out and tracking vocals for the new album. Robert Cheek is in the house and HOLDING IT DOWN like only he can. So, basically, he's being creepy and pushing buttons while we try our best to make due with the lackluster effort he's putting into being an engineer. We're back here in about a week to mix this thing, and then it'll be off to the presses while we prepare for the impending fall tours.

The album will see its release on September 18th at a very special show at Slim's with our favorites, Tartufi, who will also be releasing their album "Nests of Waves and Wires." The night will be rounded out by Built for the Sea, who will be releasing an EP. As if that was not enough, the newly-revived Thread Productions will be releasing the Dragon Slayers, Vol. 3 compilation. Heads will explode.

In early September, prior to the album release show, we will be hitting the northwest for about two weeks of shows. We will have a special tour edition of the new album with us for those shows. Check out the "events" page for more information on where and when we're playing.

Early October finds us hitting the rest of the country for about a month and a half. There are some big shows planned for this tour, and in all likelihood they'll be canceled on us at the last minute or something because that's how life treats us. Still, we hope. We're ever-hopeful. Again, keep an eye on the "events" page.

We've played some awesome shows lately. Our good friends from Wichita, Paper Airplanes, were on tour in support of their new album, "Scandal, Scandal, Scandal Down in the Wheatfield." We were set to play four shows with them, but FATE had a different idea.

Vanessa was kind enough to have us at the Fort Gallery. Saything joined us on the bill and it was one loud, dark show. Mark accidentally broke the only light in the room when he tried to do a magic trick or something, so we played without the benefit of being able to see what we were doing. You'd think that, after years of playing our instruments, we'd have some feel for the things, but you'd be surprised. We still found a way to rock toward the light, and we had a great time. The members of L.A. uber-rockstar bigshot group Dusty Rhodes and the River Band were even in attendance. It was clearly the place to be.

The next night we were supposed to play in Monterey, but Paper Airplanes' van broke down in Los Gatos, stranding them at various bars and passed out in the backs of strangers' cars. We continued on and had a really good time hanging out with Cameron and Christy, and playing the show. Thanks to everyone at Monterey Live for being awesome, and to everyone who listened and bought something. Especially the people who bought something.

Since the July 4th show was local, Paper Airplanes had a chance to get their van issues addressed. While that was happening, a monumental rock show went down at El Rio. First and foremost, a huge thanks to Lynne for helping out and being amazing, and for making everything happen. On two stages, San Francisco was treated to Pope of Yes!, I Was Totally Destroying It, a reunited Sky Pilots, Paper Airplanes, Two Sheds, us, and Caves. On top of free barbecue, the folks in attendance couldn't have been luckier. Thank you to everyone who came to the show and for those who wish to seek them out, there are two videos of us from the show on YouTube, shot by the ever-lurking BrOhio.

After a night of raging, and with a fixed van and a brand new bill, the Paper Airplanes/Low Red Land Summer Tour 2K8 rolled into San Jose, excited to play a fun and enjoyable rock show. Nope.

We saw Paper Airplanes on their way the next day and then brushed up on our acoustic skills for a show in Davis at Sophia's Thai Kitchen for Mike Leahy's Cool as Folk. That guy rules, even though we aren't even in his top friends on Myspace. Ahem. Click on that link and check out his deal. We took the long way to get there, to say the least. It wasn't a big deal, though, because we were only crammed with our pal Joel and all of our gear into Liz's Jetta. Mark and I didn't experience awful back pain or anything. We played with Portland's Drunken Prayer, two awesome and very nice folks who were on tour from the comfy confines of the Pacific Northwest. Mike took great care of us, the folks who were in attendance were awesome. We even found a drunk from Massachusetts who indulged us in a spirited Boston talk sesh. I got to say "packy." There were some Australians there, too, and after we talked about boomerangs and being stupid, we were on our way. Again, thanks to Mike, and look out, Davis, we'll be back.

We followed that acoustic show with another special acoustic show at Cafe Du Nord for Raised by Robots and the Paper Sons tour kick-off show. This time, our friends Maura and Sofia joined us for a few songs on violin and cello, respectively. They are sweet people and they were just totally great. Thank you to everyone who came out to the show, thank you to Parker Street Cinema for also playing, and to Cafe Du Nord for having us. The new, fourth member of Low Red Land (acoustic), Mike Chopko, couldn't make the show and has since been fired. It's too bad. He really could have added something to the band. We just can't abide slackers, no matter how big their hearts may be. Someday, maybe...

We've got a couple of shows coming up, one in Sacramento and a special one in San Francisco. We'll be playing on August 14th with Goodness Gracious Me in Sacramento at Old Ironsides. Our friend Jeremy is the mastermind behind that band and we're excited to play with them. On August 24th, we'll be playing the inaugural Treat Street Fair, presented by the hardworking kids in Tartufi and WhizBang Promotions.

To wrap up, thanks to everyone, all 70-something of you, who voted for us in the Deli Magazine's Band of the (half) Month. We totally crushed all those other dweebs and as our reward, the Deli decided to take the jabbiest picture of us in existence and make it into a banner to display on their site for all of eternity. Hooray. Now, if ever you find yourself wondering, "what's up with those Low Red Land guys," you can head over to the Deli's site and look at that picture and say, "oh, yeah, they're probably off being jabronis somewhere."

July 9th, 2008
Lots of overdue updates. First, we recently played the first-ever (and potentially last-ever) rooftop show for the boys and girls of the Bay Bridged. A small and dedicated crowd climbed up onto the roof for some awesome weather, music, and snacks. I think most came for the snacks. It was amazing, we had a great time, and all the thanks goes to Christian and Ben for being awesome guys and for being such great supporters of ours and Bay Area music in general. They recorded the show and the Bank of Karma guys shot it, and the result is below. We have two videos: "Gunfighter's Afternoon" (here titled "Gunfighter's Lament")/"The Duke" and "Goodnight, Moon." There will be many more of these Bay Bridged shows popping up in the future, so keep an eye on the site for some of the best and brightest bands in the Bay Area playing at equally cool locations throughout the city.

July 1st, 2008
We've got a bunch of shows coming up this week, including the 3rd Annual Freedompaloozasplosion show at El Rio (featuring a bunch of awesome bands and one very sneaky reunion). Maybe I'll write a bit about that when I feel like neglecting my responsibilities at work. For now, here's some BIG NEWS:

We've been nominated as Artist of the Month on the Deli SF's website! OMG! We're up against a bunch of bands that I've never heard of, and the mighty Triclops. Those guys rule. Still, you should vote for us. Go here and do it now. Thank you in advance.

June 13th, 2008
One month later...I suppose it could be worse. We could update our site like Mike updates the Jamzone. Here's what's been going on:

The three days we spent at the Hangar went swimmingly, despite the salmonella poisoning I got from Safeway's spicy chicken roll. Gross. Robert Cheek, better known as "the Wizard" or "the creep behind the board who keeps saying really awful things," was an amazing engineer and an overall good guy. We had a great time with him, and the efforts we made in tracking what will become our new album were awesome. Neil will be heading back into the studio in about a week and a half to record vocals and some additional guitar tracks, and I will be doing my time in July. We won't stop until we have an album that totally slays. It is our promise to ourselves and to you.

After recovering from the studio and lingering illness, we hopped on various planes and slept through various in-flight movies to make our New York trip. The first night found us playing in Manhattan with super-bros Appomattox (check out their awesome new album, A O) and their friends, Ladycop, at Arlene's Grocery. We had a great time, especially because there were about a billion other bands playing super-sweet industry showcases at the club that night and they're all going to totally make it and be huge! It's funny how many bands are counting on people loving Coldplay cover songs played by fresh-faced and snazzily-dressed 22-year-olds. Not us. We'll give you the haggard, grizzled old-man rock that you know and love like from us. The show was awesome, we had a great time, and it was a blast to tear it up in New York afterwards. We always have a great time in NYC.

After an eventful morning trying to locate a certain someone, we headed up to the Central Leatherstocking Region to rock our 5th year college reunion. Much to the chagrin of everyone who hasn't seen us in college, we sound nothing like what we did back then, so while we sweated through every layer of clothing we had on in the name of rock, most people milled around, drank, and then went outside where it was much cooler and quieter. No matter. We had a great time. See you crazy kids in 5 years. Thanks to Dave Steadman for hooking everything up. It was great to see so many of our friends back in one place. Thanks to Appomattox, too, for letting us borrow their van and their gear. We played the hell out of their Pole Position game. Anyone wishing to test their Pole Position skills against us is welcome to step up to the plate, but be prepared to get totally wrecked.

We flew back into San Francisco and headed over to the Makeout Room for a show with L.A.-based Death to Anders. They were super nice guys and, as an added bonus, they had Rademacher Mike in tow, running merchandise. Thanks to everyone who came out on a Sunday night.

Our next local shows are scheduled for July. We'll be playing four shows with our friends from Wichita, Paper Airplanes, including an all-out freedom explosion at El Rio on July freakin' 4th. In the meantime, Neil will be heading into the studio to record vocals and addtional guitars. I will be out for the first two weeks of the Run for the Fallen, and then I will be heading into the studio in July to work on my vocals and some additional tracks. Mark will be busy being totally sweet and he'll probably head back into the studio to completely re-track his parts with V-drums.

Before I sign off, I'd like to wish all of our friends who are traveling and touring safe journeys. I just got a text from Jared Scouts Honor that their van got hit by lightning and they blew a tire. If it's not high gas prices making it hard for bands to tour, it's the weather. Screw you, nature, and your rapidly depleting natural resources. That's it for now. Keep an eye out for more frequent updates.

May 13th, 2008
We're gearing up to head back into the studio to restart what will be the new album, "Dog's Hymns." We're very excited. We'll be recording at the Hangar in Sacramento starting on Monday and barreling straight through Wednesday. More session will be booked as needed. We'll be working with the Wizard, the gentleman responsible for the wonderful sounding (and looking) split 7" by Dame Satan and Two Sheds. Expect plenty of in-studio updates and Kyte videos. We love you all.

May 6th, 2008
The last two shows of the tour took place in Pocatello, Idaho. We played a late-afternoon acoustic set at the KISU Really Big Show fundraiser and had a great time. We had to stretch our set time out to 45 minutes, so there was a lot of banter and stupid jokes that only amused us. The crowd was cool, though, and we'd like to extend a big thanks to Levi for having us. I made a joke to him about being really mad that there was no table available for merchandise and that went over like a lead balloon, so I decided to keep it going by telling him that that was the last time we'd ever work with college students. He just looked at me, hurt. You know you're dealing with a very nice person when what seems like obvious joking and sarcasm to you is a knife to their heart. I felt kind of badly.

Eric, Cameron, and Lisa, also known as Finn Riggins, were in town for the same show, and it was good to see them. They've been touring in support of their new album, "A Sailor, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer." They've got some really beautiful merchandise with them on the tour, so go out and pick up something pretty. Unfortunately, they played later because they are big shots, and we had to miss them because we had another show that night at the First National. We got to hang out with them later on in the night, so it all worked out. Our friends, Zach and Caitlyn, showed up just as we were leaving the Really Big Show, so we got to spend some time with them, which was awesome, and they got to see us in all of our smoke-ravaged, hoarse glory that night. The First National show brought us back together with our favorite L.A. superstars, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band. Last we saw them, we had smeared pizza all over the windshield and windows of their van and then shoved said pizza in their door handles, creating a greasy, awful mess that poor Edson had to clean up. We probably went a bit too far, and it was good to see that they were still excited to see us. We love them, for the record. Except Kyle. We REALLY love Kyle. So we rocked out to just about nobody, and then people started to show up after both bands had played their regular sets. We were convinced to get back onstage and play some more music, so we played a couple of covers, Dusty Rhodes played a couple of covers, and then we got together and had a couple mega-band Voltron covers. Then it became a blues jam. People in beards and Carhartts loved it. Thanks to Jamie for having us there and for hooking up the sweet hotel rooms. The late-night pool sesh was dudes-only, because that's how we do it here at LRL Industries. I made a phone call to the room that was given to Dusty Rhodes and made fun of the person who picked up the phone, only to be told later that the front desk had given them a room that already had people in it. Sorry, that guy I woke up and harassed. My bad. After that, it was bed and preparation for the long drive home.

All in all, it was a fun tour. Thanks, again, to the bands, the friends who came out, the people we met, the folks who booked us, and everyone else that I'm not mentioning explicitly. We'll see you on the road again soon.

May 5th, 2008
Happy holiday that I'm told they don't actually celebrate in Mexico. We're home from tour and it was great. Let's recap, shall we?

The promise of that Seattle afternoon spent in Caffe Ladro was fulfilled as we acoustically rocked the faces off of Ian, Larry, Christy, and Dave, the owner of Bop Street Records. They never knew what hit them. Everyone else in the whole world never even knew this was going down, apparently. Dave told me he forgot that we were coming, but it was no big deal because that guy rules and we had a great time. Plus, Ian, Larry, and Christy were there. Good times. After the performance, the bros in attendance headed over to some place that I don't remember and we ate food that was good but sounded waaaay better on the menu. I ordered a fried burger, and I'll pause to let the awesomeness of that concept sink in. There. What I got was fine, I guess, but it just tasted like that burger that you left on the grill too long. Been there, done that. Next.

We loaded into the High Dive at about 8:00 p.m. and we were the first band there. Subsequently, we were the first band to be informed that the show was supposed to start at 8:00 p.m. Everything was cool, though, and soon the kids in the Curious Mystery and Lake of Falcons showed up. The show was awesome. The Curious Mystery vibed everyone's minds out and Lake of Falcons slayed. Thanks to both bands for new music; the albums and 7" are all awesome. Best of luck to the Curious Mystery on the new recording and, please, Lake of Falcons, stay together for the kids. Okay? We can't wait to play more shows with these bands. Thanks to Kyle the girl for coming out to the show (and to New Rock Mitch of Fire for sending her), as well as Lauren "LoCho" Chopko and her friends. Double thanks go to Ian, Larry, and Christy (who was there from Bellingham) for coming to the second show, as well. Also, big ups to Brian from Happy Birthday Secret Weapon and Thom from the Ironclads. Last, but certainly not least, is this guy I only know by Sky. Sky, if you're reading this, you absolutely rule. We owe you a copy of the new album, so come out to another show in the fall.

We crashed with LoCho, but not before Larry, Mark, and Neil had a foot race. Mark won and Neil placed a strong second. Larry claimed he had to hold back because of something about teaching or blah, blah, blah. You lost, buddy. At least you're a good teacher. After a great breakfast with LoCho, we watched Larry teach a philosophy sectional on Jean Jacques Rousseau. I'm not sure if he really expected us to show up when he invited us to his class, but we were there, and the kids didn't seem to mind until the darned Kyte phone rang in the middle of class. Other than that, we were cool as cucumbers and refamiliarized ourselves with Rousseau's State of Nature. After the class, we got some awesome Thai food from Thai Tom's and then hit the road for Spokane.

We got to the Empyrean, loaded in, drank more coffee, and met up with our friend, Rhea. We hung out with her until the show started. We were the only non-acoustic act on the bill, and I'm not sure the folks who were politely seated while we got ready to play were expecting us. But they remained in their seats, looking at us, clapping cordially, as we played way too loudly. They stayed in their seats as we did our MiniVan ending and walked through the audience playing the acoustic "Duke." Even as we stood behind them and played away, they stayed seated, looking straight ahead. It took a few games of free Street Fighter II to shake the weirdness. In honor of the book of Madlibs that Christy gave us in Seattle, I'll describe the rest of the show like this: we played with three (noun)s and they were all very (adjective) and they made us want to (verb) our (noun)s out. After the show we went for unnecessary, but good, barbecue burritos and then went back to Rhea's and crashed.

The drive to Missoula was uneventful, but the town was hopping. Everyone was smiling and the weather was nice, and there were even two girls doing some twirly hippy dance in an alley. It was like a movie. Could it have been that everyone in town was really excited about the first Friend Friend Friend Fest? No. No, they weren't. But we were, and we found Mike (Victory Smokes and Dead Hipster Productions) bartending at the Palace. He and Christopher (also of Victory Smokes and Dead Hipster) put Friend Friend Friend Fest together and we were honored that they thought of us. We hung out with him for a bit and then headed off to find Mark's friend, R.P. R.P. has a friend who is ranked 24th in the world at frisbee golf, which is pretty cool, so we listened to him talk about that for a bit. He was a humble guy, though, so the conversation about that didn't last very long. After the afternoon chill sesh, we headed over to R.P.'s for a moment, had some coffee, and went to check out the festivities at the Badlander. Thanks to everyone at Dead Hipster for having us and Chris, the owner of the Badlander, for being so kind. Thanks to everyone who watched our set, too, including R.P. and Penny. Thanks to Black Velvet Elvis, the Russians, Monofog, and Victory Smokes for sharing the night with us. We had a great time. After the show, we awkwardly partied with a bunch of Missoulans and then went to be way too late.

The rest of the update will come tomorrow because I'm tired and I've been watching every Robocop movie on Starz.

April 30th, 2008
Seeeeeeeeee-attle. Hoo, boy. We're getting juiced in Caffe Ladro, whiling away some time before our acoustic in-store at Bop Street Records. Things are going well. On Tuesday, after a night of making several college freshmen feel uncomfortable during dinner, and then sleeping on the floor of a college double because that is ROCK REALITY, we headed out to the greater Portland area. We hit Vancouver, Washington, for an acoustic show at Moxie's soda shop. Thanks to Mr. Dwayne Spence for setting us up with the show and for playing with us in Lincoln's Beard, and thanks to the Shivas and Love Trucker for sharing the bill. Our good friend "Cowboy" Dan "Eggs Bene" Egan came along for the ride and kept the throngs at bay. Thanks to everyone who came to the show and while we're at it, a big "welcome to the world" to baby Sam. After Moxie's, we headed back into Oregon and loaded into the Towne Lounge.

The Towne Lounge used to be a mortuary, and the stage is where the bodies of the deceased (or comatose, because you know that had to have happened at least once) were presented before internment. Mark thinks the place is haunted. All I know is that one of his cymbals mysteriously fell apart during our set and one of Neil's guitar strings broke while it sat safely in its case. Freaky, right? I know. I am pretty sure that was just a ghastly last-ditch effort by whatever ghouls were doomed to roam around the room searching for the peace they thought would come with death but cruelly eluded them, because the amount of rock that crushed the Towne Lounge last night was excorsizing in proportion. Thank you to Angelo for running sound, to Wax Fingers, His Mischief, and the bros in Ferocious Eagle for playing with us, and to everyone who came to the show.

Post-show found us at the famous Voodoo Doughnuts, being blatantly lied to about there not being any Tex-Ass doughnuts for the Tex-Ass Challenge. We were looking right at them. Now, I'm not the kind of guy who takes pleasure dragging someone's name through the mud, but the girl behind the counter is a filthy liar and we all hate her. It was with barely-controlled rage that I choked down the delicious apple fritter that Gary bought for me.

This morning, after a great breakfast, we said goodbye to Dan and made our way to Seattle. Right now, there's a guy in the coffee shop who has been chatting up whatever lady has been unfortunate enough to take a seat near him. It's one of those things that becomes all you can hear once you notice it. There is some poor Asian woman who is currently suffering his loud come-ons. She just told him she's new to the country. What a welcome.

April 28th, 2008
Almost forgot: the show in Modesto ruled. Thanks a million to Greg and Off The Air for having us, to the folks at Cafe Deva, to Deriva and Sapo Sueno for playing with us, and to Jeff for running sound. Equal thanks to everyone who listened and hung out afterwards, chatting us up and buying our stuff. Nice folk down there in the valley. We had a close call with a cougar, but escaped with only some minor claw marks. No teeth, thank God.

April 28th, 2008
On the road again. We left sunny San Francisco today and now we're at Southern Oregon University right now, chilling with some sweet college bros. We would like to thank Noah for having us here. We played an acoustic set during dinner that was honestly a bit awkward but really fun at the same time, and then we played again on KSKQ, Ashland's community radio station, for Noah's show, You Call This Music? Look for the recording of that show to surface at some point in the near future. We leave Ashland for the northern part of Oregon/southern part of Washington tomorrow. Here are the dates for our quickest tour yet:

April 29th, 6 PM: Vancouver, WA @ Moxie's
April 29th, 9 PM: Portland, OR @ The Towne Lounge (with Ferocious Eagle, His Mischief, and Wax Fingers)
April 30th, 5 PM: Seattle, WA @ Bop Street Records (acoustic)
April 30th, 9 PM: Seattle, WA @ The Hi-Dive (with Lake of Falcons and the Curious Mystery)
May 1st, 8 PM: Spokane, WA @ The Empyrean
May 2nd, ??? PM: Missoula, MT @ The Badlander (Friend Fest)
May 3rd, 4 PM: Pocatello, ID @ KISU's Really Big Show (acoustic, with Finn Riggins and many more)
May 3rd, 9 PM: Pocatello, ID @ The First National (with Dusty Rhodes and the River Band)

We'll be back home shortly, and we've got a special show happening in May that I'll post once I have the details nailed down. It'll be great. Everyone will be able to share in the experience. Get excited.

The show at the Hemlock was awesome. Thanks to everyone who came out, and thanks to Julia for running sound.

Keep watching this site for more updates and our Myspace page for random, stupid videos. Bye.

April 16th, 2008
Quick update: show tomorrow. Hemlock. Or, the Whale, Black Diamond Heavies. 9:30 p.m. We're first. Be there. Jamzone.

March 21st, 2008
We're back from the tour, safe and sound. We had a great time and it was a pleasure to tour with Birds & Batteries. I listened to their new album, "I'll Never Sleep Again," on my walk to work today to make up for no longer being able to see them play every night. (As I'm updating the site, I'm listening to another great San Francisco band's new album, Dame Satan's "Beaches and Bridges." You can stream the whole thing here.)

The trip began in San Francisco at the Knockout. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us off. The sound was a little weird, but the show was fun and it was nice to have Sacramento's the Snobs play with us. The night ended late and the morning began early. Such is life.

We scaled Bernal Hill just after sunrise to strap a trout to fireworks. Long ago, on another coast, a newly-formed Low Red Land and a newly-formed Birds & Batteries celebrated a show well done with a mackerel and a bottle rocket and it was only fitting that we kicked off our impending tour by continuing the dormant tradition. So it was that we attempted to send brave Gil into space. There were problems with the launch, however. First, Neil had to sacrifice his shoelace to make sure Gil stayed atop the rocket securely. Second, we didn't have a proper launching receptacle, so we just stuck the rocket into the ground. Third, the folks walking their dogs around the park weren't really into a fish blowing up in a huge cloud of smoke. Oh, well. You can watch a video of the whole thing on our MySpace page. The Kyte player is right at the top, looking sweet, slowing everything down and letting you glimpse our wild world. We put our Kyte phone to good use. Throughout the trip, we made several other videos, so please check them out. I'll reference a couple more as this progresses.

The drive to San Diego was uneventful, though going through the hills outside of L.A. is pretty cool. The landscape changes in some pretty interesting ways. Some of the hills had streaks of snow and green, some were bare and tan and looked like sleeping lions; California rules. We played at Chaser's in San Diego since Scolari's Office shut down. The show was fun, and a few folks braved the neighborhood to check it out. We weren't scared because we're hardcore to the bone. Thanks to Rosy from San Diego Dialed In for coming out again and writing about the show. It was cool to meet the folks from Swim Party, as well. We stayed with Brian & Batteries' mom and she took great care of us. Thanks go to her for her hospitality.

We hit Tucson, AZ, the next night for a show at the Hut with our friends in Traffic Violator. (I'd link them, but their MySpace i.d. is something weird and I can't seem to find it.) Thanks to Courtney, Brian, and Jenna for being awesome, setting up the show, and for putting us up. The show was fun and I'm sure funny stuff happened that night but I don't remember. We ripped it up at Plush after the show, I told Courtney the story about Bort's home skin-tag surgery, and we crashed.

We had the Tartufi Garmin for the trip, and it told us the fastest way from Tucson to Albuquerque, NM, was through the Gila National Forest. Okay. It was beautiful, though, and quite scenic. Neil got a little queasy from the winding of the road, and we were almost gored by the biggest bull in the world, but we made it. We stopped in Truth or Consequences, NM, home to one of the most sadistic torture-killers in history, for some snacks. There, we encountered the Jamwich and raced to see who could eat one the fastest. Video of the event is on our Kyte page. For those who don't want to waste their time, Mark won. You can read about the Jamwich and the Jamwich contest on the JamZone.

Albuquerque was awesome. We played at the Atomic Cantina. Thanks to Leonard for having us, to Stue for being Stue, to Bellemah and the Oktober People for playing, and to everyone who came out to the show. We love playing in ABQ and it'll be great to get back. After the show, we headed over to Stue's house and inhaled the spread that his wife, Chris, had prepared. Stue and his family have been huge supporters since we first rolled through Albuquerque.

The next morning, we got up, got some exercise, ate some food, and went for a walk. Stue and Chris brought their son, Max, to enjoy the weather, and if it wasn't for the huge dust devil that formed and then shot straight toward them, he might have enjoyed it. Thinking quickly, Stue and Chris covered Max up and he was fine. Dust devils are crazy and get you really dirty. It's a good thing that Max had a couple clean, brand-new Birds & Batteries and Low Red Land onesies to wear (available on request!).

We made our way to Amarillo for our show at the 806. Thanks to Jason for having us back and for helping get the word out to local press. Thanks to all of the people who came out to see the show, bought some stuff, and got some new music. Again, we had a great time and can't wait to get back to Amarillo. More like Ama-Rule-O, am I right? This was also the first night that we decided to rip off MiniVan, to great success. Thanks, guys.

We ventured deeper into Texas and hit Club Dada in Dallas. Thanks to Michelle, the ever-supportive bartender from down under, Bobcat the Smoking Hat, Neil and Sarah (we love you guys), and Amanda for booking us. We played the first of three shows with Telegraph Canyon. We had heard tell of how nice those guys and gals were, and it was all true. Thanks, especially, to Chris for being an awesome host, and to Eric for recording our show. We headed back to Neil and Sarah's after the show and met the little dog they found wandering their neighborhood. He had some very obvious health problems so they took him to the vet and they arranged for surgery because they are good people with enormous hearts. Again, go to our Kyte page to see a video (3/16/08) that features the dog and adopt him if you live in Texas. He's pretty cute.

We headed to Ft. Worth early the next evening for our show at the Chat Room Pub. That place rule. Thanks to Brad and Ben and Jake (Io?) for making us feel right at home, and thanks to everyone who crowded into that place for the show. It should be noted that Birds & Batteries killed it that night, and had been killing it every night before, and continued to kill it every night afterward. It's awesome to be on tour with a band that we love as people and musicians.

We crashed (briefly) at Neil and Sarah's again and then got up a couple of hours later to head to Austin to begin our South by Southwest experience of 2008. On the way to Austin, Mark and Neil hit a Wal-Mart and a Flying J for pellet guns and cowboy hats, respectively. Upon arrival in Austin, a shootout of epic proportions took place on an otherwise quiet, suburban street. Watch the "Texas, TX" Kyte video to see for yourself. We then headed in to the studio to track two songs fro Bryan Ohio's upcoming "Ohio Session" compilation. Everything went smoothly and we're looking forward to getting our hands on the comp. After whiling away the afternoon hours, we headed over to Kick Butt Coffee for a brief acoustic performance. Then it was off to downtown Austin to totally impress tons of famous producers and hotshots. It was drinks in one posh hotel suite after another, free stuff from all the hottest industry parties. We can't help it if everyone wants a piece of the LRL pie. We're marketable. We finally pried ourselves loose from fame's clutches and headed to Julie's cousin's awesome house on the outskirts of Austin for some rest and relaxation.

We did a bunch of stuff and junk the next day and then played at the Parlor with Nakatomi Plaza. Thanks to the boys in Appomattox for coming out to the show (check out their new album, "A O," it's great) and to Anna for showing up, as well. Thanks to Singer and Rey for hooking us up. The show was hot as all get-out (it's a pizza place, after all, and it was already a billion degrees in Austin), and I accidentally bit the microphone during our last song (whoops), leaving a tiny bit of my top and bottom front teeth behind. Pleasant.

We chilled hard the next day before our show at Clementine Coffee Bar. Sarah from So Many Bands was celebrating her 5-year anniversary and we were honored to play the show. This was the first we'd seen of sweet bros Scouts Honor since we parted ways in the fall, and they were great. It was awesome to see those guys again. Thanks to Sarah, Justin, Anna, and everyone else at the show. We were supposed to play a house party at the Comal House afterwards, but that never materialized, so we met up with our friends in Dusty Rhodes and the River Band and hit the town. It was awesome to see them again and spend some time catching up. That's what made SXSW so fun. It wasn't the shows (though they were enjoyable), and it wasn't the unfulfilled promises of "I'll totally hook you up, bro" (surprise); it was seeing all of our friends. Appomattox, Scouts Honor, Dusty Rhodes, Christian and Ben from the Bay Bridged, Joel, Bryan, Val, Sarah, Justin, and, of course, Birds & Batteries.

Our last day in Austin found us sweltering in the parking lot of Monkey Wrench Books for Bryan Ohio's Political Party afternoon show. We treated everyone to our pale, shirtless bodies because it was hotter than the surface of the sun. Thanks to Scouts Honor and Dusty Rhodes and the River Band for the back-ups on "Landmark." Jared from SH took some video of us playing "Dog's Hymn" from that show, and you can find that on YouTube.

We packed up our gear after the show and headed to Denton, TX, for our show at Dan's Silverleaf. Thanks to Jimmy for running sound and to Neil and Sarah for coming out to another show. We were all pretty beat from the day's events and were glad to head back to their comfortable house once again.

In the morning, after some Kyte-filmed breakfast craziness, we headed to Tulsa, OK, for our show at the Soundpony Lounge. Tulsa's always been kind to us, and even though this show was mostly attended by the other bands, the die-hards were in attendance, along with Drew and Becca and Brooklyn' Mussels. We ate lots of free hot dogs and watched Appomattox and Birds & Batteries play great sets. It was a pretty relaxed show. Everyone was doing their best to make everyone else laugh as they played, and the night was very loose and fun. We were running our own sound and that provided us the perfect opportunity to play the only prank of the trip on Birds & Batteries. Jill, B&B's bass player, uses a potato shaker on their new jam, "Industry," and she plays it very well. We got to wondering: if Jill plays a potato shaker so well, how well could she play an actual potato? Mark grabbed a spud at the store and the plan was set in motion. Our first attempt to swap it out was totally foiled (likely due to us not having a plan going in), but during their set it became necessary to make sound adjustments. As I was fiddling with the levels of the p.a. during their set, I made the switch. We caught the ensuing reaction on film (though it has yet to make its way online). The expression on Jill's face when she realized it was a real potato was pretty funny. Whatever trust we may have established might have dissolved, but it was worth it. Oh, and then Drew showed us a picture of his hemorrhoid. Great. After the show we headed out in search of some motel rooms. After being denied at the Super 8 (turns out they had rooms, but may have been turned off by three bands rolling up in vans), we headed over to our beloved Motel 6 and hit the hay.

Wichita, KS, went off. Thanks to Marcus from Paper Airplanes for setting up the show, and his wife, Megan, for being cool all around. The guys who worked at the Eagles Lodge were awesome, and thanks to Tony and everyone else who came out to the show. We split up after the show, some going to hang out with some of the Paper Airplanes guys and some of us going to crash with Katy. She had a little dog that was a Japanese breed. It looked kind of like Falcor and kind of like a koi fish, and it howled very quietly. It seemed very happy. Best of luck to Katy in Iceland.

The trek to Denver, CO, was uneventful (which is never a bad thing). When we got to the Larimer Lounge, we got out, stretched our legs, played some Ms. Pac-Man (they have a great machine), and watched some folks play Guitar Hero. Thanks to Bela Karoli for playing with us. Thanks, as well, to Brian and Aya, Taylor and Andy, Emily, Beth, Reed (R.I.P. DDC), Rich, and everyone else who came out to the show. We headed back to Rich's place after the show and lived in his lap of luxury.

Rich sent us on our way with some coffee and kind words, and we headed to Salt Lake City, UT. Our show had been pseudo-scheduled for Monk's, then rescheduled to No Brow Coffee, where we had played an acoustic set on the fall tour. The show sort of fell through the cracks, though, and rather than unpack and play to nobody, we decided to go hang out at our friend Bo's house and then have dinner at the One World Cafe. Afterward, Mark and Neil went out on the town while I made it an early evening. They told me they encountered some witches. Sounds like I made the right decision.

The tour came to a close last night in Sacramento, at Old Ironsides. We ended it the same way we started it, with the Snobs. Thanks to Larry for running sound, the guys who worked at Old I, and everyone who came to see us play (Jeff, Ruthie, Jeremy, Candice, Charlotte, Julia, the really drunk guy, and Johnny and Caitlin Sheds). During the Snobs' set, I watched this guy who looked like an old, grizzled prospector really get into the music. It probably helped that he was wasted. He would stand still for long periods of time and then move like he was in one of those old silent movies where the action is all sped up and there's some guy fretting over something or other. He also wore suspenders that were attached to a belt. Amazing. At one point, he started caressing the back and hair of the guy next to him, who was trying hard to pretend like he didn't notice. Then he passed out on a bench. Afterward, as we were hanging out before heading home, a man named Javier came up to us and told us that we reminded him of Quicksilver Messenger Service and Blue Cheer. He said we reminded him of Blue Cheer because we used the whole room as an instrument. That's awesome.

So that was the tour. We're home now, back to work and all of that. Keep an eye out for new things in the future. Take care.

March 11th, 2008
The tour is going well. An update is coming soon. We've added two more shows to the SXSW portion of our tour, so here is the revised itinerary for all of you who are in Austin:

3/12: Kick Butt Coffee @ 6:00 p.m.
3/13: The Parlor @ 7:00 p.m.
3/14: Kick Butt Coffee @ 3:00 p.m.
3/14: Clementine Coffee Bar @ 5:30 p.m.
3/14: The Comal House @ 8:00 p.m. (acoustic show)
3/15: Room Service Vintage @ 1:00 p.m.

There you go. Come see us. Like I said, updates are coming soon.

February 27th, 2008
Thanks to everyone who came to Rockin' Java last night, and thanks to Chase, Jeremy, and everyone else who works there for having us. We had a great time, and the show was awesome. Thanks to Gregory Michael (one of Rockin' Java's own) and Skyler Stonestreet (on tour from Los Angeles) for starting it off. Both of them have great voices and they're doing their thing a lot, so go check them out. We played, had a good time, and I called everyone ugly. Standard show. Birds & Batteries hit the stage (well, 3/5 of them) and played their first-ever acoustic show, and it was beautiful. I really wish we could have recorded it. I hope it becomes more of a regular thing for them. We're going to get them to play an acoustic show with us at the Ghost Mansion in the spring. Keep an eye out.

That's it for now. Tour kick-off next week. Be there.

February 25th, 2008
We've just confirmed an acoustic set tomorrow (the 26th) at Rockin' Java Cafe in the Haight, right next door to Amoeba Records. It's free, it's early, it's with Birds & Batteries (who will be making their acoustic debut), it's free, and it's free, so make your way past all of the fake gutter-punk kids with secret trust funds to enjoy some coffee or tea or whatever and our music. It'll be great. While you're there, you can pick up a copy of our first acoustic EP, out now on Ghost Mansion Records.

The show in Merced was a ton of fun. Thanks to RC for being awesome, for having us, for running sound, and for taking great care of us (check out his band, El Olio Wolof). Everyone in Merced was wicked nice, though I hear the Chinese food around the corner from the Partisan could use a little work. You really, really have to chew their green beans, like, a lot. Thanks to Candace for coming along and for taking some sweet video of us playing. We'll be posting that on our Kyte channel (viewable on our MySpace page, our Facebook page, and on the Kyte site).

There's a new show posted to our SXSW Tour itinerary, a house party on the 14th of March at the Comal House. We'll be doing an acoustic set, so you can see us play electric earlier in the day and then catch a different vibe in the evening. We define versatility.

That's about it for now. The tour starts next week with the show at the Knockout. Come on out and wish us well, and if we're swinging through your city or town, come out and say hi. Take it easy.

February 22nd, 2008
We're pleased to announce that we're officially working with Kyte. Kyte is a new music media site that is designed to give bands and artists (and, I suppose, people in general) a way to create and share videos with friends and fans. They're working with people like 50 Cent and Against Me!, and, for some reason, us. I'm not sure how we ended up on their radar, but huge thanks go to Gabe for being awesome and for hooking us up. He gave us a Nokia video phone and we'll be taking it with us to South by Southwest. With a few button-pushes, we're able to record video and upload it to the Kyte section of our MySpace page. It's incredibly convenient and pretty cool. You can even leave comments on the page regarding the videos. Gabe took some footage of us at our recent acoustic performance at El Metate, so you can watch that along with a video of us being totally boring awesome in our practice space. This is probably going to result in us taking a ton of footage of nothing, but that will at least give you a relatively accurate depiction of what our band life is like in general.

Speaking of the El Metate show, it went off, and we'd like to thank Francisco for having us (and feeding us), everyone who came out to the show, and Dame Satan and Bob America for playing with us. A show recap, photos, and full set downloads from Dame Satan and LRL can be found at the Ghost Mansion Records website. Stop on by and check it out. Dame has a new album coming out in April called "Beaches and Bridges" and it's totally awesome. Hold your breath for that. Again, the show was awesome, and there will be more in the future. I'm getting all excited just remembering it. I love El Metate.

We also recently played Club Pow! at the Press Club in Sacramento. We were joined by San Francisco's Birdmonster, who we haven't seen in years. It was good to play with those guys again. Both of our bands have changed pretty dramatically since the last time we shared the stage. Thanks to Club Pow! and the Press Club for having us (everyone there is so nice, it's great to play there), thanks to Clay for running sound and to the fill-in Ira for filling in fantastically for Ira, and everyone who came out to the show, including Jeremy and crew, Kelly, Candace and crew, and the kids in Birds & Batteries, who stopped by to drop Julie off on their way home from their Northwest mini-tour. We'll be back in Sacramento on March 20th, at Old Ironsides, to close out our upcoming South by Southwest tour with Birds & Batteries.

We're in Merced, CA tomorrow, at the Partisan. If you're in the area, come on out. We've heard nothing but good things about shows at the Partisan, and we're looking forward to it. After that show, we've got an acoustic show on February 26th at Rockin' Java on Haight Street (right next to Amoeba Records). Birds & Batteries is on the bill, too, performing as an acoustic trio. It promises to be a great night.

After that, it's the Knockout on March 5th, and then we're on tour. Check the "events" page for the complete itinerary. We're extremely excited to head back out on the road with our friends in Birds & Batteries. The tour promises to be great, and we're looking forward to running into a lot of old friends along the way.

That's about it. Oh, we now have a Facebook page. I know, I know. I'm sad, too, but it makes sense. It seems that everyone in the world is on that thing, so we might as well have some presence there. So now you can "poke" us or send us virtual plants or whatever other crap people do on that site that I don't understand. It'll be great.

Take care, everyone. Come out to shows, say hi.

February 19th, 2008
Please note: all Missoula, Missouri shows have been reschedule to Missoula, Montana. Adjust travel plans accordingly.

Maybe there will be an actual update when I find some time.

February 7th, 2008
Thanks to everyone who came out last night. It was sort of a last-minute show, and we're really happy that the night went as well as it did. We had a great time playing, and thanks to everyone at the Elbo Room, including Will the sound guy, for having us. There was some unfortunate ugliness as the feud with Pants Pants Pants became public. I'd like to take this opportunity to set the record straight. We've known these kids for a while, and we've always tried to be cool with them. When we first moved to San Francisco, we hung out with Steve and the others from Pants Pants Pants because we had crossed paths years before, and they were nice then. Everything was cool, and we played some shows together. Soon, though, things got a little prickly. We were asked to do a show at a club that won't be named and we accepted. It turns out that Pants Pants Pants had been asked to do the show, too, but we accepted first, so they didn't get to do it. It wasn't a situation of us stealing a show from them; we really didn't know they had been asked and that it was a first-come, first-served kind of situation. Steve got really angry about it and actually called the club pretending to be one of us, mouthing off to whoever he could keep on the phone long enough. After several of these calls, there was a slip-up and he was found out. We didn't take it nearly as seriously as Steve did, so we brushed it off in hopes of continuing our friendship. So, the show rolls around, and we're loading into the club. We see Steve, we say hi, and we talk for a bit. I left my bass with the rest of our gear and went back outside to attend to the van. I forgot the keys, though, and on my way back inside, I caught Steve breaking two of the strings on my bass. I couldn't believe it. We're getting ready for a show, and here he is, literally sabotaging my instrument. I confronted him and he said, "That's how I play the game," made some aggressive hand gesture, and ran out. Since that point, a number of other situations have occurred, and we've done a decent job keeping it under wraps because we don't want to smear someone else's name, and we don't like the drama. Now that it's out, though, we wanted to state our side of the story so that everyone knows what's up. We normally stay above this stuff, but this couldn't be helped.

Okay, enough of that. We hope to see everyone next weekend at El Metate for some acoustic jams and burrito madness. Take care.

January 28th, 2008
Thank you to everyone who came out on Saturday night. The show was a great welcome back to San Francisco. Thank you, as well, to Form and Fate and The Aimless Never Miss for sharing the bill with us. It was a great night that ended with Mark only losing some of his mustache hair. Our next show is Wednesday, February 6th at the Elbo Room. Make sure you're there or Mark will rip your nuts off. More shows have been added to the "Events" page, as well. The winter and spring are rapidly filling up, so make sure to keep an eye out for us in your town.

January 25th, 2008
I almost forgot...our friends over at the Bay Bridged, Christian and Ben, named us as one of their Top 12 of 2007 (along with Tartufi, Birds & Batteries, and Or, the Whale), because we're so awesome and funny and amazing. If you haven't heard our episode of the podcast, you can locate it, along with the others in the Top 12, here. Happy internetting, everyone.

January 25th, 2008
Here's the agenda: the last of the tour updates; what's been going on since tour; what's coming up. Ready? Here we go.

After San Diego, we made our way to the City of Angels to play a show at the Viper Room. We arrived early in the day and spent time with our friends Mike, Cameron and Brandon. We watched the Patriots win, ate a bunch of salsa con queso, and relaxed a little before wandering the Venice Beach boardwalk. Walking around was like stepping into the beginning of any 80s movie that wanted to establish that California was a really crazy place filled with a lot of crazy people, only with modern, more stupid haircuts. Muscle Beach was a little disappointing, and we didn't see Wesley Snipes or Woody Harrelson hustling anyone on the courts. Oh, well. Walking around later that night, we did see Ron Jeremy enjoying a latte and Nikki Sixx (he was eating pizza at the Rainbow Room. Stars - They're Just Like Us!) We also were accosted on the street by what we thought was a homeless man waving papers, but was actually Corey Feldman Corey Haim Corey Feldman trying to get someone to pick up his new screenplay. I read it, and I'm not sure if anyone's really going to be that interested. This joke isn't funny and I'm too tired to continue it.

The show at the Viper Room was interesting. They make you use all of their gear, which is cool because they know how to run the sound, but also weird because we really like our gear and we're used to it. Aside from that disconnect, the show was fun. We played first on a bill of about, oh, one billion or so bands, which is exactly what everyone wants to see on a Sunday night. Thanks to Dennis for coming out and bringing Stu, thanks to Mike, Cameron, Brandon, and their friends, thanks to Sam and his friend whose name slips my mind, to Brendan and Kathy for coming and taking pictures, to Michelle and her boyfriend for coming up from San Diego, to Pete for coming and not only supporting New England sports but for also housing us (next time, maybe we WILL burn down your house) and to everyone else to who came to the show. Thanks, as well, to everyone at the Viper Room. After the show, we hung out at the Rainbow Room, chilled at Pete's for a while and then fell asleep.

We made the drive to Sacramento for our final show of the trip. It was sort of surreal, knowing that when we finished that night's show, we wouldn't have to play another one the next day, or even for the next month and a half. It was time to be home, though, and it was awesome to play at Club Pow! at the Press Club. We played with Ihabial, a new band out of Sacto, and had a great time. Thanks to everyone there for making us feel at home and for treating us so well. Thanks to Julie, Kelly, and Candace (and her crew) for coming out to see the show.

And then that was that. 3 months on the road, done and gone. All in all, it was a successful tour. We met a lot of great people, strengthened a lot of bonds, and lived it up. There were constant reminders of why it was so great to be in a band, why we're so fortunate to have each other, and why we're so fortunate to have the friends (in and out of bands) and family that we have. Thank you, again, to everyone who came to a show, played with us, hung out with us, put us up, fed us, bought something, put on a show, and generally supported us. We can't wait to see you again.

So, what's been going on since we've returned? Well, at first, a whole lot of nothing. We needed a bit of a break, and we took it. LRL Industry Co., Inc. is up and running again, though. We've been secretly spending time in the studio at Secret Studios, shaking the rust off of the material you know and putting a gleam on some new stuff. We've got some local shows coming up, including an acoustic show at El Metate which is absolutely going to slay. We're planning our trip to South by Southwest with the ever-awesome Birds & Batteries. We've got a trip to Montana planned for May which will see us perform at Best Friend Fest with a ton of awesome bands. We're also planning the rest of our spring/summer agenda. It's going to go off. Here's the upcoming events as they stand, so mark your calendars:

1/26 (tomorrow): El Rio in San Francisco, CA (with The Aimless Never Miss and Form And Fate)
2/6: The Elbo Room in San Francisco, CA (with People Noise [ex-VHS or Beta])
2/16: El Metate in San Francisco (special acoustic show/dinner extravaganza with Dame Satan and Bob America)
2/23: The Partisan in Merced, CA
SXSW Tour 2008
3/7: The Hut in Tucson, AZ (with Birds & Batteries and Traffic Violator)
3/8: The Atomic Cantina in Albuquerque, NM (with Birds & Batteries, more TBA)
3/9: The 806 in Amarillo, TX (with Birds & Batteries, more TBA)
3/10: Club Dada in Dallas, TX (with Birds & Batteries and Telegraph Canyon)
3/11: The Chat Room Pub in Ft. Worth, TX (with Birds & Batteries and Telegraph Canyon)
3/12: Somewhere in Austin, TX, recording two tracks of pure awesomeness
3/15: Monkey Wrench Book in Austin, TX (with Scouts Honor, more)
3/15: Dan's Silverleaf in Denton, TX (with Birds & Batteries and Telegraph Canyon)
3/16: The Soundpony Lounge in Tulsa, OK (with Birds & Batteries)
3/17: The Eagles Lodge in Wichita, KS (with Birds & Batteries and Paper Airplanes)
3/18: The Larimer Lounge in Denver, CO (with Birds & Batteries)
3/19: Monk's in Salt Lake City, UT (with Birds & Batteries)
3/20: Old Ironsides in Sacramento, CA (with Birds & Batteries)
4/25: Off The Air @ Cafe Deva in Modesto, CA
5/1: The Empyrean in Spokane, WA
5/2: Best Friend Fest in Missoula, MO
5/3: Best Friend Fest in Missoula, MO

That's what's up. Keep an eye on the events page for more shows, as there will certainly be more booked, and keep checking back for more information about the other crazy crap we'll be doing. Later.

January 9th, 2008
Happy belated New Year! Hooray! We're finally updating. First things first: the rest of the tour rundown:

Tulsa, Oklahoma has been good to us. Specifically, the fine folks at the Sound Pony Lounge. Not only do they give us all of the free hot dogs we can eat until they run out of hot dogs because we ate all of them, they also provide some great company and are extremely welcoming. It's been long enough since we've been there that I've (temporarily) forgotten the name of the guy who owns the place, but man, that guy is awesome. We decided to play acoustic because it was a Monday night and we didn't want to kill everyone with volume. We played, everyone was awesome and gathered around, people bought stuff, and then a full-fledged talent show broke out, complete with a guy playing a couple of songs on acoustic guitar, some classical piano playing on a tiny hideaway piano, and a girl dance-walking across the bar. Afterwards, we crashed with some very nice women (whose names also slip my mind because I waited too long to update this) who showed us around town the next day. They were cool, too.

After breakfast, we headed to Amarillo, Texas, for our show at the 806 coffee shop. We played acoustic again, and it was another awesome show. People tend to be a lot more responsive to a live show that allows them to get closer to the musicians. Every time we play acoustic (and there are actually people there), a nice crowd develops. It's a very cool experience. We got hooked up at the 806, too, so thanks to them for the hospitality.

The next day found us in Albuquerque, New Mexico, home of the Grumblin' Stus. We played at the Atomic Cantina, and just around the corner, there was a MAJOR HOLLYWOOD MOVIE PICTURE filming. It's apparently called "The Game," it stars the guy from "300," it's not based on Michael Douglas's movie "The Game," and it involves some sort of update of "The Running Man" set in a futuristic prison. Sounds great. There were destroyed cars stacked up on one end of the street, creating a barrier that made seeing anything substantial almost impossible. We waited around with a small crowd of Albuquerquians (that doesn't seem right, but it's better than the other option) and watched as they prepped to film a scene. An eternity later, there was a call for everyone to move further back, so we moved, and then they called "action." Smoke billowed and flames leapt about as the post-apocalyptic city scape came to harrowing life. One could almost get a sense of what the end of the urban world would be like. Then, in a gap between the cars and a building, we saw a guy with a gun run out of a shop just before the most underwhelming explosion I believe I've seen popped greenish fire out of a window. Then the scene was over, all 3 seconds of it. They went back to prepping for the next take or something, and we went back to the club. We played an acoustic set, and then Bellemah played, and then we played an electric set. Bellemah was awesome, and it should be said that Bellemah's drummer, Stu, is awesome all around. He's been a huge supporter of our since we hit ABQ last year. Not only did the man run sound for the show, not only did he play in the show, not only did he record the show, not only did he hype the hell out of the show and get a bunch of people out, but he also bought us a pizza. What a guy. Thanks to everyone who came out and to everyone at the Atomic, especially Leonard and Stu. We crashed with some folks from the show (again with forgetting the names) and this dog that chews on rocks tried to hump my arm. That'll be a story that I bust out on my kids when they try to act like their dad was never cool. I was in a touring band!

The next day, we played in Tucson, Arizona, at Cafe Passe with our friend, Courtney Robbins. Thanks to Courtney for playing the show, for bringing out the crowd, and for hanging out afterwards while we enjoyed our time in Tucson. Thanks to Cafe Passe for having us, as well. We stayed with Neil's friend Maya's parents, who were awesome and had a great place out in the desert. While on the lookout for javelinas, we watched part of "Hot Shots: Part Deux" and all of the Martin Lawrence epic "Blue Streak." I tried to wash the accumulated cigarette smoke out of my pillow and ended up with a shredded case and handfuls of stuffing. I took that as a sign that my luck was running out. It was a good thing the tour was drawing to a close.

We headed to our show in Phoenix , Arizona, through the rain. When we got to the Casa Blanca Lounge, we found out that the show was effectively canceled, so we spent a few minutes obtaining the high scores in all of the major categories on the bar's trivia machine, and then we headed to San Diego. Thanks to Shannon for opening her home to us very late at night/very early in the morning.

Shannon played host to us the next day, as well, taking us around town and showing us how she's living now that she's back on the mainland. We got some exercise, got some ice cream, went to a restaurant that allows you to grill your own steaks, and then headed over to Scolari's Office. Before the show started, we went to get coffee, and I ended up in a conversation with a nice, older gentleman by the name of Nathaniel. We talked about the coming holiday and he asked what brought me to San Diego. I told him I was in a band and that we were playing down the street. Nathaniel, it turns out, is the founder of the National Friendship Society, and he was looking to induct new members. He was a bit disheartened by the fact that the Society had only garnered 658 members in its 2-year existence, but when I pointed out that that was nearly a new member a day, he became excited and said he wanted to induct me as the newest member. Once I recited the solemn pledge to be friendly, I was also given the power to induct new members. Later, Nathaniel was found at the show, repeatedly asking the bass player for the first band if he knew where I was. We played with Death on Mars and The Long and Short of It, two awesome bands and a bunch of awesome dudes. Thanks to those guys for playing with us and thanks to Shannon for getting a ton of folks out to the show. We had a great time and it'll be awesome to go back.

I've got less time than I thought I would. The update will be finished soon. I'm at work and I just told the guy on the phone that I thought was a telelmarketer never to call back. He called back and it turns out he's not a telemarketer but he's very angry and won't let me take a message. Great. I'm fired.

December 3rd, 2007
So, Brooklyn went off. Huge thanks to Jonah and the rest of the Magnetic Field crew for having us, and thanks to everyone who came out to the show. Every time we hit New York, people come out of the woodwork, and it's always great to see our friends and meet new folks. There are too many people to name, but we're glad to have seen them all. We spent the night out with some cool folks, including our bros in Appomattox, and then retired to Bed-Stuy to end a late night. The next day, we got up, got some exercise, played some stump, and then eventually made our way to Manhattan for our show at Lit Lounge with two of our favorite people ever, Tartufi.

Lit Lounge has two levels, and the music takes place underground, in what can best be described as a concrete sound tunnel. After Names Can Own warmed up the crowd (thanks to those guys, by the way, for introducing us to the Tuck Shop, a cafe that serves Australian meat pie cuisine that totally rules), Tartufi pummeled everyone with their polyrhythmic, layered mayhem. I hope people took advantage of the free earplugs that were provided, because we didn't give an inch in the volume game, either. There were some sound issues, probably due to us playing so loudly, but I hear that the weird EQ on our vocals sounded cool and everyone thought we did it on purpose. Thank you to everyone from Lit, except for those who can't stand the idea of two friends who haven't seen each other in a long time saying hi to each other while they passed on the stairs. Thank you to everyone who came to the show, as well. Again, there were a ton of people there that we love, and some new friends, and even our favorite Alaskans. It would take up a lot of space to name them all, and don't you want to spend your time reading about our misadventures, anyway?

Let's hope some misadventures lay ahead in this update.

After a night of shouting to people in a crowded club in NYC, I blew out my voice and croaked my way through the Band in Boston podcast the next day. Jen and Andy have a great place in Somerville and they bring bands in to play sets in their living room, which comes stocked with a bunch of guitars and other instruments, including a mini drum kit. They were really hospitable and I sincerely hope that they salvaged something from our time with them. After we left Somerville, we were faced wtih a night off. The four nights in New York found us staying up way too late and sleeping way too little, and they definitely took their toll on us. We were feeling pretty beat, so we decided to go see a movie. We didn't think "No Country For Old Men" was out yet (it was), so we saw "Beowulf." If you've seen the movie, I'm sorry. If you haven't, let me save you some time: a bunch of actors get all clunkily CGI'ed up to bore you to death with "provocative" computer nudity, hasty and sloppy fight sequences, and curiously delivered dialogue that manages to make the epic poem seem even longer. I hear you're supposed to see the movie in IMAX 3-D to get the full effect, but I imagine that would just make you feel like you were really, really immersed in a world of suffocating boredom.

After the movie, Neil and I tore it up at our friend Christina's 30th 21st birthday, while Mark tried unsuccessfully to spend a relaxing evening with some of his friends. While Mark was taught the ways of "The Game," Neil and I hammered down on some free sushi, wings, cheesecake, and other treats. Aside from the food, I'm glad we could be there to celebrate with some friends that we don't get to see very often. Happy birthday, Christina.

We enjoyed one more afternoon in Boston before heading to Kingston, Rhode Island, to play at the 193 Degree Coffeehouse at the University of Rhode Island. Thanks to the kids there for having us and playing before us, and thanks to Kate for giving us Hamburger Helper. I got to read about new inventions that will be gracing our society in the near future, including a book vending machine, while people trickled in to the coffee shop. We were up against Third Eye Blind, an arguably bigger San Francisco band who was blandly crooning at some arena or something on campus, so there weren't many people there to see us, but I like to think that the expressions of confusion and light applause from those who came meant that they really liked and understood what we're going for. Our friend Dana made the trek from Connecticut just in time to see us hit the last few notes of "Wovoka" and say goodnight. Thanks to her for being a trooper, albeit a surprise one, and for coming to the show. Hopefully, next time won't be so brief.

We drove to New Hampshire and stayed at Mark's house that night, and got up nice and early to head to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for our afternoon appearance on WSCA-LP, Portsmouth's community radio station. Thanks to Rick for having us and Deb for taking pictures. We had a great time and managed to get three very polite noise complaints. Apparently, the studio is housed in the same building as some architects, a lawyer, and the Big Brothers office, and apparently, those people find it hard to work when there are three guys making a whole lot of racket in the name of live afternoon radio. What can we say? We didn't do any screamy or distorted songs. We even tried to turn down. Oh, well. We're rock and roll dreamers and we can't help it if we freak out the man.

After the radio show, we met up with Neil's sister, Autumn, and went to Bugaboo Creek to find out how the moose met the goose. Then we found out that we got free food from the taqueria downstairs from the Red Door, where we were playing. Figures. The Red Door show was pretty fun. Thanks to Joe from "Playing with Knobs" for running sound, and for everyone who came out. My family was there and it was great to see them. Thanks to Matt for bringing out a couple of people from Massachusetts, and thanks to Rick for coming to the show for a double dose of Low Red Land. We were lucky to share the show with our old friends, Turtlebone, and they were great. They have a new album out called "Ramble + Sigh" and I highly recommend checking them out and picking up the album. It was awesome to see those guys again and awesome to play with them. We played a toned-down set, as the Red Door is pretty small and we didn't really feel like killing everyone with volume. It was a lot of fun, and a good way to leave the tour for our brief Thanksgiving break.

We spent the next few days with our families, and it was good to be home. There is nothing like seeing the people you love the most, especially if you spend most of the year on the opposite coast.

We picked up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving with a show in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, at Bart & Urby's. Thanks to Dustin for putting the show together, and thanks to Brian for having us. We opened the show with an acoustic set, and then played an electric set after Jon Sordoni. Thanks to the Thompsons and the Clearys for coming out and for their hospitality. Thanks to Erin and Liz for coming out to the show. We seem to have picked up a stale beer and cigarette stench in the few soft cases we use to store our equipment, which is the sole downside of the show. Otherwise, our time in NEPA was spent eating, sleeping, eating again, exercising, eating, eating, watching "No Country For Old Men" (what a sweet movie), sleeping, eating, and watching the Patriots barely win.

After a day off in NEPA, we headed to Charlottesville, Virginia, for our show with Fingerpainters at the Outback Lodge. Thanks to everyone who came to the show and to the staff at the Outback for being awesome. Fingerpainters were great and a bunch of good dudes, so go on over to their page if you have the time and give them a listen. They hate the Magnetic Fields. Shouldn't that be good enough for you? Thanks to John for coming out to the show and for putting us up.

We made our way from Virginia to Nashville, Tennessee, to find out that our show at the Muse had been double-booked and that the booker hadn't let the club know that we were coming. Luckily, the staff at the Muse was accommodating and one of the bands on the bill had canceled, so we played at the tail-end of a punk show. We stuck out like sore thumbs, which has never, ever happened before, but the kids stuck around and we'd like to thank them for that. As Neil pointed out, there was some irony (the delicious kind) in the fact that we were playing a Pink Floyd cover in front of a bunch of kids who had previously covered a Sex Pistols song, a band formed around their hatred of Floyd. I don't think anyone noticed. Thanks to Andy and Family Plot, the kids in the Fakes, and to the soundguy. Thanks to Alec for coming out to the show and bringing some friends. After the show, we went to some cafe, ate sandwiches and tried in vain to break the high score on the touch-screen trivia game. Before the machine took all of our money, we headed back to Alec's and hit the hay. Thanks to him for all of the hospitality and the all-around good-guy-ness.

After Nashville came Shreveport, Louisiana, and the Jackrabbit Lounge. On the way there, we stopped in Arkansas and ate some really awesome roadside barbecue and texted Arkansas Hipshot to tell him that his home state was all right by us. The folks at the Jackrabbit were great, and we had a good time playing for them. Word on the street was that Chloe Sevigny was in town, shooting a movie, and that she was going to come to the club after the day wrapped. We all waited with baited breath, but she didn't show up. It was crushing. That might have been the breaking point of the tour. After being on the road for so long, you start to get worn down, and when you hear that a semi-famous, indie-movie starlet might show up at the club you're playing and then she doesn't, well, let me tell you, it rends the soul in twain. So, we gathered up our things and our new friend Cables and kept him awake long enough to get us to his house, where we spent the night lamenting our extreme loss. In the morning, we got ourselves together and left for Texas.

I love Austin. From the Frito burritos to the awesome people we know there, that place is legit. Thanks to Bryan Ohio for all of the support and for putting on the show at the Parlor. Bryan's got us on his upcoming compilation, "Everyone Living Under A Gun," due out soon and featuring 20 bands, including Scouts Honor, Bomb The Music Industry, and Anchor, who played our show with us. The Correction Brothers also played, and they were awesome guys. All in all, it was a great night and we had an awesome time. Austin continues to rule. Thanks to Jessie for having us at her place and for hanging out the next day. After getting some much-needed exercise via a run along the river, we headed for Dallas and Club Dada.

Thank you to Amanda (we're glad you're feeling better) for having us at Dada and to everyone on staff there for always treating us well. We had a great time and met some new folks who stuck around even though the Lemurs canceled. After the show, we headed over to the Darkside Lounge to say hi to Bobcat and some other friends, and we ended up being invited to play the Darkside on Sunday. Since we had a wonderfully comfortable home base, courtesy of Neil and Sarah, we agreed and spent some quality time in Dallas. We headed to Denton on Saturday for a show at Strawberry Fields. Thanks to Nick and Dust Congress for putting the show together after Secret Headquarters, where we were supposed to play, shut down. Thanks to Leah and Lux for coming out to the show and for going with us to Taco Bueno (verdict: no bueno). After the show, we headed back to Dallas and ate more of Mr. Basu's birthday cake.

Our pre-show Sunday found us relaxing to the max, getting out in the nice Dallas weather, watching Eli Manning fail at life and somehow still come out with a win, and eating a wonderful meal that Sarah prepared. We headed over to the Darkside and met up with our friend, Alissa, who was in town on business. We played to a small but enthusiastic crowd, which is why we keep coming back to Dallas. It may be a slow grower, but it's a fun city. Thanks to Bobcat for running awesome sound, to Neil and Sarah for putting up with us for days, and to Alissa for flying halfway across the country just to see us play. We may have gotten ourselves involved with a dangerous stalker, too, but only time will tell.

It's about time to leave this coffee shop, so the rundown on the shows in Tulsa and Amarillo are going to have to wait. Try to contain yourselves.

December 1st, 2007
Anyone in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, be aware that we are playing a surprise, crazy show at the Dark Side (Darkside?) on Elm St. (in Deep Ellum) in Dallas on Sunday, December 2nd. It's going to be nuts. We love Bobcat.

November 29th, 2007
New music has been posted on our MySpace page. Check it out. Both tracks are from our show in Bozeman, Montana, and both tracks are actually TWO TRACKS because you're LUCKY DEVILS! The first track features our cover of Pink Floyd's "When The Tigers Broke Free" coupled with our song "Dog's Hymn," and the second track features the songs "Little Brothers" and "Landmark." There's probably some witty banter in there, too but it probably won't make any sense unless you were at the show, and in our band, and in my head. We've got burned copies of the complete performance available at our remaining shows, so ask for one when you come out to see us.

We're in Austin, Texas, right now, and there's a lot to update and really no time to do so. The tour is almost over, though, so some more updates are forthcoming. In the meantime, maybe you should make your way over to the Ghost Mansion site and order a copy of our semi-new acoustic EP, and in your message to the CEO, tell him to get with the program and get the freaking JamZone back in business. Last I checked, it's not July anymore.

November 15th, 2007
Chillin' in Bed-Stuy. Show updates:

Greensboro, NC, was awesome. We played with some awesome bands, Hi Rollers, We vs. the Shark, Debate, and, of course, Pilots. Thanks to everyone who came out and watched the show, and to all of the bands for being cool. Pat, Bill, and I drove to Columbia, SC, that night after the show, and Mark, Neil, and Mike stuck around and raged.

In Columbia, we hung out with Pat's parents for a while, ate way too much awesome food, and then played a show at Jabroni's New Brookland Tavern. The highlight of the show was watching the Sox game. Some fireworks may or may not have been set off in the parking lot after the show. Then it was back home for more snacking.

We made our way to Athens, GA, for our show at the Caledonia. Thanks to Fritz and Julie for coming out, to Coley (check out his band, Maserati) for putting the Caledonia Social Club together to play with us, and to everyone who came to see us before they wandered on over to see Elf Power. This was the last show that we had with Sky Pilots, as Mike and Pat started the drive back to San Francisco. It was sad to see them go. They are awesome bros and a great band. I expect good things from them in the future. Don't blow it. Bill stuck around with us for another day, and it was good to have him along. Candace, Mark's special lady, also came out for a stint on the road, so it was good to have new company in the van. At the end of the night, we crashed at Coley's place and I flailed awake in the morning because a Palmetto bug scampered across my chest. After a tense game of cat-and-mouse, I found it and killed it, then went back to sleep. I'm pretty sure the cat made away with the carcass.

We got to Savannah and wasted some time (foreshadowing the days to come) until we played. Some awful bands played aggressively long sets and we finally went on and played for our 6 friends.

Then we spent a few days in Savannah because of canceled shows and van maintenance. Thanks to Patrick and Mary for putting us up, to Patsy for spending some time with us, and for the creep at Corleone's for being a huge creep. It was during this time in Savannah that Mark turned 27, so we got to spend a happy birthday with him in our southern depression.

We played a couple of shows at the Corner Lounge in Knoxville, TN, with some hilarious bands. Thanks a ton to Ed, Adrian, Tim, Sean, and the rest of crew for being extremely supportive.

On to Ohio, where we played at the Nite Owl in Dayton. The owner told me an incredibly depressing story about his friend who was recently killed with an Uzi, we played with an awful band, met some new friends, Atalie and Crystal, and called it a night.

Columbus, OH, was full of crazy people. We played with Sleepybird, as I mentioned last time. We stayed at Jayson's house after the show, and he and the Sleepybird crew are gracious hosts to the max. Thanks to those guys for making the night not totally suck.

Casa Cantina, in Athens, OH, is a cool place, and the folks there are friendly and inviting. We played with Casual Future and a dreadful Grateful Dead-ish band of old guys (the Dreadful Dread?). Thank you to everyone who watched the show and showed support. We then spent the night in a place that will forever haunt my nightmares, instead of going to the place with multiple futons. Hindsight is 20/20. Luckily, neither Neil nor I suffered any long-term health problems.

We had some van trouble, which prevented us from making our show in Indianapolis. Thanks to the folks at the Melody Inn for being understanding.

We had a two-show day the next day, the first of which found us rocking the kids at Alfred University with family megaband, Tartufi. Thanks to Dallas for letting us hop on that bill, and to all of the kids who came out and watched the show. After the string of shows we had leading up to this, we really needed the kick we got out of playing with our friends to people who cared about music. It was great. Thanks to Claire for coming out and accommodating us, as well. We then headed to Buffalo, NY, in record time, thanks to some helpful locals. After meeting up with Mark's aunt and uncle, we played at Merlin's. Thanks to Kurt for having us. We got some wings at Gabriel's Gate, ate them, and then made the drive to Boston through the night.

We spent a few hours sleeping at our friend Christina's house, and then it was off into the city to meet up with folks before the show. Boston is always great to play, and there are so many awesome people there. Thank you to Christina, Havens, Kiley, Dink, Jeff, Anna, Matt, Sara, Skibo, Jenny, and their friends for coming and hanging out. The show was great. O'Brien's has seen a bit of a makeover since we were last there, but it's still a dive, in the best way. Appomattox and Ketman both killed it. After the show, we got all Allston at the Model, and then made our way to Brookline to stay at Havens' parents' house. Let me set this up for you: we've got multiple options for places to stay, but Jon says, "You can stay at my parents' house. They're away for the weekend and you can all have beds." Now, we've stayed there many times before, it's a great place, and we couldn't turn that down. Privacy is awesome, and so are beds. He gave us the keys and we headed over there. We got to the front door around 3 in the morning, looking pretty tired and dirty because, well, we were tired and dirty. We got in the house and heard the slight whine of an alarm, one that we didn't know existed. About a minute into the nice, quiet alarm, the LOUDEST ALARM I HAVE EVER HEARD started whooping through the previously silent neighborhood. In full panic mode, having no idea how to turn the alarm off, my first instinct was to get the heck out of there, so I was immediately in the van with the keys in the ignition. Neil called Jon, got the code after a bit of cajoling, and we disarmed the alarm. No sooner had we done that than the phone rang, most likely the security company calling to see what was going on. We didn't answer, and decided it was better just to lock the doors and go upstairs, pretending that nothing had happened. About 2 minutes later, the first police cruiser showed up, followed by another. Neil went down to speak to the police, who apparently showed him that they were armed as he approached them. Granted, we looked awful, and the fact that we set off the alarm didn't help our case, but after being grilled by Boston's finest for about 10 minutes, they let us go to sleep. It's funny how fast cops show up in Brookline for a house alarm (4 cruisers came and went) when people get shot in Roxbury and no one comes around for hours.

After Boston, we played "Playing with Knobs" on WUNH. Thanks to Joe for having us on the show and to my dad for coming and listening. It wasn't our best performance, given that we were up late, shouting to friends over the din of crowded bars and talking to police who wanted to know who Tim was, but it was fun. We took a break for a few days after that, with Mark and Neil staying in New Hampshire at Mark's house, and me going to Maine to see my family. It was great to be home, and refreshing, and it has made the last couple of shows a lot more fun.

We played Cousin Larry's in Danbury, CT, and though the other band canceled, they had Jonathan, the door man, play a set after us. He had a great voice and was a good guy. We played plenty of Big Buck Hunter Pro, went through our set, hung out with some locals, and then headed to Manhattan to crash with our friend, Mike Getz. After staying up until 6 a.m. or so, Mike wore my shoes to his girlfriend's apartment and left me wearing a pair of his shoes that were far too small to Harrisburg, PA.

We hit the Appalachian Brewing Company and spent some good, quality time with Neil's mom, who was awesome and made the drive down from Shickshinny Lake to have dinner with us. Tartufi, bless them, was also on the bill, and they ruled. All in all, it was a great night. It's always good to be around family and friends. Thanks to Dave and Brooke for coming out and for bringing a crew, Matt for coming from Gettysburg, and Neil's uncle John for coming up from SEPA. We drove to Brooklyn after the show and we are currently staying with Jon, Adam, Grant, and Sean. It's good to see all of those guys again, although we haven't seen Sean yet. Presumably, he's working hard on our website. That boy, he's such a busybody.

Tonight's show is going to be awesome. We're really excited to be in Brooklyn, and we're looking forward to hitting Lit Lounge in NYC tomorrow (with Tartufi). If you're around, come out. Take it easy.

November 6th, 2007
We played "Who's the Craziest Person in Columbus?" Night last night in Columbus, Ohio, with our friends in Sleepybird. My lord. Weirdest show of the tour so far, hands down.

There isn't a lot of time to catch up right now, but I want to take a few minutes to link all of the live videos of us that have been posted on YouTube. Check them out:

Acoustic performances from the Go Away House in Blairsville, GA:
Dog's
Goodnight
Gunfighter's/Duke

Live at Uncle Fester's in Bloomington, IN:
Gunfighter's Afternoon
Hunt Song

Live at Pizza Works in Peoria, IL:
You're Alive
Gunfighter's Afternoon
Hunt Song
West Texas

Live at Reggie's in Chicago, IL:
Dog's Hymn

Live at the Bluebird in St. Louis, MO:
When the Tigers Broke Free (Pink Floyd cover)

Live at the Klinic Bar in Madison, WI:
Little Brothers
Landmark

Word is that more will be posted from the acoustic show at the Go Away House. I'll put those up if they materialize, along with anything else that might be taken on this tour. Show updates soon. Take it easy.

October 24th, 2007
We hit Cleveland in time to watch the Indians beat the Sox (but as we all know now, it turned out okay). The Davenport is a cool place, and it's relatively new. The folks who run it, Todd, Kelly, Gheramy, and Mike have a good thing going, and they're doing it right. They run one of the few venues that really understands how to treat bands on the road. They're awesome folks, too. Thanks to the nameless acoustic duo who opened the show, thanks to the folks who watched us play our set, and thanks to the whole staff of the Davenport for being so supportive, for hanging out and hooking us up, and to Todd for hooking me up with a bunch of new music. I can't stop listening to the new Baroness album. So good.

We picked up after a late-night hang out sesh in Cleveland and decided to soldier through the night to Clinton, New York, where we were scheduled to play Hamilton. After a brief nap in a rest area, we hit our alma mater in the early afternoon and caught up with Dave, our friend and music box technician. For those of you who have picked up our tour E.P., Dave plays pump organ on "Goodnight, Moon." We napped, chilled, met up with Neil's parents and our pseudo-parents, the Bedients, and headed out to dinner. After consuming much steak, we headed back to Hamilton to get ready for the show. Our friends in the Vesties came up from the city to play the show with us, braving van troubles to rock some college kids. The show was a blast. Thanks to Taylor and Rick and all of the bros for having us. It's always fun to play Hamilton, as it feels like we're coming home and seeing some of our families.

After Hamilton, we made our way to Baltimore, Maryland, for our reunion show with Sky Pilots. It was good to meet up with those guys again, after spending some time in different parts of the country. Also on the bill were D.C. bros (and architects of Stonehenge) New Rock Church of Fire, so the night went mostly off with awesome rock, except when the solo rockabilly guy played a really long set that involved him putting the microphone in his mouth and spitting a lot. Ugh. It seemed fitting, though, for a bar that smelled kind of like puke. Touring. Awesome.

Baltimore was extremely humid, and that humidity did not let up (has not let up) as we headed south. We have definitely put the "sweat" in "blood, sweat, and tears." I've already added the blood. Neil's been adding the tears. JKLOL.

Anyway, we wanted to get out of humid Bodymore, Murderland, so we stole a gasoline truck and drove to Alexandria, Virginia, home of Michael V. Chopko, base runner of Sky Pilots, for a few days of Chopko hospitality, relaxation, exercise, and rock. Mike's mom rolled out the red carpet, and that's awesome any time, whether your on the road or not. We rolled into our show at the Velvet Lounge in Washington, D.C., feeling good, despite the rain. D.C. is always a great place to play, even when shots are fired a block away. Thanks to Rob for running sound and for being a good guy, and to Pilots and NRCOF for bringing it all night. It was a great show, and we saw a lot of familiar faces. Thanks to Erin, Ryan, Kelli, Kate, Tammy, Nichola, Brian, Lauren, Jessica, Javante (sorry if I butchered your name, man), Carol-Lynn, Tiffany, and everyone else who came out to the show and hung out. Mitchell NRCOF belted out Smashmouth's "All Star" while some fetish raver, who had wandered in post-show, totally blew everyone's minds with some sweet glowstick trance moves, some guy came up to me and put a quarter in my pocket, and Sky Pilots had their van broken into. Great times. After the show, we went over to Mitchell's house, and he continued to own it, putting on "Rambo: First Blood, Part II" and waxing on about the virtues of each of the Rambo movies. Listening to him talk about Rambo is like eating a meal with someone who really loves food. Everything just tastes a little better. Tre NRCOF serenaded everyone with "Fat Guy Pizza Party," Bort came into the house and got stuck on a glue rat trap, Pat said a bunch of offensive and hilarious things, and everyone went home satisfied.

Saturday was a day off, and we all slept, exercised, ate, and chilled hard. Thanks to Mike's dad and stepmom for the great barbecue. We spent the night hanging out with the Chopko clan and watching the Sox game at several bars. Good times.

I had come down with a cold at some point, and it took it out of me at our show in Silver Spring, Maryland. Luckily, no one was there to see it, save the awesome Chopko sisters and their friends. Thanks to the folks at the Quarry House for having us and for treating us so well. We left Maryland and made the short drive across the border, back to one more night of comfort at Mike's house in Virginia.

Earlier than we wanted to, we left and headed to Asheville, North Carolina for our show at Joli Rouge. Thanks to Casey, Joe, and the rest of the folks at the club for having us and taking care of us, and thanks to everyone who watched the show. Because I was still a bit under the weather, we did an acoustic show upstairs, and then Pilots rocked downstairs. People still wanted more music, though, so we played a few songs electric on Pilots' gear. Everyone had a blast and it was a great way to spend the night. We crashed at Joe's house, hung out with his dog, and got some sleep.

We drove through the rain and the cops to hit Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pilots beat us there and flyered the campus, and we gave them a hand when we got there. We clowned on some smart-mouthed kids, got turned down by a lot of people who obviously hate music and life, and bonded over some Pita Pit. Then the show went down, in athletic attire, broadcast over the Web on the Cave's own streaming webcast. If you watched it, you watched the sweatiest show of the tour, hands down. It was great. Thanks to Patrick of the Honored Guest and Karly for coming out to the show. After some wings and some late-night fried chicken, we crashed at Patrick's house and hatched plans to create the best wedding band ever.

Now we're in Greensboro, North Carolina, waiting to play our show tonight at 2 Art Chicks. I like this town. They have good coffee here. More later. Take it easy.

October 23rd, 2007
...And we're back. Our website was down for, like, ever. Sorry about that. Seems the company that we're leasing our domain from (is that possible? Who else would want this name? Tribute bands, probably) screwed up like total jabs and now we have a free site through 2009. Silver lining, I suppose.

There's a lot of updatin' to do. Unfortunately, I don't have time for all of it right now. Suffice it to say, we have launched the opening salvo of the Low Red Land/Sky Pilots "War on the Carolinas" tour 2007. I am currently getting over a cold, and there is nothing like laying waste to southern cities to raise the immune system. Asheville, North Carolina, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, have already fallen. We actually just played the show, and I'm posting from atop a smouldering pile of rubble and gore that used to be the Cave and its patrons, respectively. It's a good thing there wasn't anyone here, because it could've gotten ugly. The ugliness will likely occur tomorrow, as Greensboro, NC, is set to fall, followed shortly thereafter by their more southern sisters in Columbia, South Carolina. After that, we bring the fury to Georgia, and then Pilots let the south off the hook and head home. Not us, though. We're on the road for another year or so.

I'm going to pick up where I left off, and then get to what I can. Don't worry, Mrs. Bedient, I'll eventually talk about every show we've played, but for now, my time is limited.

After a restful night off in Chicago, filled with jacking Wii dingers and playing NES puzzle games with Danielle and Jared, we continued the stretch of our tour with Scouts Honor at the new it-spot in southside Chicago, Reggie's. Thanks a bunch to Vito and Mike at MPShows for hooking us up with the show and for treating us so well. Thanks, also, to Kevin and his crew for coming out (and to Brian for sending them) and catching the show. We played first, the Honor played second, and then we retired to the other side of the venue to eat and watch the Sox. After too much (free) food, served courtesy of Southside Party Guy, we headed back to Jared and Danielle's for more Wii. That thing is awesome.

The next day, we headed off to Peoria, Illinois, for two shows. The first was an early, all-ages show in a church basement. Though the kids were definitely there to see the hardcore bands playing, they were very attentive and a great audience. We played, the ceiling fell on us a little bit, and then Scouts Honor hit the stage. Everyone went off for them, given that Jared used to call Peoria home until his recent relocation. After the show, we packed up and headed over to Pizza Works for a smokier, boozier, 21-and-up-ier show. Thanks to Gabe for hooking us up with some food, and no thanks to the Sox for not only losing the game, but making me lose several bets, including having to drink a bottle of Frank's Red Hot because they didn't score in the 7th. Phantom Noise played first for the night, and then hung out and were all-around good guys. We played, Scouts played with a smoke machine, and everyone had a great time. Thanks to everyone at the show for hanging out and supporting us, thanks to Austin for the scenic tour of Peoria, and thanks to Danielle for coming all the way from Chicago with us. After the show, we headed out to a bar, played some pool, got "Grabbed," and went home. Oh, and Mark got kicked out of the bar for stealing a French fry. Don't they know we're starving?

(We're not really starving.)

Then, it was off to St. Louis, for a show at the Bluebird. Thanks to the guys in the Pat Sajak Assassins, who played the show and also made a sweet poster. Ring, Cicada also played the show and pretty much progged our faces off. Thanks to the staff at the Bluebird, especially the soundguy, for making it an enjoyable experience. While we were there, we saw a poster for our side project, the St. Louis Ragtimers, but I'm pretty sure it was from way back, when we did our "March to the Arch" tour. (As the St. Louis Ragtimers.) Some people just don't know how to let go. Drew from the Cicada put us up for the night. He actually lives in Alton, Illinois, and he told us it was the "most haunted town in America." He told us some pretty creepy stories, and then the next day, I split my head open inside his show on a towel rack (sans rack). Who has a towel rack inside their shower? Nobody, that's who. It had to have been the ghosts. When you build a town on a foundation made out of the remains of a Confederate prison, you're just asking for someone to crack their head open inside of a shower.

(Time out for HUGE thanks to Pat for coming through in the clutch with a bucket of spectacular wings. Pat, Mike, Neil, and I just ate our faces off. After sweating through a furious set, there is nothing to bring you back around like wingly snackers.)

Anyway, waa, waa, waa, I cut my head. It's healing up okay, though I'm still getting looks from "respectable" people. I feared that it was going to look like a semi-formed swastika, because that's how it cut, but thanksfully it's looking okay. After St. Louis, we hit Bloomington, Indiana. Upon arrival, David Scouts Honor and I headed down to the local ice creamery for Moose Horns, frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and covered in peanuts. Fantastic. We met up with David's friend, Donovan, of the band Cool Girlfriends. We strolled around town for a bit, and then headed over to Uncle Fester's for our show. A supremely awful old man cover band butchered their way through an aggressively long set of songs they loved so much that they had to destroy, and then the Miller girls showed up, much to Jared's delight. After being all coy, he got a button and smiled for the rest of the night. Good call, indeed. We played, Scouts Honor played a shirtless set (David took his shirt off because he was hot, and then Jared and I followed suit because...because it was a room full of guys and what's more sensible than taking your shirt off and playing a set for an entirely male audience? To his credit, Jared was still looking for the Miller girls.) It was a great time, and so was the Cool Girlfriends set, filled with songs, great banter, and more skin than the Honor's set (their singer took off his shirt and his pants, but he was still wearing boxers AND shorts. You can't mess with that). Post-show, it was off to Donovan's house for a night of dancing to Dr. Hook, white board caricature fun, and beers through skull funnels while David and I repped the edge, hard.

We crashed out and awoke to find that Jared and David had already left, because Jared had to work that afternoon in Chicago. It was great to tour with those guys. Not only are they a great band, and not only was it a blast to play bass with them, they are also awesome people and good friends. Best of luck to them in the future, and we look forward to seeing them again soon. Jared took a bunch of videos from our days together, and you can find them on Youtube. Just search for Low Red Land and Scouts Honor, respectively, and search by the most recent posts. Some of the performances are better than others, but we're happy to have all of them.

It's time to go for now. More updates to come really soon. Take care.

October 12th, 2007
Hey, there was a write-up about our July 27th Thread Showcase show at Bottom of the Hill. It was a great show and you can read about it here.

October 11th, 2007
Round two in Ft. Collins went down at Surfside 7. Thanks to Beth for coming out to the show and for being the first "Yeah, I'll definitely be there" person who was definitely there. Thanks, also, to North Paw, who I'd link if I could find them online. They love prog, and prog loves them. Good folks. Lastly, what's the deal, San Francisco? Ft. Collins can make great pizza. Why can't you? They had a real Italian making the pies, though, and he might have made it taste extra good because he liked my Jenny Piccolo shirt ("I like your shirt. Piccolo...that's an Italian word! I no spitta in your food!" I made that last line up).

We left Ft. Collins that night and drove to Dan's house, near Denver, where we hung out, slept, and caught up with a good friend we haven't seen in a couple of years. After a relaxing morning, we left the house, got some barbecue, and headed over to Lief's place to watch the Indian/Yankees game. While hordes of midges descended upon Joba Chamberlain, eventually allowing the Indians to go up 2-0 on the Yankees in the series, Birds & Batteries rolled up. They were just starting their tour and had a show in town, so we got to spend some time, pre- and post-show, with them. It was great to see them, and we wish them all the best on their tour. We got set for our show at 3 Kings in beautiful, downtown Denver. Thanks to Jamie and the folks at 3 Kings for having us back and for treating us well. Ferocious Eagle and Color Deluxe both rocked, and it was great to hang out with them. It's always great to meet good people who happen to play good music. Thanks to Dan, Mercedes, Lief, Julian, Andy, Liz, Brian, Josh, and everyone else who came out to the show.

After a brief rest in Denver, we got up early and made our way to Wichita, Kansas, for our show at John Barleycorn's with Ferocious Eagle and Paper Airplanes. Wichita was humid as all get-out, but we made it through just fine with the help of some free barbecue, courtesy of Todd at Pig In, Pig Out. Thanks to him, and Tony, for the company and the huge hookup. We love barbecue and Wichita. As if eating our fill of free barbecue wasn't good enough, we got to play a show with two great bands. The guys in Ferocious Eagle are now bros for life, and Marcus from Paper Airplanes, and his wife, Megan, are two of the sweetest people we've ever met. Thanks to them for their hospitality and company. Also, their cat is awesome and it even tried to kill a rabbit. He brought it into the house, but the rabbit was rescued and all was well. Kansas is okay by us.

The next day, we hit up Des Moines, Iowa, for an all-ages show at Vaudville Mews. Thanks to Adam for setting us up with the show, which included two great bands that we had met earlier on the tour, Minivan and Color Deluxe. It's too bad the kids in Des Moines like really bad "hip-hop," but the show was fun and it was good to hang out with the Minivan/Color D dudes.

At this point in the trip, we met up with some family, Mike and Pat from Sky Pilots. They were about to start their tour the next day, and their first two shows were booked with us. We got a 6, slammed some Perkin's Family Restaurant (the staff their should probably take it easy on the helium hits, but when you're 19 and working the graveyard shift at Perkin's, you probably need whatever you can get to make the day a bit brighter), and caught some shut-eye.

After a vigorous workout sesh the next morning, Pat left to buy breakfast and came back with fruit, yogurt, carrot juice, and a rotisserie chicken. It's great hanging out with Sky Pilots. We drove to Minneapolis for our show at Memory Lanes' Punk Rock Nite. We had some time to kill before the show, so we walked around uptown Minneapolis and had some pretty good Greek food, then played some killer LRL vs. SPs dusk wiffleball (winner: LRL). We headed back to the bowling alley, watched some sports, sat in a massage chair, and then played our show on a stage set up over 3 bowling lanes. The folks at the alley were more concerned with getting strikes than with us turkeys (get it?), but all bands, including local crushers Buildings, played well. It was fun, and afterwards, we bowled a frame and then retired to Grant's (enormous) house. Thanks to him for his hospitality and for being a good guy. Touring is so much better when you play shows with friends and stay with awesome people.

The drive to Milwaukee was long and arduous. Well, not really, but we were all tired and didn't feel like driving for 6 hours. At least I didn't, and I was the one driving for the bulk of it. Thank goodness for an iPod full of loud albums. We met up with Pilots at Bill's mom's house, and she took care of us like an awesome mom does. After eating and relaxing for a bit, we dragged ourselves over to the Stonefly. Shortly after loading in, the show started with the band Novel kicking in everyone's eardrums. Sky Pilots rocked it next, and rocked it well. I love that band. After we played, Father Phoenix took the stage and destroyed everything. What a sweet band. Check them out now. Good guys, to boot. Wisconsin got off to a great start.

Unfortunately, even with the best efforts of Chris and crew, and Scouts Honor, our second Wisconsin show in Madison took the cake, if the cake was made of poison. What do you get when you mix an open-mic comedy night that started late and ran later, a drunk bar owner, and an Australian emo band? Three great reasons never to go to the Klinic again. We played well, I had my first show with Scouts Honor (this was the first time we'd ever played together, and it went great), and we got to hang out with Chris (and he puked a little on the bar), so the night was not lost. After all, it was great to see Jared and meet David, and things got progressively better the farther we got from the Klinic. After a late-night frozen pizza sesh, we hit the hay. We got up this morning and got some exercise, and then Chris introduced us to Culver's before we left town (fried cheese curds!). Thanks to Chris and Joe for hanging out and for putting a good face on Madison.

We left Madison, slogged through rush-hour Chicago traffic, and we hit Jared's (Scouts Honor) house a few hours ago. Since we got here, there hasn't been a stop in the Wii action (save for watching "The Office" over dinner). It is hilarious to watch people play Wii boxing. Fun for the whole family. Jared and his roommate, Danielle, are awesome people and great hosts. Danielle is a great cook, as well, and we love it when people give us food. We're going to enjoy the heck out of this night off and get ready to rock an all-ages show at Reggie's here in Chicago with Scouts Honor tomorrow. I'll check in again soon, and hopefully Sean will see this somehow in the Web world and make our site come back online. That'd be great, Sean. Seriously.

October 4th, 2007
So, the show in Spokane ended up getting canceled because most of the kids in that town are total nerds and they let their lives get ruled by "Must See TV." Thank goodness for Rhea, who took great care of us. Not only did we get to play tons of free arcade Street Fighter II, but we also got to kick it around Spokane, eat some pancakes, sleep on a couple of couches, drink free coffee, AND get paid. Not bad for showing up and not doing anything. Thanks a ton to Rhea. We'd love to (not) play the Empyrean again.

We packed up and headed east to the great state of Montana. Montana is sweet. It's too bad about all of that meth. We rolled into Bozeman early and hung out with our friends Zach and Katelyn, got some exercise, and ate dinner, before heading over to the club. Once we got there, we got to experience the sweetness that is the Zebra Cocktail Lounge. Thanks to James for hooking us up with the show (and for playing a great show with his band, J.C. Auto). Also, big thanks to Chuck for running sound and for giving us a great recording of our show (it's the best we've ever gotten from a live show, and we'll be making copies available at our shows if we remember to burn them before we play). Thanks, finally, to the guys in This Word Is Weapon. If you clicked on either of these links, you'll see that we kind of stuck out like sore thumbs on the bill, but it was a great time. Also, an awful time, because this band played. Normally, I wouldn't go out of my way to talk trash on a band in any sort of public form, but since half of them were total douchebags, I'll lay it on the line. This band is the 5th-generation glam metal of our day. They made me feel like one of those old men who doesn't get the music that the kids make these days, and the sad thing is, I'm pretty sure everyone in this band is older than me. I'd try to go into more detail, but only Jeff, Jeremy, and anyone who has walked past a Hot Topic recently would know what I was talking about. Garbage. Plus, they had this guy playing drums for them. It's like he walked into the barber shop and say, "Hey, here's 5 bucks. Make me look like a total dick." It got us thinking, though. These guys are huge in the MySpace world, and they're big with the 13- to 17-year-old set, which has proven elusive to us. Moving forward, we've replaced Mark on drums with this guy. Massive success is surely just around the corner.

After Bozeman was Missoula, and we'd like to extend huge thanks to Mike (check out his band, Victory Smokes) for hooking us up with the show, some food, and a place to stay. What a great dude. Also, big thanks to the dudes in Minivan for playing a great set and for being good guys and the guys from Rooster Sauce for playing the best songs about alien and vampire girlfriends we've ever heard. Thanks to everyone who stuck around to see us play. We had a great time. Montana rules.

After Missoula, we got up and headed to Pocatello, Idaho, for our show at the First National Bar. Thanks to Jamie for bringing us, Charlie for running sound, and to that one guy who drunkenly got up on stage after we finished playing, tried singing into a powerless microphone, and then fell on Mark's drums and really cut his arm pretty badly. That guy was sweet. Also, thanks to his older friend, who said it was his birthday and who told Mark that he loved him like a brother.

We crushed it out of Idaho and headed to Salt Lake City, Utah, to play two shows. As we got into town, we met up with Neil's high school friend, Bo Dean, who is one of the nicest people ever born. He gave us some great (and healthy) food, let us relax at his place, and came to our show at No Brow Coffee with us. We played an acoustic set, our 4th ever, and it went really well. Thanks to Sadie for providing the fre