From April to June.
It’s been a while since we’ve had an update, and there’s been quite a lot happening. We played an awesome late-April show at the Bottom of the Hill, and we would like to thank everyone at the club, from Ramona on down, for being so great to us yet again. The sweetest folks work at the BOTH, and we can’t wait to get back there. As for the show, we played with Fake Problems and William Elliott Whitmore, and there was quite a crowd for what ended up being an awesome show. We debuted another new song, tentatively titled “The Beast,” and ripped a sweet acoustic “Duke” to end the set, hopping off stage and playing amongst the crowd because we are consummate showmen. You know how we do. There are still posters available from the show, in case anyone wishes to purchase one. You may view them at the fledgling Ghost Mansion Press blog, which, with any luck, will have several new pieces posted in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out.
We also had the opportunity to play a couple of great shows in Idaho in late May with our friends Finn Riggins and Tartufi. Mark and Neil drove out from San Francisco, while our friend Adam and I drove into Idaho from the east, truckload of antiques and all. “And all” mostly refers to the fireworks we picked up from this awesome store in Gary, Indiana. The salesman demonstrated every firework (save for a few of the larger ones) that we wanted to see, and we demonstrated back to him how well that sales method works by buying pretty much everything he showed us. The first show was at the Sun Valley Brewery, and I would say that everyone but the crowd had a great time. The owners, management, and staff treated us spectacularly and were sweet people, and it was great to play with two of our best friend bands. The crowd wanted more Jimmy Buffett than we were able to provide, however, and they responded predictably when we started screaming. Oh, well. After fantastic sets by Tartufi and Finn Riggins, we headed back to Cameron Riggins’ house and, among other things, microwaved a grapefruit for seven minutes and left long, falsetto in-the-round Christmas carol messages on Eric Riggins’ phone.
The next day, a few of us ran up a mountain while the other stayed back and used Garageband to make the best McDonald’s breafkast song ever, which was then cranked over the van speakers as they ordered breakfast at the McDonald’s drive-through. The big event of the day was the annual Bouiss family ranch party, which was being held in honor of Cameron’s 30th birthday. It was a day of music, meat, and Charles Barkley Presents: Randy Johnson’s Gauntlet. We played again (to a much more receptive audience), Tartufi put on a great set, Test Audiences killed it, a bunch of other bands played, and Finn Riggins capped off the night with a marathon set. Cameron was presented with a battle axe that Mark bought for him at a trading post, and we set off about a billion fireworks. If owning 40-plus acres of awesome land in beautiful Idaho is anything like visiting such a spot for a day and a half, it’s got to be amazing.
We are now home and gearing up for a few shows. The first is this tonight (!), June 8th, at the Elbo Room in San Francisco. Cleveland’s Mr. Gnome is visiting our fair city on tour, and we’re more than happy for the chance to play with them again. They’re great, and you should definitely check them out. Juanita and the Rabbit is opening and celebrating their album release, so the show should go off.
June 19th finds us in San Diego at the Radio Room, playing with some bands. Go figure. A couple of days later, on June 21st, we’ll be serenading dads and chowder lovers all acoustic-like with our pals Writer at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. Then, of course, we’re just days away from the annual Fourth of July rager at El Rio. This year, we’ll be playing alongside Birds & Batteries, the aforementioned Writer, Finn Riggins, Two Sheds, Birdmonster, and others. The whole thing will be catered by Sneaky’s BBQ, and music will run from about 1:00 p.m. until about 8:00 p.m., stretched across two stages. It’s going to rule.
A “new” video has made its way online: “Abraham/Dog’s Hymn,” acoustic, from the Ghost Mansion show in February. Check it out.
Lastly, Dog’s Hymns has received a couple of new reviews. Thank you to Aquarius Records and PunkNews.org for writing about us. We really appreciate it.
That’s all for now. More information will come along when the time is right.
