Meet you back here in December.
Tour dates available at:
Monday, October 6, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Tightening Up The Rust Belt.
We left Burlington early on Thursday morning to make the 10 hour trip to Pittsburgh. We arrived at Howler's right on time and loaded in. Howler's is a good old fashion rock club, with a smoking section on the bar side and the venue on the other (you can't smoke in the venue, but Chitwood lit up on stage). We live tested some new songs and played some requests. We made some new friends and caught up with some old. After the show, we stayed with our friend Dan just a few miles from the venue. We woke up early, drank a bunch of light coffee and went to his garage. He purchased an 8 car garage in a up and coming section of town. We spent some time checking out his old motorcycles and cars including a Model A, Galaxy 500 and a handful of vintage motorcycles. After a quick stop at our favorite co-op in Pittsburgh, we left for Morgantown, WV.
We arrived in Morgantown early and checked out the downtown. We hit some shops, did some skating and made our way to the venue. Schmidt's Saloon is a nice spot with killer sound. We met a bunch of new people and had a great show. We had fun dialing in the tour set, linking Silver and Gold with Running Colors and also having a blast rediscovering some old tunes in new ways. We met the band Yarn and had a great time hanging out with them. Later on, we had a rock throwing competition into the ravine out back of the venue. Noah won...damn lefty. After the show, we hit the road for a few hours towards Chicago and found a hotel in an unknown town.
We left early for the 7+ hour drive to Chicago. We arrived in time to Reggie's loaded in, took a skate down towards Englewood, and hit the record store on the second floor. Record Breakers is a mostly vinyl shop that is loaded with almost any title you could imagine. I bought a 7" (181 of 200) from the band Burial Ground that I used to play shows with 15 years ago in PA for $1.99. Noah scored Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis and Huey Lewis and the News album Four (Noah's first record ever). The downstairs has a corridor loaded with shirts, patches and just about many other type of music memorabilia. This shop opens up to another venue in Reggie's. We caught J Boog's soundcheck and a hand full of other dub/reggae bands. The show at Reggie's was a blast. The sound is great, and we love that Reggie's has become our home in Chicago. We ended up playing some new tunes, and got a great board recording of the show. Here is 'Hot Seat' live from Chicago.
After the show, we headed towards the
beautiful Gary, Indiana. After a night within the smog, we made our way towards
Indianapolis. We arrived at Birdy's, loaded in and took a skate. The venue was
located in a unique spot and the room has seen some great performers over the
years...the walls have the scars to prove it. Three songs in, Chitwood blew a
tube and the rest of the band played "That's Alright", a song by
Arthur Crudup while he repaired it. We never worry if something malfunctions on
Chitwood's rig...it's usually only a matter of minutes before he's up and
running again. After the show, we locked in a room for two nights in Newport,
KY and made the trip in one shot.
Monday was the only day of the tour we had
off, so we looked up some venues and Kelly locked in a show at The Mainstay in
Cincinnati just across the Ohio river.
I had the opportunity to meet with
Jim at QCA in Cincinnati, where he gave me a tour of the old record pressing
facility. Here is a photo of the new Velvet Underground vinyl labels.
We had the chance to be our own sound guy
with a pro rig. We dialed in the vocals, threw some microphones on the drums, and had a
ton of fun playing for the locals. We met some great people and even talked
them into coming out to the show at The Southgate House Revival.
The Southgate House Revival is an old renovated church that has been "converted" into a ridiculously amazing music venue. We loaded in early and had the opportunity to rehearse for awhile. We had a great show and enjoyed meeting our new friends that drove from Indianapolis.
From Newport, Kentucky, we left for Charlotte, NC. After a few stops, we made it to The Visulite Theatre. The venue was amazing. The staff was very kind and the sound was excellent. We met a taper named Marty, who recorded and will post the show. We played a few new songs, and we can't wait for everyone to hear it.
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