WEEK 1
“I just threw up ten times in a porta-potty.” I never would have guessed that I would actually have to say that sentence ever in my life. But just a few days ago I was saying it over and over again at Cornerstone Music Festival in Bushnell, IL.
Other than throwing up in a porta-potty, this tour has been going extremely well. We kicked it off in Dallas, TX with some of our really good friends All Get Out, The Soldier Thread, and Benjamin Del Shreve. It was a great show, everybody there was feeling the music and really digging the new songs we were playing. A couple shows got canceled so we quickly made our way up to Illinois and met up with Dear Future (most of this tour will be with them) for a show in Mt. Vernon. Early the next morning, we packed up and headed to Cornerstone.
Promotion, promotion, promotion. Those are the three most important things to remember if you are playing at Cornerstone. This year we had a guy donate 100 promotional t-shirts to our cause and they went pretty quickly (it’s pretty flattering seeing a bunch of people you don’t know wearing your band’s shirt).With all the shirts, flyers, posters, and banners that we had brought I think we did a pretty good job of promoting for our shows.
We played 3 shows in all and each one was really great! A ton of people were at all of them. And I saw some of the same people at all three of them, singing along to our new songs like they had already heard them a hundred times! Like I mentioned earlier, I threw up ten times, so by the end of our time there I was just hoping I could make it through a show. After our last show a guy from Relevant Magazine interviewed me and Mitch. Here’s a nice little write up he did.
After Cornerstone we headed to Champaign, IL, to play at the Canopy Club, where we played with either the second best band I’ve ever seen or the second worst band I’ve ever seen (I’m not telling). Daniel has a lot of family up in Illinois and a bunch of them came out to the show. My parents also came out and surprised us.
The next day we had the opportunity to do a session with Daytrotter. If you haven’t heard of it you should really check it out soon. It’s a great way to find new bands and hear bands in a different way then you might otherwise get to. We recorded four songs with them in their third-story studio in Rock Island, IL. It was a really great experience. The people that we worked with were extremely nice and professional. They have several vintage amps and keyboards and guitars to choose from, so we had our pick, set everything up, and then went to town (so to speak). I think they’ll be posting our tracks sometime right after our new record, 20,000 Ghosts, comes out at the end of September. So be on the lookout.
We finally met back up with Dear Future last night in Holland, MI, where we played a sold out show at Lemonjellos. Most of our shows from here on out are going to be with Dear Future, so look them up. We’ll see you soon.
