We played back to back Fri. & Sat. shows at Club 90. It's always our favorite place because there's always a good turn out, and it's exhilarating to see people dancing to the music you're playing. We worked on making our transition flow better, and to playing songs right into each other. Also, this was our first time playing this much with Dean, which helped us groove with better.
Friday was great. The highlight for me was Mark's funny leather shirt.
Saturday was remarkable, if we were playing the game Guitar Hero, we were using star power pretty much the whole night. A lot of our friends and family showed up. Nate was in town and he let loose. He danced the whole night, and helped us sing the last song. April was there as well, Mark's ex-band mate and ex-wife, she rocked the house by playing keys for two sets and singing backup vocals. Rachelle, the venue owner sang with us for a song as well. It was a night of good vibes, silliness, and good music. When I thought that we have a million good shots at Club 90, and we wouldn't need any more, these were taken by Aaron's mom Kirsten and are absolutely great!
Be sure to catch us at Club 90 April 20, and 21!
Nate joins us on stage to sing "I Wanna Rock N Roll All Nite"
Rachelle joins us on stage to sing "Don't Stop Believing"
April killed it on the keys!
Mark's guapo shirt.
Allison did amazing as usual.
It was a lot of fun rocking with this gal.
Nate said "If we can play lead guitar, surely we can learn the Cupid Shuffle"
We just recently released our debut LP album, "Into the Desert". It's available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Bandcamp to stream and purchase. While having it digititally distributed is the modern way to release an album, there's something satisfying about having an old-school printed album. It makes the project feel more tangible. I'm proud with how the artwork turned out. I used some of the photos that my co-worker Michael Romero took at our music video shoot, in the Tooele desert. The music video is going to be released August 23, and it is going to be epic!
It was March 2015, and we were doing really well as a band. We had just released our Starlit Horizons, EP and had been receiving good feedback from it. We were trying to play as many shows as we could to promote our original stuff. Our songs we wrote to be full, energetic, have anthem-like choruses, raging guitar solos, lots of crash cymbals, and harmonic guitars.
Allison's Scandalous Dress
We were invited to play BYU's Restaurant/Venue, "The Wall", part of their semi-annual Battle of the Bands. This was our first time playing in Provo, and we were stoked to be reaching a new audience!
We scoped the competition beforehand by looking at their social media to gauge our chances of winning. There were some good bands playing, and we were lucky to be sharing the stage with such talent.
I probably most-likely overestimated how good we were, at least at live performance. In theory, we had one of the larger followings, probably the best looking web presence (my opinion isn't biased by the fact that I do all of our media, I promise), and our songs had probably the most complexity as far as musicianship was concerned.
Us old geezers at the Wall with our stage banner!
We were pretty stoked, brought all our new stage banner, our fans, friends, and family and we were ready to rock! The first offsetting thing was that we were one of the last performers, and people
looked like they were ready for this event to be over. Everybody was sitting, and it was clear that they weren't going to engage in our high-energy music. Next was the sound guy, he insisted that
we didn't need a sound check. The guitars were so loud and overpowering. It was a small venue, and it wasn't enjoyable to listen to us. The sound guy didn't adjust any level on his mixing board during our whole set. It threw off our mojo every time we'd look out at the empty-eyed, reaction-less audience. (Besides my wife and sister who were jumping up and down by the stage.)
We got our score card back from the judges, and we placed dead last. Most of the comments were, that they couldn't hear us over the overbearing guitar.
Then we got this awesome press in some music blog of one of the concert goers.
It's true, Ryan the bassist at the time was in his early 30's. The rest of us were college-aged; in our early 20's. I just turned 24. I thought that was a weird comment coming from someone attending BYU. Men at BYU go on missions and then begin college at age 21. I'm 6'5", and that might make me look older.
Allison was wearing a modest dress that would be fitting to go to Church. She was moving around the stage, but it wasn't sexualized at all. (You can see how she moves around on the video below)
I hope this blogger's discomfort of women wasn't shared by the whole audience that night. Then there was this gem:
His verdict rage at the end seemed to be directed at us. It's no secret that folk/singer-song writer/indy music isn't my favorite. Even though that genre was extremely trendy at the time, especially in Provo. I grew up on Rush and Dream Theater. More is more. I'm not a fan of super simple guitar or piano riffs, lack of instrumentation, lack of drum fills (if there's even drums), lack of guitar solos, lack of energy and the obsession of trying to be "original", by dressing like a hipster and trying to sound like The Lumineers. *
Whatever the case, we felt like a lot of people were extremely judgmental and it gave us a bad first impression of Provo. (We don't want to discount all the awesome support we got to everyone who went down to that show!) But, we're over it now.
Honestly, the main reason that we don't play down there because we have plenty of opportunity here in Salt Lake City; and we all live in Salt Lake City. When we weren't having as many opportunities to gig, we were willing to make the long drive down to Provo for a 20 - 30 minute unpaid set. We are totally willing to play there again given the right opportunity. In fact, we did a livestream concert at Rock Canyon Studios last June, and it was a blast, you can check out some of those songs on our YouTube!
*My statements on the indy genre were over simplified and generalized. I do appreicate the talent that goes into it, and blah blah blah. If you're offended, get over it. ;) I'm just one guy, what do I know?
The city of South Jordan hosted their first annual Battle of the Bands competition, at their SummerFest celebration. The Summerfest had food trucks, carnival rides, and a large number of events such as a 5k race, a tennis tournament, etc... They had several judges, who looked at various factors, such as originality of songs, crowd participation, stage presence, etc... Their were two categories of performances, those under 18, and those over 18, and each category had 4 bands. Everybody that performed, had to submit 2 videos of live performance, and the top 4 submissions of each category were selected.
The first band, 7Bridges, were a Brazilian country acoustic duo. They were not only musicians, but performers. They dressed up. Their banter was scripted, and did a great job connecting with the crowd. It was more of an entertaining show, rather than a couple guys playing a bunch of songs. They harmonized on all of their vocals. I think that in general it is hard for an acoustic group to compete against a full band, because the full band has a more full sound with bass and drums. They were confident, and they did awesome.
EIGHTH DAY
Aaron, our drummer, is away on National Guard duty, so my high school friend, Trevor Ockey filled in on drums. He did an awesome job, especially since we only practiced with him once, 4 days before the show. We struggled in selecting the perfect set list; we weren't sure what the judges would find the most appealing. We ended playing 2 originals, and 4 covers. The covers were selected based on which ones would highlight different attributes of the band, such as guitar solos, and vocals.
Cephas
Cephas, a folk/pop band, was really good. Instead of each member learning their parts to the songs, and playing those parts in unison, they took a step back and really focused on the quality of the overall sound. They played along to pre-recorded audio, which requires that their drummer play to a click track. We tried that route a few years back and it didn't seem to work with us. Also their bassist sang harmonies the whole song, every song, which Mark tells me is difficult.
Carver Louis & Old Lincoln Highway Band
Carver Louis & Old Lincoln Highway Band, a modern country band, was the last band. They're a Tooele band, which got me kind of excited, since I'm a citizen of Tooele now. They are currently finishing up an album at the same studio that we are, and the singer stated that they were going to release their album after it's mixed and mastered later this month, and I was thinking, "Yeah, us too." They had two electric guitar players, the singer played acoustic guitar, a bassist, a drummer, and another guy who played drums, harmonica, and mandolin depending on the song. It's hard to have that many instruments in the mix, but they sounded really good! People were really getting into their music. At one point in their show, they abruptly stopped playing, saying that there was something about the monitor mix not being quite right, and started on the next song.
They played well past the 25 minute limit, and it appeared that they had no intention of stopping until one of the event organizers ran up to the stage and told them to stop. Honestly, that's what we should have done, we had like 3 really good ones that we reluctantly dropped.
Verdict
I was excited to be playing in my home town, and I was very excited at a city government event, especially after watching the television series, Parks and Rec. Every band that played was awesome, and deserved to be the recipient of the award. Cephas was the winner. We were honored to perform with such talented artists, in world's awesomest city. (Although, Rome is a close second.) My wife got a participation medal for playing at SoJo fest tennis tournament, and she may or may not have let me wear it a bit.
We released our single, "What's the Point", from our upcoming album yesterday, and we made it official with a single release party.
Pat's BBQ is a popular restaurant among the local population, known for their delicious food and live music. I had a Brisket sandwich, and it was divine!
The stage was much bigger than expected, and the sound was really good. An added bonus is that the restaurant hired a sound guy to mix us. There wasn't anywhere to hang a banner, making us grateful that we got the stand-up retractable banners.
We got paid on tips, and people who came and listened to us paid a cover charge. (There's many rooms in Pat's BBQ.)
Since it was a sit-down restaurant, we played some of our slower songs.
The highlight of the night was playing with Addy. Addy is the daughter of one of Mark's co-workers. She likes music, and she plays bass. So filled in for Mark on Carry On My Wayward Son, and Starlight. It was her first time performing, and she nailed those songs. Makes me think that we're so used to performing, we take for granted the awesome feeling it is to perform.
It was a great show, thanks to everyone who came to support us, and we hope that you had as much fun as we had!
For the past two years, we've been recording this album, and it is finally finished. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
It wasn't easy.
We love every song on the new album, and it was difficult to just pick one single to release. After much deliberation and soul searching, we are pleased to announce the official release of "What's the Point."
But, we gave this everything that we got.
Energetic, honest, melodic. This song is one we can all relate to; Love isn't love if both parties aren't giving it 100%. We hope you enjoy this song and share it with your family and friends.
We had a great weekend, playing at Club 90, Friday and Saturday. We were excited to play some new tunes from our 80's setlist. Aaron's baby was due on April 28th, and we were worried that he's have to rush to the hospital mid-show, so we had Curtis, a session drummer learn all the songs and be our backup. Fortunately, Aaron was a became a proud dad a week early, and he was able to perform.
Friday, was the night of the Jazz playoff game against the Clippers, The Jazz were up 3-2, and almost won the game. The venue was a little bit empty, and a lot of the patrons were busy watching the game, opposed to hitting the dance floor. While there were no special events on Saturday, the place was packed with happy dancing people. It was a blast.
We had some great pictures as always, thanks to Aaron's mom, our dedicated and talented photographer.
Saturday night was our 30th show together, and our 14th show with Mark. It's exciting to see how far our band has come, and all to see where we're going. We have a jam packed summer to be excited for, the long anticipated album release, music video creations, and lots of shows. Our next show is at Cliff House, and we'd love to see you there!
Good luck to the Jazz tonight.
We're pleased to announce that the owner of Club 90 liked our band, and we're going to be part of the rotation, playing a consecutive Friday and Saturday, every five weeks. (That means I get to eat their delcious burgers every 5 weeks! Yum!)
This is exciting, because a lot of bands audition, but few get chosen to play regularly. .
The owner said that we'll be a good fit there because, we have a good set list of cover songs, Allison has an amazing voice, the instruments sound really good, we have high energy, and because we are still young and attractive.
We're excited to playing here because it will give us an opportunity to build our following, develop our stage presence with large crowds, expand the number of covers we do, and to have fun.
Our next performance at Club 90, will be March 4, as part of the Utah Music Festival. We will be playing with Jana and the Rebels, a local sensation. We'd love to see you there! Details below: https://www.facebook.com/events/1247530572021799/
Mark loves playing at this place, and he said that many bands are able to get an audition, but not many get a call back to be scheduled for a rotation. So tonight was our official audition. We played two 1 hour sets, and were compensated with delicious food. It was perfect because I was craving a hamburger. (I should mention that it was an amazing hamburger.) There were more people than I thought for a Monday night; partially because Mark brought his entire office! Thanks to them for coming and kudos for Mark. A other of our friends came to support us.
We had a lot of fun, and just played like it was a normal show. Big shout out to Allison who sang, even though she's sick and it was affecting her voice. Shout out to Aaron who brought all of his PA system, as well as his drum kit, and who didn't miss a beat.
The owner said that she loved our stage presence, our sound, our song selection, and she said that she liked that we were all young. She gave us an offer to hire us as regular band! We nailed it. It was a lot of fun and we are excited.
Probably my favorite live shot of me
Aaron playing rock solid
Nate stunning the crowd with his guitar skills
Having a band with an awesome singer is essential, I'm so glad that we found Allison
Mark keeping the rhythm tight; just don't ever call his bass a guitar...
We had a great show at Ice Haus this weekend. A new local band, The Harvest was playing an hour
of their original content, and the Ice Haus contacted us and asked us to play after The Harvest.
The Harvest is a two man band, and they take turns drumming, playing guitar, and singing. It takes serious guts to perform with only two people. All of the stuff that I write, I try to fill it all up with as many instruments as I can, while these guys were minimalists and were still able to convey their music in an excellent way. You can hear your stuff below.
This time we had a sound guy, and he was an expert. It was nice to have monitors, and level sounds. While the place wasn't packed, there was an awesome energy with the people that we brought and some of the new unfamiliar faces. The crowd was very responsive by cheering after every song, and singing and clapping along. We were able to feed into that energy. We danced like we've never danced, and Nate went to the front of the stage during his solos and played like an 80's shredder.
The audience were very generous by leaving tips on the stage. We almost made more money in tips than the money we made at the door. We were very humbled by such an awesome audience! We also had many people shake our hand afterward, and take our business cards.
We had show on October 28, the Saturday night before Halloween. This is the second biggest night for bands to be performing.
We were contacted on GigSalad about this gig. Our client asked how we were different than some of the other bands for hire on the website. We expressed that while we have only been actively gigging for 6 months, we have 30+ years of accumulative experience and that we had an awesome set list of about 50 songs, and we showed our new live videos, which are on par with the best acts in the local scene. We were excited when we got the gig.
We were impressed, the client's house was very large and beautiful. I was at first ataken back that we were going to be playing outside. Luckily, it wasn't cold at all, and we could play as loud as we wanted. At other parties, we tried to play as quiet as we could. As in amps were turned down to 3, the drummer was using brushes. This time, my tube amp was cranked to 8 on it's 30W setting, the drummer was playing as hard as he could just to keep up with us.
It was a costume party. The guests had some pretty spectacular costumes. We also dressed up. Allison couldn't decide, she came dressed as a devil, changed into a witch costume, and changed back into a devil. I was Shrek, Nate was a zombie, Aaron was cow poo, and Mark had a spectacular Jared Leto Joker costume. He went all out with the clothes, make-up, and teeth.
The crowd was very responsive, and this was one of the most enjoyable shows that we've played. People were dancing on the back patio, and on the deck above. Everyone was very complimentary. Our host was so pleased that he asked us to stay an extra hour. During the extra hour, the police were called. So we took a small break and then finished our set list, playing a little softer.
Our host asked us to be his party band, and we would happily play again! We're very pleased with the review that he left us! That makes 5 reviews on our Gig Salad! One of the best in the SLC Valley.
We are pleased to announce that we have released our live cover session videos to the world! You can view them on Facebook or YouTube. Give us a like, thumbs up, and some love!
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We're grateful to have worked with the talented staff at Full Fidelity Studios, and Unknown Prophet Pictures. We are very pleased with the final product.
Friday was great. The highlight for me was Mark's funny leather shirt.
