April 2013

Hello from our hotel in Somerset, New Jersey. We had a great time in New York City tonight, playing at the Bowery Electric Map Room, a funky and tiny (large walk in closet) venue near the East Village.

The day started with a beautiful drive down from Burlington (VT), retracing our scenic route along the shores of Lake George, across some flats with beautiful scenes of farms and mountain views on both sides (the Green Mountains on our left, the Adirondacks on our right).

We managed to get into the city without much trouble/traffic, and with plenty of time to walk around and relax a bit. I (Russ) walked and met a friend for coffee, while the guys chilled on a coffee shop patio on Bowery Street across from the venue. Our parking luck kicked in again, with the van parked directly in front of the venue’s front door.

The guys went and grabbed some pizza before the show (I opted to fast for a late-night scarfing) and then we loaded in. The room was literally the size of a large walk-in closet, with the stage about 12’x5′. We were virtually on top of eachother, but we tend to play really well in those situations, when we can hear everything really well and it’s all about the ‘energy bubble,’ not show production/lights/big sound. We really dial in our stage volume and focus on delivering a great sound and interaction. There was a good crowd of people there, both people who knew our music and plenty who were being introduced to it. We played a quick 50-minute set, and a longtime good friend of mine, Tanner Walle, played before us, while our other good friend’s band, Black River Quartet, played immediately after us. Made for a great family-style vibe in there. Oh, and there was a huge “Hello Charlie!” chorus during Turn My Egg at the end of our set. That was awesome.

After the show we loaded out and then started to walk to find some food. It was almost 3am, but it’s New York – there’s plenty going on and plenty of options for good food. I ran over and asked some kids hanging outside a bar where they’d recommend, and they suggested a Ukranian diner on 2nd Ave and 9th street called Veselka. We walked the few blocks to get there and MAN was it worth it. Holy Pierogies. That’s their specialty… we each ordered different types of pierogies, from summer sausage to potato to spinach and cheese… served with sides of caramelized onions, apple sauce, and sour cream. They were unreal. We then cruised to the glass case of desserts and picked up some peanut butter chocolate pie, and I picked up an arugala pastry for breakfast tomorrow morning. Mmmmm.

We drove about an hour to get to the hotel here. The original hotel we’d booked had a nice big suite with two bedrooms and a huge common area with pullout couch, but the hotel called us and said that they’d overbooked and would need to send us to a new place… so here we are, at the new place. It’s the Radisson Bridgewater in Somerset and it’s actually super nice. We got a couple of rooms, so Beers and Mario are in the other one, and Fred, Anton, and I are sharing this one as usual.

The news from the Boston Marathon is pretty unreal – no leads or suspects yet, an 8 year old boy among the dead, 100+ injured, and the photos are graphic and extremely sad. We had a couple of friends who were planning to come to our show tonight in NYC who texted us that they were at the finish line when all of that happened; they weren’t hurt, but they saw everything and helped victims, etc. and were too emotionally and physically spent to get out to the show tonight. Unbelievable. We’ll continue to track the news as much as we can online in the van while driving. We head to Charlottesville, Virginia tomorrow for a two-night stand at The Box, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s happening in Boston by the time we get there on Friday.

We’re on our way South to New York City from Burlington (Vermont).

Had a fun show last night at Club Metronome, though it was a pretty slow night. Mondays are tough nights to get people out anyway, and to top it off, on the first floor of the club (Nectar’s), it was “Metal Night,” so any foot traffic who might dig our stuff had work their way through super loud metal bands first, to get upstairs to our show. Oh, well – we got into our “energy bubble” and did our thing and entertained the folks who made it out. We had people come from as far away as Albany, New York, which was really cool to see.

Here’s how the setlist panned out:

And the famed “Nectars” neon sign…

And our great parking luck right in front of the venue once again…

Well, we’re in Burlington and the guys are all seated at a table here at a restaurant that looks and smells fantastic – Farmhouse. I’m catching up on a few things online before I join them, one of which is trying to figure out what happened at the Boston Marathon today. We had a gorgeous drive along Lake George in upstate New York today en route to Vermont… exceptionally beautiful scenery with deep pine forests, big rock outcroppings, and the massive lake… teeming with tourists during the summer, but wonderfully empty for us today. We stopped for gas at one point and I got a text from a friend during a few minutes of cell phone coverage, with the message, “two explosions at Boston Marathon finish line. Lots of casualties.” My heart jumped into my throat.

I (Russ) grew up in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in a little house about an 8-minute walk from the Marathon starting line. “Marathon Monday” was the biggest day of the year for the town, as our 10,000 population grew to 100,000 with thousands of runners and tourists streaming in for pre-race celebrations and then the starting of the marathon itself. Back in 2007 when SoundRabbit first formed as a trio (before Anton joined), we played the pre-race events in Hopkinton. I also know a ton of friends and family who run the race and/or go down to the finish line in Boston to cheer other friends/family the last hundred yards to the finish. The Boston Marathon has a handful of elite runners, but it’s by and large a community event with moms, dads, cousins, friends running it. The timing of the explosions was particularly odd, as it appears it was like 4-5 hours after the starting gun, meaning that the elite (high profile) runners have been finished for a couple of hours and it’s now the common folks – you, me, our friends, our uncles and aunts – trying to finish personal best times in the 4-6 hour range. The finish line had to be full of little kids, families, and friends innocently scanning the crowd of runners for friends/family to cheer on. Some of the initial photos I’m seeing online are heart-wrenching. We’re supposed to play in New York City tomorrow night and in Boston on Friday, so at this point we have no idea if the cities will be on lockdown, etc.

I’m going to go join the guys for dinner and try to have a good show tonight, but my heart is incredibly heavy. More later from the hotel or maybe the road to NYC tomorrow… thanks as always for your time.

Hi, All. On our way to Burlington, Vermont from upstate New York. Had a fun night last night playing at Boulder Coffee Co. Tiny place, but we rocked it and got to hang with some fine folks after the show.

We got a bit of a late start from Ohio and cut it super close, loading in about 5 minutes before we were supposed to play, so it was a scramble, but with Fred’s help we got up and running by 8:15pm. Saw some familiar faces from the last time we played Rochester (5 years ago!), nice to see people singing along to our original songs – that’s the magic that makes the long drives worth it. After the gig we went with some friends from the area to a bar up the street (the Dragonfly – highly recommended if you’re visiting) and enjoyed some late night wings, nachos, etc. We stayed at a nice hotel in downtown Rochester and planned on finally catching up on our sleep by sleeping in until 9am or so. Instead, we were jarred out of bed (Fred levitated) by a blaring siren at 7am and an automated voice saying sternly, “There is an emergency. Proceed out of the building using the stairs. Do not use any elevators. There is an emergency. Proceed out…” over and over. We were on the 8th floor, so we scrambled to get dressed and shoes on… and were about to go out the door when the voice suddenly stopped and was replaced with, “Attention – the emergency is concluded. You may return to your rooms.” Great. Heads barely hit the pillow and it was time to get up and roll again.

Backing up to a highlight from yesterday afternoon… en route out of Ohio we stopped at one of our favorite regular tour eateries, Cafe Europa, in Willoughby (outside Cleveland). John, the owner, welcomed us as he always does, pulling up a chair at our table and sitting to visit for a while. He’s from Germany and has a thick accent, so we have to pay attention to keep up, and we never know where the conversation will go. Always entertaining. Now to the important stuff: the food. John makes everything from scratch, homemade, authentic German and Eastern European goodies. I (Russ) had the goulash with perfectly-cooked beef and homemade toasted bread with butter. Mario had wienerschnitzel, and Anton and Fred had German sausage with potatoes and greens. For dessert we had German chocolate cake, German black forrest cake, Apple strudel, and tiramisu. He also gave the guys “the best beer from Germany,” and an orange juice for me. It was a fantastic lunch, as always.

We play tonight at Club Metronome in Burlington. We’ll be getting to town in time to have a nice relaxing dinner and then load in with plenty of time before we play. Nice schedule and so far pretty nice driving weather. More from Burlington later…

Hello from the van on I-271 south of Cleveland, crossing the Cuyahoga River. We’re on our way to Rochester, New York for the next show, but we’ll be stopping at Europa Cafe in Willoughby, OH (just east of Cleveland) first for lunch. It’s one of our favorite haunts on the road, as you long time Road Journal readers know. John, the owner, always has our Tree Trunk Airplanes CD ready to play, and the food is ridiculously good, homemade European meat and pastry dishes, desserts, etc. Can’t wait… t-minus 40 minutes or so.

Here’s a photo to help you feel like you’re sitting in the back of the van, riding along:

We had an awesome time in Yellow Springs last night. It was good to be back at Peach’s after a few years.

The club has great sound and a great (attentive) sound engineer, and they provide us with dinner and then a “band house” for the night. Here’s how the setlist turned out:

Nightlite Jesus
From The World I Have Known
Sister, Brother
Don
September
Flume
Story
Eoghan, Late Saturday
1,000 Ways to Kneel
Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard
Relief
IIOKYN
Diminished Returns –>
Diggin’ in the Dirt
View From Way Up Here
Let It Be (Anton solo) –>
Wankle
ZED
Marula Binge
Obey –>
Life During Wartime
Emil
Turn My Egg
Encore: Hazel

At the end of the show, we saw Dave Chappelle hanging out and got to visit with him for a bit. He was there the last time we played at Peach’s (a few years ago). Funny guy. Then we headed to the band house to get some zzz’s for the night.

We got to the bunk room and found a coffin in the corner. Empty, thankfully.

Catch y’all from Rochester…

Hello from the van, somewhere outside Peoria, Illinois, on our way to Yellow Springs, Ohio. Beautiful blue sky day with big white puffy clouds and cool temps (50’s)… great driving day!

We played Doane College last night in Crete, and it was a lot of fun. Beers recorded some of the set on his phone, so we got to review the show earlier on our drive today and we were all pleased with the playing and sound mix, etc. It was a tough room to mix for (thanks, Fred!): a big basketball gym with high-rise seating and very high (50’+) ceilings, brick walls, and big windows. We were there to volunteer our time as entertainment for the Relay For Life, one of the biggest (if not the biggest) events of the year at the school… so they had us set up in the middle of the room while the students and local residents walked laps around it. We played from 11pm to 12:30am or so, but they were all walking from 6pm to 6am – wowsers. Students were taking occasional breaks from the walking, by shooting hoops (right in front of us – Anton almost got beaned by basketballs a few times), jumping in big inflatable jumpy houses, eating stuff, etc. When we first arrived to load in and set up, they were having a silent vigil and luminary lighting, with students speaking to the crowd about parents, siblings, etc. who had lost a battle with cancer or who were still fighting it. VERY moving. There was enough transition time between that and our set that we were able to have a fun, upbeat setlist and everyone was cool. All in all it was a really fun event, and in what has become a Doane tradition for us, one of the advisors (thanks, Amy!) baked us a fresh, homemade apple pie. We took it back to the hotel and scarfed it in the lobby before retiring for the night. Not bad living.

Here’s how the setlist panned out:

Hazel
Marula Binge
Story Of…
Sister, Brother
View From Way Up Here
Mud Jam
September
Life During Wartime
Nightlite Jesus
Turn My Egg

The visual version:

I should comment quickly about eating on the road, and the value of a gift like Amy’s. We arrived at Doane around 9:30pm thinking that we’d grab something to eat on campus or at the event itself. We had no luck finding anything, so we had to scramble to find dinner before playing at 11pm. It took us an hour to set up (10:40pm), so we had about 15 minutes… we piled into the van and drove to the nearest 24 hour WalMart (next to campus) and raided the fruit and veggies section, along with grabbing some Hawaiian sweet bread and a jar of peanut butter. By 11pm we were back at the gym with some relatively healthy food in our stomachs and ready to rock. By contrast, today for lunch we ate at The World’s Largest Truckstop’s food court, with 5 fast food options. We all opted for Wendy’s. The people watching and random-trinket-and-t-shirt browsing were most excellent as always.

We crossed the Mississippi River shortly after the Truckstop, cruised through Peoria, Illnois, and we’re now on I-74 about 2.5 hours from Indianapolis, en route to Peach’s in Yellow Springs. We’re all going on about 3.5 hours of sleep, so it’s pretty quiet in the van (other than some snoring from the back bench row “bed”)… but we’re feeling good and ready to rock a long set tonight.

More later!

Hello, Backstagers! Russ here. Writing you from the van, heading east/northeast on I-76 in Eastern Colorado, almost to the Nebraska line. Went through a squall of rain and a bit of road construction for a while, but otherwise clear sailing… we should be right on schedule. This is our first tour with Mario, and so far no fights have broken out, so we might be okay.

We’ve got a bunch of new gear setups and a whole new run of merch for this tour, but we managed to pack the van perfectly. Everyone’s comfortable in the ‘cabin,’ and the gear looks like a perfectly stacked 83rd round Tetris level completion.

We play tonight at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska (just outside Lincoln). I think this is SoundRabbit’s 5th appearance  at Doane in the last 4 years, though some of those show were duo acoustic. Tonight we shall rock full band in a big basketball gym. Rockin’ arenas, oh ya.

So far Fred (resident DJ) has rocked about an hour of Yacht Rock… Foreigner, Chicago, and the like. We’re now grooving to SoulLive, which has us all feeling a bit less romantic but much more groovy.

Okay, just wanted to get a first post up for the trip… write you again from Crete, maybe before the show, or afterwards from the hotel. Thanks for joining us on the road!

Fred flew into town yesterday and we had one last pre-tour practice last night at the rehearsal space… everything is sounding great, the gear is all organized and merch is almost completed (new tanks, t’s). Can’t wait to hit the road! Some pics from rehearsal:

Catch y’all from the road… we leave tomorrow!