SoundRabbit

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!

Those of you who’ve hung out with us on tour have probably heard us call the van the “Red Sled.” This is because in rain, sleet, ice, and/or snow, it is virtually impossible to stop our fine steed in short order. The van’s brakes are in the front, but with all the gear loaded in the back, it sits on a bit of a “wheelie,” making those front breaks fairly ineffective. Nothing like a 5-7% grade and packed snow to test the skills of the savviest driver in the band (Anton) today… but we made it!

Headed home on I-70 in the Red Sled!

What a difference a day [of snow] makes. We’re about ready to drive down the hill back to Denver/Boulder. In contrast to night #1, last night the place was packed and we all had a killer time. I guess word of the fresh snow got people to make the drive up and party for the night. Good times. Thanks to any of you who made it out – we had a blast. About to go grab some coffee/cocoa and hit the road, so gotta sign off. First, a few more pics…

Anton’s guitar in the band apartment

Mario warming up on the acoustic bass in the band apartment

chillin’ in the band apartment

Hanging after the show in the band apartment – and the snow piling up outside!

Anton readying the Red Sled for departure this morning.

4-6!

We’re up in Keystone for the night, playing a double-header at the Snake River Saloon, right at the foot of the resort. The lack of snow is killing business up here – check out this pic we took on the drive near town this afternoon – grass and dirt in December – yikes:

July or December?

We definitely felt it at the club tonight… probably 40-50 people there (dead!). But we had ’em groovin’ nonetheless. That’s the “energy bubble” thing that we always talk about… whether there are 5 people or 5,000 people in front of us, we focus on our energy on stage, giving those people the best music we can give ’em.

It’s supposed to snow tomorrow all day, so if that word gets out, we may get lucky with a better crowd of skiers and snowboards (this place is totally an apres ski place).

What’s nice here is that they have a “band apartment” above the venue, so we get a nice 3-bedroom place to hang out before the show, between sets, and overnight. Pretty killer setup.

Here are some pics from today/tonight… we’ll post another update tomorrow… time to hit the rack, as it’s almost 5am. Yay.

Snowmaking machines in full effect.

Home Sweet Van – Keystone, CO

Nighty Night, Mario!