Hurt So Good

Last night was my birthday, and what better way to celebrate then a packed homecoming show. Thanks for coming and enjoying my birthday suit and our moustaches.

Here's some pictures thanks to Dorian Kahles Photography:

BACK TO LA!

Quick Update:  We finished the bulk of our tour in early October and moved into a dome-shaped house outside of Austin to record what will become our debut LP to be released in 2009.  After a couple more shows in Austin and a dead sprint across the country, we're back on our way to LA for a show at The Good Hurt in the Venice Beach area.

We've got new songs, a new album in the works, and big plans.  We all look a bit haggard from 2 months living on the road out of a Suburban, and some grand moustaches have sprouted in that time, but hopefully we can refuel over the holidays. 

Recording Documentary Sans Words

Austin Again. Momo's.

We left our den of seclusion in the woods for the opportunity to play up on 6th Street in Austin at a place called Momo's.  Less broken beer bottles than the last show, and it was nice to get back to civilization, I shaved my neck especially for the show.  Kurt got lost and took a taxi cab back to the woods.

Life: Version Den

Recording in a studio flop house outside of Austin.

Choose your own adventure:

Morning:
Wake up and-
A. Record your instrument
B. Engineer the recording of someone else’s instrument
C. Drink a modelo or espresso and whiskey
D. Throw the football for 4 hours
E. Shoot cans with the daisy bb gun
F. Drive to the alberstons in New Braunfels to buy more modelos looking down when in the checkout line to realize you are wearing dirty gym shorts, cutoff sleeves of a thermal shirt as leg warmers, a white tshirt covered in sharpie, and your disheveled beard is only trumped by your disheveled hair (yet, you somehow still leave with the checkout girls number)

Repeat for 2.5 weeks

The Tour Is OVER

Having seen more cities in the US in the past month than I have in 25 years of existence, I feel blessed with such an experience and a small sense of relief that it is over, and I still have my life. Wasn't sure we were going to make it out of Denver alive, or Lake Tahoe, for that matter. So what's next?

Well, we've rented a house out in the wilderness about a half hour outside of Austin, and if this is the last blog post, you will at least have a general idea of where our bodies are buried. We're setting up a studio and we're beginning work on a full album, maybe you could say that little stretch of touring was just practice for this...

Austin Is Wierd...

...but so are we.  Our boys Earnie Banks from Houston and Airline from Dallas came and joined us at Cain & Abel's for a Saturday night show down by the University of Texas.  Broken beer bottles were afoot, and even one of the ceiling fans was torn down by someone wearing a cowboy hat with a chair.  Some places in Austin, you won't find stereotypical Texans, but you did here.  Good times and a ridiculously large bartab helped the confusion of waking up 2 hours north of Austin in a dirt parking lot?  How the hell did that happen?

Check out Airline

Maybe THIS is the real SOUTH

NEW ORLEANS AND BATON ROUGE.

We skirted the outside of the French Quarter to dodge the trannies and such and played down on Banks Street.  Strong showing from Tulane, well done. 

Baton Rouge put us on the radio, got some true airtime for "A Song" and plunked out a live in-studio version of "Commonwealth Girl", with acoustic guitars and a sweet kawasaki keyboard that Andy couldn't stop raving about.  Magik Fox, you rock our magik socks off.

Thanks to Green Frog Entertainment for setting us up for the showcase on their Indie Lounge night at Triple A Bar, we will definitely be coming back to Baton Rouge...

Hurricane Couldn't Touch 2nd Houston Show

Maybe shoulda been cancelled due to the hurricane, the AC was down and it was probably 120 degrees 80% humidity. The bartenders had been without power for 2 weeks, hats off. We had fun in the sweltering humidity, I'd do it again.

Dallas: Sold Out, Houston: Underwater

The Green Elephant reached capacity, good sign. It's nice to have support in the Southwest, hopefully the trend continues when we leave Texas to return to the United States.

Had a gig cancelled in Houston due to power outages from the hurricane. But it looks like power is back up at our Houston show for tonight, so we shall be leaving Dallas shortly.

Our run is nearing an end and although many of us are violently ill, no one is dead. Late nights, long drives, and lots of cities have taken their toll, but we're still moving. Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Austin this week. Rock on Den.

We Lost Our Gig in the Hurricane

Houston show cancelled by this:

Pics From The Green Elephant, DALLAS

DENton?

I've never heard of Denton, but supposedly there's a college here...and it Denton does have Den in it.

Fun Quotes from The Tour

Lake Tahoe, 3am

"Follow this guy on the motorcycle, he's going to take us to our money".

Denver, 4am, Under A Parking Garage

Paramedic: "We got a call that there were some dead bodies under here, you guys probably shouldn't sleep here."

UP date

It's not as easy to find internet access across this desolate cow field of a country as you would think, thus the congruent desolate nature of the blog. Well, maybe it's easy, but our priority at most stops has been finding the cheapest whisky as quickly as we can before making the next 6 hours to get to the next gig.

Everyone is alive, and we have made enough money to pay for gas and whiskey. What more could we ask for. We've made it to Dallas and have a little more than a week to go. Houston may be underwater so we might not be able to play our two shows there. Two nights ago we won the Habitat for Humanity battle of the bands in Fayetteville, Arkansas to get a $250 gift certificate to a music store, unfortunately they didn't sell whiskey.

Arkansas, who knew?

George's Majestic Lounge.  We won the Battle of the Bands. Woo...hoo...

The U.S. is FLAT

                    Denver to Albuquerque to Oklahoma City to Arkansas is a nice little drive. Truck starts to smell worse and worse.  I think someone will die.

Arvada, Boulder, Denver. CO.

3 shows to cover a grand triumvirate of Colorado college town, classy suburb, and big city.

Notes: Adjust drinking for altitude (Drew), it is a mile high city. 

Thanks Russ for putting us up, Denver rocks.  Andy's birthday saw us sleeping under a parking garage because our sober drummer left us for dead, thanks.  We awoke to paramedics who thought we were dead, boy we fooled them!

These pics are from our show at Owsley's Golden Road in Downtown Denver, one of the coolest venues ever, a maze of huge gallery-like rooms and bartenders who will tell you about the magical powers of gemstones.

Shit, we have to be in Albuquerque tonight...DRIVE!

Stupid

Tahoe IS Cold

Played south Lake Tahoe last night and camped on the lake. Beautiful.

Time to get out of California, just a quick little hop skip and a jump to DENver, 1200 miles in 2 days, easy breezy.

Santa Clara Hasn't Started School Yet? ...Ooops

Playing a show at a popular bar across the street from Santa Clara University sounds like a great time with a great college crowd! …until you get there and realize school doesn’t start until next week. Thanks Brian, for being such a great crowd.


Northern California

We've played 7 shows in the past 6 days, how is that possible? Leaving sunny southern california I kinda expected a bit of fog and coolness in Norcal, but it's been hot here.  The temp guage on the Burban read 112 degrees the other day, and we don't have AC.  Also learned that keeping a Carl's Junior chicken sandwich at that temperature for 6 hours is not the same as the heat lamps in the store, in retrospect, I blame the mayonnaise.  Don't make my mistake.  

Santa Cruz was silly, Davis was delightful, San Fran was ____, San Jose was...hot.

San Jose:

Here's what we did all day in San Francisco tho:

Backtracking a tad wee bit

SLO
Labor
Teevee

The Mystery Spot

So, supposedly this is a mystery...

Drew Blog - Episode 1

Scene opens: Morning in Drew's apartment, Connor on computer

Clip, Clip

Connor: What are you doing?

Drew: I'm trimming your back hair with my toenail clippers.

Connor: Those are scissors.

Drew: But I use them to cut my toenails.

What I've Learned

The time between an attempt to flood all the equipment in a muddy field of cilantro and this cool, sunny San Francisco morning has held 5 very successful shows.  Santa Barbara, SLO, Santa Cruz and Davis have all been conquered in DEN fashion and we've made enough gas money to get this far.  

Touring in a Suburban with no Air Conditioning was predicated upon the anticipation of the lack of any heat wave in September.  Hindsight hits like tube sock full of quarters when the car thermometer reaches 110 degrees when sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.  This happens soon after a quick stop to purchase another cigarette lighter power inverter in an attempt to run an xbox and a tv in the car (we may have spent as much money on this setup as we would have to get the air conditioning fixed, but funds are slim and priorities take priority).  We still have yet to successfully run our intra-suburban entertainment center for more than 5 minutes without blowing a fuse.

So, in support of the title of this post, here's a list of things I've learned thus far:

-some whisky is cheaper than water

-whisky is not a cure for dehydration

-whisky is not a substitute for sleep

-when faced with several half full bottles of different whisky brands, and limited car space, a blend can be made without much degradation to the taste of the whisky

-do not try to hook up the electronics on your trailer when whisky is involved (the white wire is always the ground, and even though there's a little white wire hanging from underneath the bumper of your car, if you match those colors, you will possibly end up blowing about 4 brake light fuses, driving 250 miles without brake lights, then spending only about 3 minutes fixing it when you find a mechanic who knows what they're talking about.

And here's some scenes from the road thus far:

 

Santa Barbara To SLO With No Brake Lights

It is such times that you learn to wire a trailer the hard way.  We made it, staying conveniently behind California Highway Patrol so they couldn't see our lack of brake lights and turn signals.  We can add that to the list of lucky breaks, along with Kurt's truck being salvaged from the lettuce field with no major harm to any of the equipment.  And what is it, only the 3rd day?  Last night in San Luis Obispo was the first and last time anyone will try sleeping in the Suburban, apparently it's uncomfortable...apparently.

The Woes and Beings

Man is truly humbled when he begins an epic musical adventure with a Texas pickup truck stuck in the mud of a central California farm. And by humbled I mean mentally tripping balls in a bad way. Imagine wading through knee deep mud moving large and heavy amps while getting hosed by farm sprinklers and trying to not mess up the most important assets in a "band."perm

<----necessary attire: post-mud.

Our souls have been saved when the Peavy Power 30 tube amp shoots out sounds in a functional manner. Shit works.

Beyond mud is basic acrylic paint. This could be used with an already clogged silk screen press to make CD cover prints that are appealing to artistic labor folk and hipsters who feel sorry AND cool for such a simple (painted) version of the word DEN. 

Paint-induced humor that just so happens to accompany political photographs isn't necessarily making political statements. She's a chick with a stashe that has another woman shedding blood tears over her sloppy goatee. 

Ahh...commonwealth strings via echo guitar will take me away from this magi box. I apologize for lack of sleep for obvious reason....

City People, Country Roads

On the way out to the farmhouse to convene for the beginning of the tour, irrigation from the neighboring fields floods the road.  While Andrew cruises safely through in his sedan, Kurt manages to get his Ford F150 Pickup stuck.  (hmmm).  Result is a shower of sprinkler water all over all amps and guitars, Drew ejects from the cab and trudges through mud to hold sprinklers manually so they don’t flood and ruin all the equipment in the uncovered truck bed.  Kurt spins tires frantically digging a deeper hole.  I wait helplessly 3 hours south in LA, waiting for the call back for the conclusion of the events.  Will this tour be foiled before it even starts?  Electronics and muddy water do not mix well.  Initial conclusions:  City folk do not know how to drive on country roads.

-CM

First Show Of The Tour. Santa Monica.

I hope people come.

Tour Schedule

Here's a block of text to elaborate on what we mean by "Tour":

Day Date City Venue Address Time
F 8/29/08 Santa Monica, CA Nocturnal Bar 2102 Lincoln 9:00 PM
T 9/2/08 Santa Barbara, CA Wildcat Lounge 15 West Ortega 10:00 PM
W 9/3/08 San Luis Obispo, CA Boo Boo Records 978 Monterey St 5:00 PM
W 9/3/08 San Luis Obispo, CA Frog And Peach Pub 728 Higuera 10:00 PM
Th 9/4/08 Santa Cruz, CA 99 Bottles 110 Walnut Ave 10:00 PM
F 9/5/08 Davis, CA G Street Pub 228 G St. 10:00 PM
Sa 9/6/08 San Francisco, CA Biscuits & Blues 401 Mason St. 3:30 PM
Su 9/7/08 San Jose, CA Johnny V's 31 E. Santa Clara St. 10:00 PM
M 9/8/08 Santa Clara, CA The Hut 3200 The Alameda 10:00 PM
T 9/9/08 Lake Tahoe, CA Tudor Pub 1041 Fremont Ave. 10:00 PM
Th 9/11/08 Arvada, CO The D Note 7519 Grandview Ave 9:00 PM
F 9/12/08 Boulder, CO The Goose 1301 Broadway 9:00 PM
Su 9/14/08 Denver, CO Owsley's Golden Road 2151 Lawrence St. 10:00 PM
M 9/15/08 Albuquerque, NM Burt's Tiki Lounge 313 Gold Ave SW 10:00 PM
T 9/16/08 Oklahoma City, OK Sauced 2912 Paseo 10:00 PM
W 9/17/08 Fayetteville, AK George's Majestic Lounge 519 W. Dixon Street 9:00 PM
F 9/19/08 Denton, TX Art 6 Coffee House 424 Bryan Street 9:30 PM
Sa 9/20/08 Dallas, TX The Green Elephant 5627 Dyer St. 10:00 PM
M 9/22/08 Houston, TX Boondocks 1417 Westheimer Rd. 10:00 PM
T 9/23/08 Houston, TX Rudyard's 2010 Waugh Dr. 11:00 PM
W 9/24/08 New Orleans, LA Banks Street Bar & Grill 4401 Banks St. 9:00 PM
Th 9/25/08 Baton Rouge, LA Triple A Bar 4715 Bennington Ave. 10:00 PM
Sa 9/27/08 Austin, TX Cain & Abel's 2313 Rio Grande St. 10:00 PM

Purpose

Welcome!!  

In the interest of utilizing the capabilities of modern technology, we here at DEN have created this blog to share the following:  things you might want to know, things you might not want to know, things you might already know, etc. (I could go on).

After about 2 years of musical development and 6 months of planning, this band we call DEN is on the verge of commencing it's first semi-national tour.  The month of September holds for us 20+ shows in 30 days, which for you means hopefully catching at least one of those.   

This blog will serve as an outlet for us to update anyone who cares on the aforementioned topics.

Sooooooo, here we go...