Surfin' Sandy: Day 10 - Macomb, IL

There I was, half naked on stage again. My shirt had come off and I had a slight headache. I thought maybe I was hungover from Friday in St. Louis but I think I forgot to drink coffee. A cute girl in the front of the crowd asked me what I'd do for $10.. The possibilities were endless. Ol' Blue was getting such questionable gas mileage this run I figured I'd take what I could for cheap tricks. I should have asked someone for Advil but I wasn't in the mood to be personal.

That's where the energy was in the Cafe this evening. There was a recklessness and careless feeling throughout the room. Propositions would be made, some were obliged. The trusting kind we are.

We had started our day in St. Louis and decided to stop in Alton, IL at a Cajun restaurant. We had Bloody Mary's. I wish they tasted as good as they looked.

Vincent Joseph toast Kevin and I to a great run.

We rolled into Macomb and met our old friend Doug for dinner and drinks at Magnolia's. Doug would later open this show for under the name NARP. Doug is formerly of  "Henderson". He took the trip from Indianapolis to come loosen up the crowd for us.

"NARP". Real Deal Holyfield.

He was truly a one man show this evening. He played to a backing track he recorded at home. He played drums live and sang. It was a lot of fun watching him do his thing.

We steamrolled through all three sets, playing new numbers and crowd favorites. Opted on playing any slow numbers as I fear we may have been booed if we should the slightest shift from our abandon. The show was eclipsed by me stabbing my guitar multiple times through a floor Tom. After the first two puncture wounds, the drum fell over in defeat. An excited fan ran to the stage and grabbed the drum to hold it for me so I could continue my massacre. It wasn't until after the show that I realized how close I must've come to smashing them in the face with the body of my Telecaster.

Thankfully no one was hurt but I did quite a number on the drum and later found a tuning peg from my guitar bouncing around the shell.

Weak Sword.

Better off Dead.

It was good to come to a familiar place to finish the tour.

Back into the studio we shall go.

Thanks for Reading.

Stephen Francis

Surfin' Sandy Tour - Day 9: St. Louis, MO @ The Crack Fox: 11/09/12

St. Louis has been a growing market of ours for almost two years now. We have never encountered foul people here, but this is based on the few kind souls we have collided with during our travels. This time around we had a much better/denser crowd and still the sweetness was in the air.

The Crack Fox is a really hip joint with some of the sweetest staff you'll ever find in downtown St. Louis. Remarkable still shots cover the walls; any pictures I could have taken would not do them justice. All the stills are in a burlesque-vain with beautiful women in beautiful poses; creates a great atmosphere for Rock n' Roll... and rock we did.

We were the last of 3 bands and seemed to capture the crowd quite well (Where's The Chief? and Living Room Lava were the first two)... but to be completely honest I did not notice the crowd while we were playing. It was just one of those majestic nights where I could feel the music through my bones and the band was all on the same page; speaking through our instruments and completely one with what we were producing. Stephen had a great solo during, "Balance" and we shared a great push-pull momentum during that outro. Kevin and I were a completely synced rhythm-section laying the ground work for the set which consisted of a lot of our darker, Stranger, tunes. It seems we pour our souls into every set we play, this one was just plain evidence of that concept.

-VinSauce

Surfin’ Sandy Tour – Day 8: Indianapolis, IN @ The Rock House – 11/8

Indianapolis is our home away from Chicago.  Lazy Hawk Promotions has done so much for us there and we cannot thank them enough.  This was another show that Will and Bebe from LHP helped us out with since the venue doesn’t typically have bands on Thursday nights.  We’ve played at The Rock House before and they treat us very well.  This show was no different except we played a longer set than our fans are used to seeing there so they got to hear some deeper cuts as well as covers that we got to pull out for fun.  After catching up with some fans as well as making new ones and selling some merchandise we loaded out and took off.  Will and Bebe let us crash at their place so we got a good night’s rest and had some lunch with their family before heading off to St. Louis.  

Surfin' Sandy Tour - Day 7: Lousiville, KY @ Hideaway Saloon 11/07/12

Of all the cities we hit during the Surfin' Sandy tour Louisville is the one I could most see myself relocating to. In my opinion, it is the Austin of Kentucky. They have everything I need: music, bourbon, good food and a lot of weird. On par for us, we hit another brewery before load-in, Bluegrass Brewing Company. The best part of the brewery for me... Vegan BBQ wings, flippin' delicious.

This was our second trip through Louisville and our reception was superb. The staff and patrons of The Hideaway Saloon were beyond kind our first time through and more than exceeded our expectations this second pass. It is very easy to play music and feel at-ease when you are playing to a room filled with music lovers whom love to dance... Simply awesome. The club has a great bohemian vibe with the crowd to match.

My favorite part of the evening was sharing the stage with The Pranksters. We have shared the stage with a lot of acts, however, these guys in particular were a VERY talented bunch and couldn't have been any sweeter. Tom Browning, their guitarist, was a phenomenal player and was the one kind enough to let us share the evening with them. He has played with the likes of Bo Diddly, players of The Grateful Dead, Stevie Winder and many more (it was obvious after seeing them play); Grade-A awesome.

Hideaway gives the touring bands a house to stay at; so we microwaved ourselves some grilled cheeses and got a good nights rest. The day after the show we had some time to kill so we wandered over to our favorite local leather shop, Leatherheads. This is a slice of heaven for me; kickass cowboy boots, belts, cowboy shirts and custom guitar straps. Nick, the master leather worker there, has a patented design for a guitar strap that takes the stress off of guitar players' back and trapezoid muscles.

He has sold these straps to many folks including: Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), My Morning Jacket, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Depp and more. We saw this spectacular strap our last trip through Louisville and Stephen was even fitted for one. This time through we pulled the trigger and bought Stephen and Kevin an early birthday/Christmas gift. Nick, then had me draw our Model Stranger logo next to Kevin and Stephen signature on his own personal straps that he keeps in the shop. It's cool to see their names surrounded with some of our idols... I dig it.

All-in-all, Louisville will always have a piece of my heart and I can't wait to get back.

-Vinny The Dominator 

Surfin' Sandy Tour - Day 6: Cleveland, OH

We had never been to Cleveland to perform. Kevin and I had taken the trip when we were little guys to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We pulled into town quite late following an 8 hour trip. We decided to stop at the Great Lakes Brewery and have a drink. It seems if there is a brewery in town, we will be stopping there.

Thinking about putting together a brewery tour.

We performed at a place called Wilbert's which was down in the Sports district. Much like Cameo's it was tucked away in a back of a building. It was election night and we were in Ohio. There was an odd tension throughout the evening and the crowd was painfully light.

The difference in the night came for us when we learned of the rich history of Wilbert's in it's original incarnation. Artists like Jeff Buckley and Jack White had graced it's stage early in their careers. The owner Mike is one of those guys that has contributed as a stepping stone for many young touring artists. He had a lot of great stories.

Despite the light crowd we did well in merchandise. We decided to sleep in the parking lot and watched "The Hunger Games". It was shortly into this movie when we found out that Obama would be our president for the next four years.

It wasn't a very eventful evening for us but I'll never forget that night.

Stephen Francis

Surin' Sandy Tour - Day: 4 and 5 - New York, New York

We left Maryland promptly after our show at Guido's Speakeasy.

Having never taken a trailer into New York City I was quite anxious to arrive at a time when traffic wasn't very high. The drive was just about 4.5 hours. We spent the evening listening to Jazz and sharing stories, talking fashion and playing pretend. We made sure to grab gas before we hit the turnpike. We were warned about the gas shortages throughout the state. After 60.50 in tolls into New York we pulled into Greenpoint around 6:16 am and to our surprise found parking right across from where we would be residing for the next few days.

I've heard nightmare stories from bands and gear gone missin' while in New York so I was particularly grateful to be able to stick my head out the window of my friend's apartment and check on the trailer at will.

Having driven over night we decided to take a good slumber but plans for rest were quickly interrupted as 1 PM drew near. Just because we were touring doesn't mean we should miss the Bears.

We spent a majority of our day at a Bar in the back corner cheering on our team with fellow transplants from the Windy City. After the game we took a brief rest before heading out to Cameos in Williamsburg.

At first we were confused because we couldn't find the club. This of course is probably nothing new for people that have never made the trip there as the club is really a back room in another club. The kind of place that looks like it would be perfect for a private party or a rave.

The recent hurricane had disabled most transportation from Manhattan to Brooklyn so the promoter and New York bands weren't expecting a huge night. We had anticipated this and were mostly grateful that the show was still happening. Although it wasn't the night the bands had hoped for the crowd that came was plentiful and stuck around for all four bands.

The night was opened by Shayna Sands, a very talented female who rocks the guitar quite well. We took the stage second. We were followed by "The Reckless Collected" which is really a band that had been assembled just a few weeks prior for this show. You'd never be able to tell that. Connor Grant assembled a stellar cast of musicians. Connor plays a mean guitar. Lastly, The Dharma Project, a project manned by Jason Boner, an exceptional singer and ambient musician closed the night.

I'm Analog.

Our set was highlighted by trying out some newer songs and interviewing the crowd from stage about them when I realized that no one really cares if a song is old or new. If I wrote it yesterday or today.. I mumbled into the mic.. "Like anyone fucking cares when I wrote this." The crowd had a giggle as I realized the truth in that.

After the show we took up our friend Connor's offer to empty the trailer into his loft as we had an off day the following day and wouldn't have to worry. We took up his offer and spent the night listening to R and B tracks, shooting pool and drinking PBR.  We stumbled into the New York streets to greet the sun and I took advantage of a 24 hour Deli on the corner.

Day 5 

Our off day was slightly wasted as we slept into the afternoon. When we awoke we made a quick decision to hop a ferry and make the trip to Manhattan.

Nice day for a Ferry Ride. Not really. It was cold.

We paid our respects to Mr. Lennon as we took a late night stroll through Central Park. Afterwards we stopped at Mc Sorely's and enjoyed some cheese and crackers. We capped our night at Downtown Pub and Grill, which Kevin had been hoping to do since we booked New York.

Respect.

Women weren't allowed here until the late 70's.

Our visit was the perfect mix of Rock and Roll and quality time with friends. Of course we would've loved to visit under different circumstances but we actually were quite lucky considering the timeline of the storm patterns. Unfortunately they got hit with another storm the day after we left.

Our best wishes to the city and the great people there. We look forward to making the trip again.

Goodbye New York

Thanks for reading.

Stephen Francis

Surfin’ Sandy Tour – Day 3: Frederick, MD @ Guido’s Speakeasy – 11/3

This was a last minute fill in which we were lucky enough to get.  Our friends in Vinny Vegas hooked us up with their friend John who runs his own promotion company.  This was our first time through Frederick so we didn’t know what to expect.  We were greeted quite kindly by John and his wife and they accommodated us in any way that they could which included great beer (the Flying Dog Brewery is in Frederick) and tasty food.  Before our set we were approached by a gentleman who was a diehard Local H fan and after seeing we have opened for them a couple of times he decided to come check us out.   We hit the stage around 11:30 and played a set of pretty much nothing but straight rockers.  The crowd really enjoyed us and bought us some rounds of shots after picking up some Model Stranger gear.  We got to talk with John before we left and he assured us we will be booked again in Frederick as well as Baltimore so we look forward to heading through again.

Surfin' Sandy Tour - Day 2: Columbus, OH

We have grown quite fond of Columbus ever since The Moustache Bar Crawl brought us there in 2011. It is a quaint, yet progressive, oasis in Buckeye-Country chalk full of boutique bars, music clubs and (my favorite) great vegetarian-friendly fare.

Columbus had a lot to live up to after having a successful night in Muncie; and I didn't want my romanticized idea for the city to flicker out like a dull flame in the wind... It did not.

We were lucky enough to get into town a bit early and relax at a friends' posh digs while watching "Street Thief" (a great mock-u-mentary about a burglar in Chicago) before heading to the club for load in.
I knew I was going to have a great evening as soon as I walked into Circus. The walls were lined with vintage-esque sideshow posters and circus themed regalia... My favorite. The staff was extremely kind, as well.

We were billed with a good band from Columbus called Emily and The Complexes; I highly recommend checking them out. One song in particular that I enjoyed was ”I Don't Want To Brush My Teeth," awful title but great track. The turnout for our first show in Columbus was good, the response of the crowd was great. We couldn't ask for much more from a new market and the second day of Surfin' Sandy.

-Vinny Fresh

Surfin’ Sandy Tour – Day 1: Muncie, IN @ Be Here Now – 11/1

Who would’ve thought Muncie, IN would be such a cool place to play?!  We’ve played there a couple of times now and made sure to kick off the Surfin’ Sandy Tour right which Muncie was perfect for.  We got into town a little early, Kevin stopped at the same craft beer store he goes to every time for some choice picks, had some dinner with the owner Whitney, who is a super human being, along with some Strangeloves and headed back to Be Here Now to play.  The energy was right for a Thursday night and the crowd danced and enjoyed our set and stuck around to chat with us after the set.  Some students at Ball State are putting together a documentary on the Muncie music scene and stopped in to interview us and get our opinions on Be Here Now.  Once we were done and all loaded out we wandered over to Whitney’s where he let us hangout, have some late night conversation and crash for the evening.  After getting solid rest we hit the road again to head on over to Columbus, OH for our next gig.  All in all Muncie was a great start to the tour.

Model Stranger meets Beethoven?

Doesn't seem like something you'd have thought would happen, eh? I'd have to say the same for myself but it's funny how things work. We were contacted about playing a movement from Beethoven's 3rd Symphony during the International Beethoven Project in Chicago and thought, "Why not?" It turns out that 12 artists were asked to pick a movement from the same symphony and we were all going to be playing them in succession but the catch was each artist was to do their own interpretation. This made it sound quite interesting.

We began working on the piece and kept going back and forth about how exactly we wanted it to come across. When all was said and done we had a 3:30 instrumental piece that moved along very well. The performance was held at the National Pastime Theater in Chicago. Upon arriving we could see that all the artists were on the same page as us and didn't know exactly what to expect. We all talked, laughed, had a few drinks and looked forward for what was to come.

The performance began just after 2am on a Friday night/Saturday morning with a solo artist playing a piano piece that was done beautifully. The symphony progressed with djs, blues, solo acoustic acts, noise rock and we had the privilege of closing it out. We went on shortly after 3am and there was surprisingly a crowd of people still heavily engaged. This was a unique experience for us. We got to do something out of the Model Stranger norm, be a part of an awesome project, meet some great musicians and enjoy something a little different on a Friday night. Keep your eye out for what the International Beethoven Project brings to Chicago next year!

Kev

Model Stranger, Local H and Trigger Fish at Durty Nellie's

This past Friday, September 7th we were once again billed with Chicago natives Local H. We first shared the stage with Local H almost two years prior, at a since defunct venue. This time around was quite different.

We rolled into Palatine around 2pm for load-in at Durty Nellie's; unfortunately, the load-in time was changed to 6pm without us being informed. So (very unlike Model Stranger) we decided to get some much needed zzz's, as our recording schedule has been running us through the ringer. Our dressing room consisted of a table, a fridge and some office chairs; not very conducive for sleep. After wrestling around with some chairs to stay still while I slept, we decided it best to sleep in Local H's dressing room. It wasn't until about 6 o'clock that I woke dazed & confused with Scott Lucas and his entourage above me wondering why we were all in his dressing room...

Conveniently, when we were en-route back to our dressing room we ran into a friend that manages Smith Street Station (a lounge attached to Durty Nellie's).  He didn't have to twist any arms to get us into his establishment for a fine cocktail... and let me tell you, they do it right. You have to be 25 years of age (or older) to enter leaving all the douche-bag-bros and skanky fresh-bloomers to the sidelines. The decor is rustic and modern with phenomenal art covering the walls. My favorite though, the cocktails and small plates. I had a Manhattan with smoked Bourbon (they smoke the glasses in front of your eyes with a hand-held-smoker, pretty cool) and some whiskey-glazed nuts, MmmmMmm. So anyway, after getting our lounge-on and feeling pretty spicy we headed back to Durty Nellie's for some rock.

The opening band for the show was Trigger Fish, a bunch of super-rad dudes. I was expecting them to have a heavy-harsh sound and was pleasantly surprised when they took the stage. A Sublime meets At The Drive In musical tones with a soulful (almost Dan Auerbach-esque) voice; you should check them out. Solid musicians, solid humans, good band.

We took the stage next and played one of our heavier-octane sets. Playing to a room packed with some of your fans a majority of another bands fans is interesting. It's one of those moments you need to let go of care; you can't worry what the majority is thinking and just do your own thing. Whenever I would look into the crowd there were clumps of people getting down and the rest of the mass stared with open eyes and blank faces; one of those stares you can't read. As if they are either amazed by what you are doing or bored as shit hoping you will get the hell off of the stage so they can see the band they came for. I would assume it was a bit off all the aforementioned as we had a great response after the songs and at our merchandise table ;-)

Either way, I enjoyed this bill for many reasons. One, it is always great to share the stage with a band that you like (or at the very least respect). Two, it is awesome befriending another band and actually liking their music and stage show. Three, Smith Street Station :-)

Libatiously Yours,
Vincent

A Model Called Fire - The Long Hard Road to the Ultra Lounge With Ours

Back in July Model Stranger were booked to play the Ultra Lounge with Ours. The show was cancelled do to some roofing that had caused concern for the promoters. To make it a total bumfest I'd also left a family vacation and drove 3 hours to get back for the performance. Wasn't a pleasant Friday night. Needless to say we were pretty bummed this happened as we had been looking forward to this show. 

Kevin and I have been fans of Ours since we were young teens. We first met Jimmy at a show when we were teenagers living in California and for years have been telling fellow music fans, peers and friends to take a good hard listen. Over the years they have and our fans were excited about this show as a lot of them are also now Ours fans too. It's safe to say we are Ours enthusiasts.

When we received the reschedule date we, as luck would have it we hit a snag. As it turns out Vincent was going to be on a vacation. Vincent was ready to make the trip back for that show but this was a trip that would require nearly 8 hours of travel just to get to a plane - all on his own dime. Sadly he had to bow out on the show and with a very surrendering sigh suggested we find someone to fill in.

Usually we wouldn't do such a thing like perform without Vincent but we were looking forward to this, so we, with a LOT of help from our friends, made it happen.

It was at this time, only 7 days out from the show that Johnathon Schiller, the drummer from A Friend Called Fire, friends of Model Stranger from Chicago, offered his services. At first I was nervous - we'd been looking forward to this show and I didn't want to misrepresent Model Stranger - we'd never even played a note of a Model Stranger tune with Jonathon.

However our only other option was using Kevin and getting our friend from Bullet Called Life to sit in on Bass. Kevin had just seen Jonathon perform and assured me he was the better guy for the job. After we decided on Jonathon we also thought it'd be wise to bring our old friend Thomas Miller, also from Bullet Called Life in for the performance. The line up jokingly was referred to in Chicago as "A Model Called Fire"

We had the opportunity to do three solid rehearsals the week of the show with Jonathon and Tom - just enough to get a few songs that we hadn't performed live yet in Chicago.

Thankfully all of the hard work was worth it. The show went better than we could have hoped. We performed well and the crowd enjoyed it. - "A Model Called Fire" didn't botch it! We had a great time sweating our asses off on a hot Summer August night in Chicago at the Ultra Lounge. If only the photographer had grabbed a picture of Tommy!

Jonathon Schiller

The night was capped off by a killer set by Ours. Ironically we would have been at this show anyways but being able to perform too.. just simply awesome.

 It was a long hard road to make the performance work and we are forever indebted to Thomas Milller and Jonathon Schiller for their time and dedication to help us stay on the bill.

Jimmy Gnecco of Ours

Interested in reading more about the show and some one else's thoughts on the actual show? Check out a review by Popstache here.

Barfly - Nuvo - Comics from a Strangeland

Once again, stopped work in the studio and took a short trip out to Indiana for a couple shows this past weekend that involved the legendary and new favorite Indianapolis club Melody Inn. The crowd was one of the best we've seen so far in Indy and we fell in love with the venue.

You can view pics from the show here.

We also had the treat of playing Crash McClains in Crawfordsville which gave us an opportunity to catch up with our friends in Polar Island, whom attended the show, always a treat to see them.

We found this here comic printed in the local newspaper and online. Kind of a nice treat to have our press pics and show pics immortalized. Rock.

Thanks to Wayne Bertsch at Nuvo for this comic and show mention. Going to do you proud sir! We will be heading back to Indianapolis on Sept. 22nd to perform at this years ORANJE festival. More on that later!!!

Appropriately Titled: Craft Beer

     For those who haven’t met me before I must confess something to you... I have an affinity for beer. Not in an alcoholic drink a case of Bud Light a day kind of way but rather enjoy a couple unique beers on a suave sailboat (okay, so maybe I don’t own a sailboat!). Craft beer has been on a steady rise for several years now. Who ever imagined that they’d wait in line for an hour just to try and get a limited release beer not to mention only ONE bottle?! Liquor stores that carry these types of beer are becoming the Toys R Us for adults with Great America caliber lines.

     So why do you care about my ramblings on craft beer? Well, maybe you don’t and I won’t force you to read any further. If you do you may find a common interest with my hobby. I collect and brew beer. Not necessarily the most “logical” hobby but nonetheless a wonderful one. I started brewing a few years ago and my first beer was a Holiday Ale, appropriately named, “The Grinch’s Christmas Ale” (This sums up my liking for Christmas). Some of my close friends received a bottle along with some homemade wine as their holiday gift. Since then I’ve gone on to brew several different kinds of beers: Oktoberfest, IPA and a Heavy Hopped Wheat to name a few with my latest being a Hefeweizen for the hot summer ahead. If you’re interested in following my brewing adventures feel free to find me on Instagram (kev_james) or Facebook.

     



Tagging Beers before they make their way into my storing cellar



The other half of my beer hobby is collecting. I’ve been asked many times why because people think beer is made to be consumed upon purchasing. This is not necessarily true. Some beers can age for quite some time. I have a few that I plan on aging for 10 years. Yes, you read that correctly. Lately I’ve found myself purchasing more beer to age than I have to drink immediately. While this is not a lucrative investment it is a delicious one that I intend to continue! Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to be invited over to my humble abode for some tastings.



     As I’m sitting pondering the thought of what color I want to paint my bedroom I receive an email titled, “Model Stranger – Craft Beer Festival.” Clearly this captured my attention. Upon reading it we received an offer to play this year’s Craft Beer Street Festival in Chicago. My immediate response was, “Hell yes!” Then I realized I have two other band members that may want to be informed first. Needless to say we took the show and are excited to be performing this coming Saturday, June 30th at 3:45 sharp followed by Empires, Civil Twilight and Shiny Toy Guns. If you dig craft beer you should really look at the lineup of Breweries and plan on attending this festival. And while you’re at it make sure to wander over to the music stage and catch us sweating profusely while pouring out our hearts and souls. Then come up, say hello and let’s drinks some delectable beers together. See you Saturday.

Recent Beers I Suggest:

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale
Bell's Hopslam
Three Floyds Zombie Dust
Lagunitas Imperial Red
Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

-Kevin James

Recording of the Last Time

Last week we released a new track called "The Last Time". Having quite the number of new tracks to work from we decided to lead out with something from the "stranger" side.

This song was recorded over two days and is the first track where we were able to use some of the sound design we came across from experimenting with synthesizers in the studio. Since we had the opportunity of working it out live and rehearsed it well the recording went smooth. This was the first time I performed a song in the studio with "keys" as the main track.

As we are partial to mixing analog, when we were finished recording we packed up our gear and headed over to FAT Recording to work on the mix through a console.  On night one the tape machine was out of sync and was giving us a warble. We ended up bouncing it down in Pro Tools and it sounded really great until I realized the next day that we I forgot to unmute the percussion...

Vincent and I. Working it.



Night two went even better and the tape machine magically started working just fine. This time I made the mistake of leaving this really questionable effect on my vocal and when we ran the second mix I never bypassed it. I was so focused on the percussion that I forgot about the rest of the song. Needless to say the lack of sleep and the stress to the get the track done was getting the best of me.

Finally on night three I was able to get a final mix completed and over the weekend we sent the song out for mastering.

Although it we caught some snags I had a really great time working on this one.

The song was mastered by Jay Franco of Sterling Sound in New York and the artwork on this release we teamed up with local Tatoo designer and owner of the Burnt Tiger, DJ Auld. We hope you enjoy!

"The Last Time" (<--- Free Download)

Thanks for Reading!

Stephen Francis

Tight Scenes, Tears, Loud Bikes and a Small World.

Personally, I enjoy seeing how different cities we visit throughout the country compare in regards to their “Music Scene.”  Being from Chicago, I have seen that “scene” go through many different changes; some for the better and definitely some for the worst.  Whether you thoroughly enjoy it or not, Indianapolis has a “scene” on the rise and hopefully we can continue to see that “scene” flourish as we continue to visit. A couple of weeks ago we played Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana; we found it to be a joyous trip filled with surprises at every turn.

Indianapolis still proves to be one of the most tight-knit musical communities (no matter how large or small).  I feel that is in partial effect to the people of Lazy Hawk Promotions. No matter how you spin it, Will and his wife BeBe (Lazy Hawk Promotions) are in it for the music. That is something that is near non-existent in the music industry of today. Lazy Hawk, in addition to the dozens of bands that compose the live music scene of Indianapolis, has one-collaborative-agenda: go support live-original music. What more could you ask for? Granted, the grass is always greener on the other side; some people may want more all-ages-shows, some people may want only metal or punk shows… Whatever the case, the reality stands, the Indianapolis “scene” tries to put as many asses in the seats and actually listen to the live music being performed in their city. Chicago has seen better days, as we are still trying to crawl out from the sludge-of-an-era peppered with cover bands.  But there is light on the horizon. Original-live music isn’t going to disappear anytime soon, so hopefully the youthful enthusiasm of Indianapolis can infect their neighboring cities. We see a beautiful thing in Indy and hopefully it will be there the next time we roll through.  It was definitely prominent during our most recent visit for the Lazy Hawk Anniversary show. I guess it didn’t hurt that we played an in-your-face set with foot stompers the whole way through, with the exception of one tune J. We ended up doing some research and discovered the wedding song for the Lazy Hawk promoters, “Do You Realize” by The Flaming Lips. I was happy to see the shock-and-awe that came to their faces, not so much the tears to their eyes, just the utter sense of surprise, as we struck into the song. It was a magical night.

But, the magic had to stop as we were slotted in Fort Wayne the following night. The club we played was directly across the street from The Outlaws (motorcycle club) Club House… All that kept running through my head was episodes of “Gangland.”  I mean it was a rough looking spot. However, the staff at the club and the other bands on the bill couldn’t have been nicer. As the night progressed we felt at ease and played another set packed with our rockers. When I saw some of the Outlaws come in the club I was happily surprised to hear that they “enjoyed the tunes.”  Post show we grabbed a beer with a local friend at another club down the street. 

We sat at the bar nursing our beers as our eyes were glued to the TV’s above the bar. Visions of silly animals and nut-shots filled the boob tubes. We later found out that the one of the owners was behind the compilations of random awesomeness; he finds it to be a hobby… and I am fond of his hobby. I was just happy to be watching that ridiculousness while enjoying a beer when a fellow walked up to me and Stephen.

“Hey, do I know you? My friend thought you were my friends…”

“Uh, I don’t think so man,” I sputtered.

“Well, he thought that you were my friends because you are wearing hats and have tattoos.”

Turned out that we actually did have a lot of common acquaintances and he was a proprietor of the booking company for the club. We chatted for the next hour or two about our common friends, like and dislikes. I’ve said it thousands of times, however, it’s true; one of the best parts about being on the road is meeting and building relationships with people whom paths you were meant to cross. We were singled out because of my Stetson, Stephen’s bowler and our tattoos; and we ended up making a nice friend out of it.

Fairytales,

 VJ

The Explosive Nature of Life on the Road

QUINCY - May 11th

Picture this, you are in a nice-peaceful sleep enjoying dreams of fresh fruit and a magical minotaur when you are abruptly awaken by the sound of cannons. No, this is not a bad hangover-wakeup in the parking lot of Medieval Times, it was Model Stranger’s Saturday morning in Quincy, IL.

We made the voyage to play at Johnny Bang Bangs (an absolutely great club with the staff to match) a couple Fridays back. As we rolled into this pleasant place of about 40,000 residents I was delighted by the active & quaint river-town; Johnny Bang Bangs turned out to be a beautiful venue and made way for a nice evening.

Nice projector behind the stage at Johnny Bang Bangs!



Post show we shot the breeze on the riverbed with some expired Fosters (which I do not recommend) and decided to crash in the trusty van. Little did we know in a few short hours Quincy’s big half marathon/Fest would be taking place.

See our van on the right? This is the view of the club from the Mississippi.

My last memory had been finishing my beer next to the Mississippi, crawling in the van and putting on my sleep mask. The next thing I know there are cannons firing and the pitter-patter of hundreds of feet; I had to ask if we were accidentally sleeping in Bill & Ted’s phone booth after a time travel. Nope, just three guys sleeping in a hotbox-of-a-van in the middle of a half-marathon on the Mississippi River, a normal wakeup in Strangeland. We followed this wakeup call with a drive into Burlington, IA and a hearty breakfast.


BURLINGTON - May 12th
Burlington is another town that tickles my pickle. It's a great little place with old architecture and places like The Buffalo, Weird Harold’s and Mr. Motos that can consume a free soul for hours. Anywho, we continued to The Crazy Coyote; we love this place and the owner, Jason, is doing great things. For instance, this show was in correlation with a Special Olympics fundraiser (in which we also donated a percentage of our merch sales to).


As we pulled into town and made our way towards KQ92 for an interview, we dialed into station and were surprised to hear "Dreams and Bones" on air. Very exciting! The interview went quick and we headed to the venue.

The show at the Coyote was a racous one ending with a foot stompin’ and wild dancin’ crowd; much to our liking and overwhelming approval. So I’ll just say it; Burlington, we love you. It is scenes like this (and others like ndianapolis, Macomb, etc.) that plant seeds of sincerity which will hopefully spread like wildfire through the masses and revive the dying conscious of local, and more importantly, sincere music... Sometimes autographs too.

Who is Brandi?



There is a video of the show somewhere - hopefully we can get it in here shortly!

I will be honest, I love our travels and I love the people that enjoy what we are doing. I look forward to continuing the recording process and more importantly, completing a project in order to help the wildfire accelerate.

As Model Stranger carry’s our own torch I plan on enjoying the scenery along the journey… and waking to alarm clocks rather than cannons.

Sexual.
 

VJ.

The Last Few Weekends

03.23 - The Rock House - Indianapolis, IN
We had to battle through a killer thunderstorm as we ventured from Chicago to Indianapolis to perform at the Rockhouse on this raucous Friday night. 


Although our show was plagued with technical difficulties, we had a great time with the crowd. The promoter for the show hired a photographer and videographer and they documented the night for us. The show was highlighted with an uncharacteristic abandon.


You can check out the photos from The Morning Sleeve HERE!

ROCK!

The video is in the process of being edited. We will link to it when it is available.


03.24 - Be Here Now - Muncie, IN

This trip was only our second time through Muncie and our second time performing at Be Here Now. This venue is quite eccentric. With a nice craft beer selection at the bar and homegrown art lining the walls – We feel right at home when we visit. In December when this show was lined up we had no idea we would be performing the same night as “Muncie Gras”.  We spent the first part of the night watching potential, already half naked, show goers - pile into free trollies. From here they would be dropped off downtown and pay $5 to drink in the street and try to convince fellow co-eds to show some skin.  

The crowd never quite reached it’s full potential but we made the most of the night with what we were given. Despite the lack of a full crowd, sold some merch and made some new friends. The bill was shared with Ryan Pruett.  Here a few pictures from our performance.

photos courtesy of Elizabeth Ambs

03.30 - RME Café - Davenport, IA

We haven’t ventured through Davenport much as a band – just one time in the Spring of last year. We didn’t really know what to expect but outside of some new and enthusiastic fans we found two other really great things!

When we arrived we found out we were the “Band of The Week” in the GO! Section of the Quad Cities Times.

 Also the venue we played was a real intimate place with a rich history of performers. It turns out that even Jimi Hendrix had played this room in 1968 – Where the stage was pre-renovation – we have no clue. The upstairs has a museum feeling with a larger room. We played the Café downstairs. It was a free show – John June Year was on the bill. 

Jimi Hendrix Shrine at The RME 

Once again we had equipment failure when Kevin’s back up amp (his amp fried out during recording two weeks ago) overheated and only worked intermittently. This forced us to exit the stage a little early.


03.31 - The Buffalo - Burlington, IA


We have been playing Burlington just about 2 years now. Ironically, this may have been the first time we performed on a Saturday, at least it felt like it. With the radio support we receive on KQ92 we have built up a really great crowd for ourselves here.

We were competing with friends of ours in Toology, a Tool Tribute act, down the street. This made for a treat when we saw so many Strangeloves present when we took for our first set of the evening. We missed some familiar faces but all in all it was a real treat. 

A group at the front of the stage wore fake moustaches; they were ready to party and party they did.

4 am. Last glass of Whiskey.

We performed for nearly three and a half hours before our night was eclipsed with a last minute decision to make the trek back to Chicago overnight.

We made it home safe and sound. 


04.12 - 04.13 - Macomb/Peoria
PURE AWESOME.

Setting the gear back up and getting back to writing and stopping this damn.. NOW. 


Most of the new music is translating well live. More to come soon! THaaaaaaaaaaaaaankssssssss.

Model Stranger

Stephen Francis on SXSW 2012

A few weeks back Model Stranger made our way down to SXSW. As usual it was a rewarding trip with a lot of great discovery and learning. I enjoy making the trip for quite a few reasons. The obvious is the chance to see bands I love back to back and of course being able to find new music as well.

This year was filled with pretty fantastic performances. My favorite performances included Sleepy Sun, Cory Chisel and Alberta Cross. All three for different reasons. I suggest you check them out. All have new albums coming out in April.

I may have seen a lot more music than I am mentioning but  all of the networking opportunities kept me on the hustle. This year I had a chance to catch one of the most entertaining panels I have seen in a bit hosted by Martin Atkins.

For those of you that don't know Martin Atkins, he is the aurthor of Tour Smart - an indie band's handbook on surviving the rough road of independent touring. He also is the author of Welcome to the Music Business You're Fucked and soon enough he will be releasing Band Smart. Martin's insight comes from years of experience as a musician, label owner, author and many other things. I've learned a lot from this man. I suggest you check him out.

I spent a lot of time in the convention center on my first day. I was able to land a day pass and made the most of it. For those of you who plan on traveling down to SXSW in 2013 and won't have a badge, I have a short blog I did last year that you can read on what to do without a badge.

I also had the opportunity of working for Fender at the Hard Rock. My friend Joe in Brighton, MA landed a last minute gig and asked me to fill in. My day was spent playing Fender Guitars and showing people at the party how to use the new unreleased Fender Mustang Floor model. They have a pretty cool campaign lined up with the Hard Rock where if you stay at a Hard Rock you can order an amp modeler and a guitar to your room for free. Some attendees at this party included Pete Wentz, B.O.B and Andy Rourke of The Smiths.

Joe and I with Andy Rourke of The Smiths

I was asked over a dozen times if we were performing and when I replied "No." a lot of friends and peers looked at me like I was crazy. I'm not against performing at SXSW but there is a lot of opportunities to meet people who you can work with year round - that is where we put our energy this year. I've done it before and I may do it again. However it is nice to sometimes take a backseat, watch and learn!

Any readers out there make a visit this year? What were your favorite stories? Favorite shows?

Vincent Joseph on SXSW 2012

March is that joyous time of the year when bands travel to SXSW in hopes of being discovered as "the next big sound."  Myself (and Model Stranger) have found it to be a much more gratifying business and networking endeavor, as well as, a damn good party.

As this festival continues to grow, bands continue to flood into Austin by the droves and saturation is inevitable. This is why bands must find ways to set themselves apart. For instance, we stumbled upon a band from Indiana called "Gun". This band was a bunch of no-bullshit, raucous-pyros. Were they great? Maybe not, were they entertaining? Absolutely.The culmination of their show resulted in the guitar player dousing his amp in starter fluid and and trying to set the amp ablaze with a lighter. You might ask how one gets away with that at an indoor club, the answer is... the kid used starter fluid and not lighter fluid so the amp did not even ignite; however, he was committed to saying "farewell," to his amp and I will always remember that and appreciate his balls.

I heavily enjoyed them, along with other notables such as, Cory Chisel. I would actually say that Cory was the most entertaining show of the festival, for me personally. He had a rich sense Americana and a sincerity in his voice that is hard to match. A kicker was when he stood alongside Alberta Cross for a collaboration-closing piece, very cool.

Stephen with Cory.

I guess it doesn't hurt when you have free booze and food to fuel your madness during the agenda-packed-14-hour-days. But when you break it down, no matter how many bands play, there will still be the odyssey of the Violin-Playing-Werewolf and the other various performing street artists that keep Austin weird and everyone else coming back for more.

Kevin James on SXSW 2012

So SXSW is this big glamorous festival with a ton of people from all over the world and every genre of music you can imagine...which includes a lot of shows that require a LOT of walking. I bought some insoles for my boots but they didn't seem to work and I do not suggest hiking around Austin in boots for days in a row. They do have pedicabs and some Chevy free rides for advertisement but we really didn't take advantage of any of those.

We had early mornings and late nights, all filled with experiences I would never give up. I met people from all over the world and saw a countless number of shows, some of which were bands I already dug and some that I found a new liking for.

Of course Jack White infiltrated the party and brought the Third Man Rolling Record Store. I, along with a plethora of others, waited patiently to pick up some limited stuff.

One show I wanted to catch but I happened to have a mistake in the time/day was Miike Snow. My friend and I had a few drinks and apparently mixed up the days but we ended up waiting for a while to see Jimmy Cliff in a small club, which wasn't a bad thing :{D A few bands I saw and also stumbled across while hitting random shows and suggest you check out were Alberta Cross, Band of Skulls, Dinosaur Jr., Strand of Oaks, and Gardens & Villa.

Alberta Cross

If you've never ventured down to the Lone Star state's capitol I would say it'd be a good idea to make the trek and experience this awesome city. "Keep Austin Weird" is their slogan for a reason...

Cheers!

Kevin James