Summer Tour- Part 3 (+ band update)

HEY FAITHFUL READER OF THE BLOG.  Just a quick dip into reality and current goings-on before we finally get to part 3 of 4 of this tour blog, that's now old news.

Sorry for the lack of finishing this up.  We had a bit of a rough week on the family home-front that started last Friday with the passing of a family member, and is continuing with the hospitalization and recovery of another brick mower family member.  Things could be a lot worse, but after a hectic week, they're starting to look up, and we're getting our feet back under us. 

This has put a crimp in finishing up this already long-winded blog, and, more importantly, caused us to cancel some shows this past week, which we never take lightly.  We regretfully had to pull out of our show in Fredericksburg, VA this past Thursday with our friends Trust Fall (the 2nd time we've had to cancel playing in VA with them). We will also, unfortunately will not be able to make it down to Blacksburg, VA to play I Got Brains! fest tomorrow through Flannel Gurl Records (today, at this point).     We're very sorry about this, and just wanted to thank Flannel Gurl for asking us to play, Trust Fall, and Janus Chidester for helping us out with other shows. Thanks for the support and kind words we've received from our friends over the past week who've been on the beat.  It's greatly appreciated.  We will hopefully play some VA shows that we can actually make, very soon. 

ANYWAY, let's cheer the hell up, shall we?   A release date will be up for our new LP, My Hateable Face shortly, along with soon-to-be pre-order on Don Giovanni Records. .   We are also planning out a 3 week tour going down to the southeast, cutting through Texas, and up into the mid-west before looping home.  

SO, here's part 3 of the tour blog.  Thanks for hanging with us.  Again, we truly  appreciate the support from everyone!  

Day 14- Oakland, CA-  We finally make it to sunny California.  And sunny it freakin' was.  Humid, sunbaked, hot as a fried egg on fresh blacktop.  That is, until we hit the bay, and the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped about 90 degrees to 20 below zero.  We arrived at Megan and John from Street Eaters apartment, and it felt like a cold spring NJ day outside.  Absolutely loved it, although I wish I didn't leave my sweatshirt next to the front door with the laundry detergent 2 weeks prior.   Played a rad show with said Street Eaters and Schande at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland that night.  Had a great time listening to the security guard cracking jokes at The Safeway too after the show. Ya had ta be there.

 Steet Eaters!

Day 15- Pomona, CA-  Drove south back into scorching heat, and breath robbing humidity.  Through the mountains into Los Angeles. The city of angels (and Dodgers).  The smog was breath taking too (and possibly cancerous). And the palm trees were really palming the hell out of the sky that day.  Played at the VLHS thanks to Marty Ploy, the raddest man in the west.  We met the legendary Party Marty in Dayton, OH last April along with the best guys ever from Horror Squad and Dudes Night, some of which were at the show.  Pomona was such a great night all around. One of the best nights on tour.   Also, Tara (J. from Black Wine's fiance) got to fly out to LA due to a super, secret family airline deal and hung out on the west for 2 days.

"Back to Haunt Me" off of the new LP live at V(ince) L(ombardi) H(igh) S(chool) in Pamona, CA

Cash Crop

Miranda, Kristin, and Tara.  A marvelous trio. 

Day 16- San Diego, CA-  Got up, got some snacks at Whole Foods where we saw Wayne Knight (Seinfeld, Jurassic Park), buying groceries.  Huh?  That was cool. Almost missed this show because we took an ill advised detour to Huntington Beach to see the Pacific ocean and see J.'s boyhood home.  Steve went swimming.  Kristin sat in the car. I sat in Black Wine's van with my beach towel talking to Jeff about how I hate the beach and how we're gonna miss the show, and I ended up never swimming the whole tour.  Well, we made it to the show!  Played with Cash Crop (who we also played with in Pomona). They are amazing, and Charlie from Cash Crop is one of the greatest guys we've met doing brick mower.   He first booked us in Allston, MA back in 2010 at his house, now we're playing with him in San Diego? Shit.

LA

Let's be specific. That's the Pacific. 

Black Wine!

* BEST SIDE NOTE of tour:  My great friend, Eric Gieg (band mate of one of my older bands, Atlas at Least, and engineer for such brick mower recordings as the Floors EP, Box Turtle 7'', and the 3 Song Tape we sold on tour),   rode his bike over the course of 100 days from Sayreville, NJ down to San Diego, CA.  A few days prior to us, he arrived in San Diego and we got to reunite on the west coast, 6 minutes before we played out set.  It was a bizarre, and wonderful time.

 Charlie from Cash Crop and Eric Gieg, from NJ!

Gettin' sappy. Steve was driving home drunk people in another car at this time.  Sorry Steve. 

Day 17- Tucson, AZ-  Doin' some desert living.  First time driving through the Tatooine terrain.  Saw some cacti. Saw some dead armadillos on the shoulder of the highway. Not happy about that last one.   First time at the Border Patrol stops.  It was riveting, I guess..   Had a great time at The Pound in Tucson thanks to our new pal Logan Greene, who played some amazingly, well-written, jarring pop songs (that's no dis, ya imbecile kids) during his set with Logan Greene Electric.  He's a hell of a songwriter. Look out Marshall Crenshsaw.  Your days are numbered.

 Tucson (outside The Pound)

Black Wine again! 

Day 18- Las Cruces, NM- Played at The TrainYard in Las Cruces thanks to Andy Moore and his rad band Pregnant Again.  Las Curces is one of my favorite spots we've stopped at. Thanks to Andy, I got to run the door at our own show after he handed me door cash and said "I don't know. Run the show." It was cool. I got to ask people for money to pay us to drive around some more, including Chris Mason's wife, Lizzy who gave me shit, paid anyway, and hung out the rest of the night shootin' the shit. It was awesome!  Lots of bugs in New Mexico. Giant ones.  J. and Steve climbed on a roof somewhere at some point.  I went to bed.  It was hotttttt.

Outside the laundromat in Tucson. 

 We all paid a dollar each to see The Thing? Black Wine drove past it. DO NOT TELL THEM WHAT THE THING? IS!!!, please. 

Las Cruces  picture taken dangerously.  Johnny Dangerously. 

Day 19- Austin, TX-  We drove a long, long, long, long, long, long time through west Texas.  Saw the fabled 80 MPH signs, that NJ does not offer, yet everyone seems to drive it anyway.  Played at The Red 7 in Austin that night.  J., Kristin, and I ate Indian Food from a food truck 2 hours before playing.  Think I drank half a beer and played 2 songs before I felt like throwing up.  Sweated like a polio victim spread out on an equatorial beach, but we made it through.  No pain, no gain.  No wait.  No pain, no paneer or papadam.

The only thing to do off I-10 in West Texas.  How many great bands have stopped at Jack's in Fort Stockton, TX on tour? I'd say every one of them. 

Day 20- Denton, TX-  Denton was a rad as hell place.  It was in Denton we met up with our best band buds The Young Leaves, who were on tour from Massachusetts.  If you haven't heard the Young Leaves, do so now.  They're amazing, and are the best dudes.  Thanks to Avery for setting us up with the FIRST punk show at Andy's Bar, a great place that very much looked liked they never had a punk show there before, but nonetheless showed us a great time.  The Young Leaves rule.

 The Young Leaves in Denton!

The Young Leaves on a park Bench in Denton (w/ Bovio).  They payed 75 cents to hear these filthy jokes from the guy on the right.  One out of the 3 were mildly clever, and I will continue to tell it to people other than my mother.

To be continued.....  (this will finish soon, I swear...)

-Eric

Summer Tour - Part 2

Thank you for returning, faithful followers of the open road, the distorted chord, and the slurred lyric.   Welcome back to the continuation of the Brick Mower/Black Wine summer tour blog that took us around the country (sorry southeast, we'll see you soon whether you like it or not).

Anyways, here's a continuation, picking our sorry selves back up on day 8, waking up in Rapid City, SD and heading to Missoula, MT.

Day 8- Missoula, MT- After our Rapid City show, we had to get a motel room.  For those keeping stats, this is the 4th time brick mower's had to motel the situation since we've been touring. This is, however, the first time we shared a room with 3 other people AND 48 flies.  I think Jeff Goldblum and Vincent Price were hiding in the shower, slyly unleashing his brethren out into the room.  Anyway, Day 8 was a mileage doosey.  700+ during the day, through Montana, which I think is the best looking state in the US.   Got to play the Ole Beck VFW with Buddy Jackson who were awesome.  Thanks for Grant Geiger for hooking up the show.  It felt great to finally stop driving for 10+ hours and get some time off after the show.  Thankfully we didn't have to drive...

Day 9- Bellingham, WA... 10 more hours the next day!!!?  Man, another long drive to hit the west coast. Some bad traffic due to construction, plus more amazing sights.  Finally, arrived in Bellingham, patience wearing thin hitting that final 30 mile mark of the trek.  Make Shift Art Space for setting up the show, and the place was flam-tastic (drummers, anyone?).  It was great finally making it to the west and playing a rad show with some locals, including the first guy to play, who was stuck in his own timezone.  Talk to us about him. After the show, we drove an hour and half south to Seattle where we hung out with Chris Chambers and his wife, Allison.

Day 10- Seattle, WA-  So we wake up at Chris Chambers' house.  You might know him from Dateless and currently Smokejumper.  Played a live on-air show at Hollow Earth Radio and it was great.   Thanks CJ Frederick for setting up BOTH our Seattle shows, and feeding us.  CJ's in Big Eyes. He's the man.  Yes. The Man.

Day 11- Seattle, WA-  Hanging out at Chris and Allison's house. Being bums, Washing laundry. Seeing the bridge troll.  Blaahhhh.  Great day for us. Most boring read for the adventurer in you. We did appear, along with Black Wine on Chis Chamber's Life is a Party Podcast, talking about how the band formed and all that fun secret stuff.  You can check the recording out here, along with the other great podcasts on the site.   Played at The Josephine that night.  Show was great. There was a crowd surfing pizza box and I don't care about anything else.  Except getting to hang out with our buddy Tom Lowell and Siobhan!

Day 12- Portland, OR -  We leave Seattle in a state of longing and tears, and take a two hour detour to Astoria, OR to take pictues of The Goonies and Kindergarten Cop filming locations.  Well worth the detour!   Portland was rad. Thanks to Ken Cheppaikode from Dirtnap Records for setting up the show.  I had a blast watching the MLB All-Star game on the pacfic time zone.  Fantastic show, by the way. The Know is a rad place to play, so put that in your pipe and smoke it... grandpa!

Day 13- Corvallis, OR- Hung around Portland all-day and took a hike up to an active volcano that will surely kill all of Portland one day.  RUN! Seriously though... run.  What I learned in Portland is that... a) food trucks are 90% of the food industry and b) Voodoo Doughnuts are the other 10%.  Played Bombs Away Cafe in the college town of Corvallis, however, most of college is out in the summer, as  you scinetists out there may have already known.  Still had a rad time though with Exiles Among Us and all the cool folks who hung out and  bought some merch.  Corvallis is a big t-shirt town from what I know.

Day 14- Reno, NV- When playing in Oregon, I've been told it's tough to secure some shows between the East Bay and the Portland/Salem/Eugene area.  So off we went, of course, to Reno NV. Ya know, the Biggest Little City in the World. Thanks to Clark Dermitt, we got to eat pizza off the trunk of our car and see people playing slot machines inside the local 7-11!  This town just can't stop throwing its money at machines.  I secretly wanted to join.  Reno was awesome, and felt like being stuck in an eternal blow-dryer on a habanero tortilla. How they do it on a daily basis, I'll never know....

To be continued.....

-Eric

Summer Tour- Part 1

Hey faithful brick mower blog checker-uppers. Yup, that is the official name of the club you're apart of. Betcha didn't know that.  Neither did I until about 20 seconds ago when I typed it.

It's been a while since I posted anything about the band on here, mainly due to the fact that I was away from a computer for about a month on our summer tour with Black Wine.  Just got back Saturday, still adjusting to home life, and starting to plan the next trek out.  

I'm gonna go through some brief rundowns on the tour and all the fun, freakin' stuff that happened to us.  2 things that did not happen... a) we did not die  b) we did not break down .  I consider every tour a success when these 2 things happen, in that order specifically.  Without any further ado...  here's the first week of tour.

(IN PRESENT DAY BAND NEWS FOR A SEC):
We're playing I Got Brains! Fest coming up the weekend of August 10th and 11th in Blacksburg, VA.  We also have several shows coming up in August which we posted on the side of the blog.  In addition, we've added a link of our past shows we've played in case you wanna see the history and read every band we've ever played with ever in all eternity. 

Also, LP release date and info coming soon.

TOUR STATS:
Miles Traveled:  9,466
Shows played: 29
States played: 19
New states for Brick Mower: 11
Vehicles used: 2 (red Ford mini-van and 4 door Dodge sedan, the world's least cool tour vehicle)
Broken strings: who the hell knows after the 3rd show?
Broken eyeglasses or Broken windshields: 0!
Canceled shows: 0!
Places we showed up to that didn't know about our show: 2
Number of cars cut off in NM with Connecticut license plates that followed brick mower for 90 more miles: 1
Coolest tour stop:  City Museum- St. Louis, MO
Best bands we played with for first time: Big Crux, Spitting Image, Cash Crop, Autonomy

Day 1- Columbus, OH-   Drove 9 hours from NJ to play at Zeno's in Columbus OH.  Sat in Pep Boys 2 hours before take off, stressing out about the broken a/c in the car as the country fell into the clutches of a cross-country, record breaking heatwave.  "A/C might die by the time you hit PA.  You should replace the whole unit for $1,700," says the salesman.  "Are you MAD!," I say, as I almost crap my pants. "Please patch it up for $200 and I'll be on my way."*   We were on our way.  Near tornado, possible flash nor'easter on the way to Columbus turns into one of the top 5 scariest moments of my life.  We all survive, and get to play the show!  Thanks Matt O'Conke!
* dialogue may be exaggerated.  maybe? 

Day 2- Chicago, IL-  Drive all day to one of my favorite cities in the US.  Stayed with Seth and Annie from This Is My Fist for the next 2 nights.  Played This Is My Fist's last show at The Empty Bottle in Chicago.  Fantastic show.  Great band.  Steve's kick-pedal mallet flew off during the second to last song.  It was rib-ticklingly unfunny at the time, and now mildly amusing.

This Is My Fist

Day 3- Chicago, IL-  Played an early, heavily loaded show at Township in Chicago.  5 bands. Great times.  Vito is a great person, and a valuable asset to Chicago's booking racket.  Lipreader played with us again. Those guys are saints too.  Buy them beers and tell them Brick Mower says hello.

Lipreader

Day 4- Hammond, IN-  I wake up at 7 am, and drag the band an hour west of Chicago to our buddy Jason Duarte's apt in Lisle, IL.  Jason is the dude who drew these stickers....

I drop the band off at his place, while me and Jason head over to see his dad, or should I say Doctor Dad (coming to CBS this fall?).   Jason's Doctor Dad gave me a free chiropractic exam.  Popped my pelvic bone back into place and told me I have a bulging disc!   Other than that, spent the day sleeping like bums in Jason's radically a/c'd apartment and played a great semi-last minute show in  Hammond, IN.  Thanks Mike Duda for hooking it up like a nylon line to a prize winning trout.

Day 5- Minneapolis, MN-  All day drive through Wisconsin, right after Illinois' tollways took all of our money. C'mon, Illinios! I like ya. John Hughes liked ya. The Blues Brothers liked ya, but go easy on our band fund, and the common man.We are not on a mission from God and can't afford all this garbage. Deep breath folks. So anyways, Minneapolis was stuck in a record heat wave, of course.  Our air conditioner is still holding up fine.  Bought some great cheese in Wisconsin.  Kristin cut my hair by a scenic lake before the show. So long moppy mullet!  It was rad. Show was a killer basement show brought to you by Nato Coles himself.  Already missin' Minneapolis and hope to see it sooner than later.

Black Wine in Minnesota. Playin' a song from Hallow Earth, I'm sure. Buy it. 

Day 6-  Minot, ND- We decided to drive through the night to Minot, Steve and I switching off driving duties at 3 am.  Arrived in Minot at 9 am on rapid heart beats and heavy eyelids.  Luckily, Chris Darling and his wife Maria let us in their house early where we proceed to sleep erratically, hang out with their awesome son Oliver, and get to smell Maria's amazing cooking for the 4th of July house show about to ensue.   Best Independence Day since we defeated the aliens back in '96!   Accidentally almost blew Kristin's face off with a roman candle.  Man, be safe everyone. I wasn't. You let your guard down for a second...   Next thing you know... charred bass player face.     Other than that, great day, with adverted injury  Even Roscoe the dog got to hang out in a bathtub!

Day 7- Rapid City, SD-  Leaving Minot, I bought the band a $5 Little Caesars pizza at a K-Mart. Fine dining on the road at its best!  Driving into South Dakota from Minot is like driving on the moon, if the moon had gravity, some general stores, and antelope. SPACE ANTELOPE!  Played at The Hall Inn in Rapid City thanks to Megan and Skullets booking.  On top of fun time, they also got us.... 5 Little Caesars pizzas!  I ate 9 slices of L.C. quality pizza that day. I'm not a proud man.  Due to some shoddy planning, we miss seeing Mt. Rushmore, only 25 miles south.  We suck at things sometimes.

Somewhere in South Dakota. 

Somewhere in South Dakota. 

Somewhere in South Dakota............  Rapid City to be exact. 

To Be Continued......


-Eric

On Tour; Hold the Mail

Hey everyone.  We're out on the road now with Black Wine.  Day 3 of tour is going on now as we sit in Seth and Annie apartment.    This post is boring as hell and I have no pictures to update.  Typing on the road is a bummer.   Anyway, follow us around.  Hope to see you at the shows!   Say hello.  We don't bite...much.... anymore..... since the lawsuit..... and the tears.   No seriously, we don't bite.   Unlike those danged Misfits.

New News is Some News

Hey guys.  We're happy to announce on our end that we will be apart of Don Giovanni Records, who will be releasing our 2nd LP in the early fall, just in time to get you back to school.    You can read the official blurb here from the Don Giovanni Records' website.

More developments on the record will be coming out through the summer.  Right road ravaged Kristin?....

"WHATEVER. THERE'S RETINA STUCK IN MY EYE!"

Also, we're still plotting some points for our summer tour with Black Wine, whose 3rd LP comes out on July 3rd.  Our U.S. tour looks like this.

From what I'm told, this picture was taken from space.  Actually, I don't bleieve this since I remember drawing the path on this hi-resolution map with a Sharpie. From the look of it, it appears our tour is a smaller version of the U.S. tucked inside the larger, actual U.S., but with pronounced phallic, tommy-gun quality to it.  Black Wine has pranked us again.


And in the blood, sweat, and lock-youself-inside for hours department,  here's a new batch of shirts we finally re-screened up   Maybe we have that orange or red one you were looking for at the last show?

Wait.  Let's get serious a minute here folks....

Snazzy Shoes, I Do Say

Hey everyone. In breaking news, a google search has confirmed that our band still has a free standing myspace page! How about that?

 In other news, we have some new dates confirmed for our tour with Black Wine this summer, still looking for a few others.

Here's us with Paul Reverb.

 In other, other news, we have finished mixing our upcoming LP and it will hopefully be out sometime before the comet comes and takes us all away to that utopian paradise.

 In more freakin’ news, we have some local shows coming up before we head out:
 6/20 @ Asbury Lanes- Asbury Park, NJ w/ Smokejumper, Billy Ragyun, Black Wine, and Sun Puddles
 6/25 @ Cooler Ranch- New Brunswick, NJ w/ Lipstick Homicide, Rational Anthem, Tiny Teeth

 Ok, I think we’re good here. Someone is knocking on my door at work and they’re about to get karate chopped.

 OH, and big thank yous to all the people who hooked up our sporadic touring the last month up and down the coast. Also, big thank you goes to Fred Matthews and Dan Webb in Massachusetts for helping me solder my guitar back together. You are saints. Goddamn saints.

 Finally, here's a cool write up that appeared on 16 Shutter Magazine's site about our appearance at Treasure Fest in Charlotte, NC a couple weeks ago. You can read the stuff here.



 See ya at the beach. Yeah right.
 -Eric