Thursday, December 27, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Daytrotter session
In October we stopped in Rock Island, Illinois to do a Daytrotter session. That has now been posted on daytrotter.com. You can download an unreleased track and three live versions of album tracks.Here's the original post about Rock Island with photos of Daytrotter Studios.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Christmas Surfing
Starting three years ago this became an Etling family tradition, and Nature has cooperated every year so far. Leah took these
My parents, not looking a day over 35:
Me and my old man, and the sea
The closest break to the house, and the most delightful cove in the world
My parents, not looking a day over 35:
Me and my old man, and the sea
The closest break to the house, and the most delightful cove in the world
Christmas and Stuff
Christmas present from Abigail via Jesse, delivered by Jason:
It sounds awesome turned all the way up; it makes its own overdrive. According to Jesse Truetone is the Montgomery Ward version of Silvertone, which was Sears' music line. It was found in a music shop in Jackson, Ms.
The Xmas Sweater Fest was a great success. We're playing the Viper Room on January 7th, you can email thedeadlysyndrome@gmail.com if you want to be on the list for freeeee.
It sounds awesome turned all the way up; it makes its own overdrive. According to Jesse Truetone is the Montgomery Ward version of Silvertone, which was Sears' music line. It was found in a music shop in Jackson, Ms.
The Xmas Sweater Fest was a great success. We're playing the Viper Room on January 7th, you can email thedeadlysyndrome@gmail.com if you want to be on the list for freeeee.
Monday, October 29, 2007
So now what?
Since we're home from the road for awhile (forever, if we don't get a good tour soon...) I've decided to turn this into a blog about guitars and/or photography, whichever occurs on any given day.
In Canada I picked up a 1980s Japanese hollowbody, sort of a Gibson ES knockoff EXCEPT it is completely hollow instead of having a block running down the center. It sounds amazing, but it feeds back at anything above low volume. Apparently that is why Gibson made the first ES-335.
It plays great, has a rosewood neck and a Bigsby style bridge that somebody filled in with resin and a tiny metallic crest of a snake and the initials "WS". So far I've played it through three amps, and a little Princeton 12" sounded the best, turned up loud.
Trying it out in Detroit (before this show Jason nicknamed it "Kamikaze" for obvious reasons. He was on-point. I'm also wearing a hat.)
After my tuners exploded in Chicago I traded the cheap and awful Planet Waves tuner for another Boss TU-2. My last TU-2 exploded but at least it lasted a year.
I'm also thinking about a few other changes... namely swapping my 410 Deville for something like a 15" Deluxe or a 2x12" Dual Reverb, as well as finding a different overdrive pedal. Maybe the Ibanez Tube Screamer that everyone always talks about.
Experimenting is expensive!
In Canada I picked up a 1980s Japanese hollowbody, sort of a Gibson ES knockoff EXCEPT it is completely hollow instead of having a block running down the center. It sounds amazing, but it feeds back at anything above low volume. Apparently that is why Gibson made the first ES-335.
It plays great, has a rosewood neck and a Bigsby style bridge that somebody filled in with resin and a tiny metallic crest of a snake and the initials "WS". So far I've played it through three amps, and a little Princeton 12" sounded the best, turned up loud.
Trying it out in Detroit (before this show Jason nicknamed it "Kamikaze" for obvious reasons. He was on-point. I'm also wearing a hat.)
After my tuners exploded in Chicago I traded the cheap and awful Planet Waves tuner for another Boss TU-2. My last TU-2 exploded but at least it lasted a year.
I'm also thinking about a few other changes... namely swapping my 410 Deville for something like a 15" Deluxe or a 2x12" Dual Reverb, as well as finding a different overdrive pedal. Maybe the Ibanez Tube Screamer that everyone always talks about.
Experimenting is expensive!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
2,016 miles in 3 days.
I didn't have a chance to update this the last few days. We left Detroit and briefly got lost; during which time we saw the real bad parts of the city. It was sad. Big old brick homes overgrown with weeds, some condemned and falling down, battered old cars parked haphazardly.
We drove to Chicago, which was a much bigger city than I remember. The show was a nightmare. I broke a string on the opening song which led to one malfunction after another, the new tuner I'd bought to replace my broken TU-2 broke, guitars were falling out of tune left and right. It was bad. We sacrificed Mustachio to Chicago after the show and left him in the alley. It was sad but it was time.
We started driving immediately after the show and made it across the Mississippi to Iowa. Napped in a gas station parking lot and drove all the way across Nebraska and halfway through the Rockies. The mountains were snowy and lit up by a giant full moon, but the only weather we hit was a light rain. Stayed at a motel, then woke up and drove the remaining 900 miles to LA. Tour #1 complete.
The numbers: 5,964 miles driven. 5,700 miles flown. 14 performances. $0.00 made.
The cities (in order) where we played: Denver CO, Omaha NE, Rock Island IL, Indianapolis IN, Newport KY, New York NY, Los Angeles CA, New York again, Boston MA, Toronto ON, Detroit MI, Chicago IL.
The final photos:
Jason the Cider Pirate (Detroit):
Me & a cider donut:
The cider mill:
This cat cursed our Chicago show:
The opening band playing for the bartender:
Driving into Denver:
Did you know they still sell candy cigarettes?
Jason finding a clean spot to relax
Utah Canyonlands:
Driving out of Vegas:
We started the tour at Mad Greek with Josh. We ended it there with Jason.
When we arrived back in LA, everyone was wearing Halloween costumes and getting ready to go to Saturday night parties. We all went to sleep.
We drove to Chicago, which was a much bigger city than I remember. The show was a nightmare. I broke a string on the opening song which led to one malfunction after another, the new tuner I'd bought to replace my broken TU-2 broke, guitars were falling out of tune left and right. It was bad. We sacrificed Mustachio to Chicago after the show and left him in the alley. It was sad but it was time.
We started driving immediately after the show and made it across the Mississippi to Iowa. Napped in a gas station parking lot and drove all the way across Nebraska and halfway through the Rockies. The mountains were snowy and lit up by a giant full moon, but the only weather we hit was a light rain. Stayed at a motel, then woke up and drove the remaining 900 miles to LA. Tour #1 complete.
The numbers: 5,964 miles driven. 5,700 miles flown. 14 performances. $0.00 made.
The cities (in order) where we played: Denver CO, Omaha NE, Rock Island IL, Indianapolis IN, Newport KY, New York NY, Los Angeles CA, New York again, Boston MA, Toronto ON, Detroit MI, Chicago IL.
The final photos:
Jason the Cider Pirate (Detroit):
Me & a cider donut:
The cider mill:
This cat cursed our Chicago show:
The opening band playing for the bartender:
Driving into Denver:
Did you know they still sell candy cigarettes?
Jason finding a clean spot to relax
Utah Canyonlands:
Driving out of Vegas:
We started the tour at Mad Greek with Josh. We ended it there with Jason.
When we arrived back in LA, everyone was wearing Halloween costumes and getting ready to go to Saturday night parties. We all went to sleep.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Maple Leafs vs. Red Wings
Niagara Falls on the Canadian side:
Toronto is pretty ugly:
But it did have one great thing, Paul's Guitar Boutique
Oh No! Oh My! doing their thing at Sneaky Dees
The Toronto show went well, all things considered. One guy showed up who had bought our album off Emusic and "couldn't remember" where he heard about it. I thought that was pretty great. Maybe we're becoming sort of an airborne virus in the Canada air.
Jesse is Satan?
Toronto loves graffiti. And their bartenders are sarcastic cynics.
The New Hat
The tunnel from Canada to the US
Jason and Chris briefly rode this freight while we waited for it to back through Detroit
The Detroit show was out in Ferndale, which is about a mile from 8 Mile Road (of Eminem fame.) The venue was actually very nice and clean; the neighborhood seemed great, and we're staying in the supremely classy basement of a friend of Oh No! Oh My!'s. The horror stories about Detroit are probably true but we managed to escape the bad side of town this time.
All of our border crossings went swimmingly too. Both the Canadian and U.S. Customs folks asked "who's the lead singer?" and told us to "rock on." The Canadian customs lady even helped us fudge our paperwork so we wouldn't have to pay any taxes on our retail merch. Thanks Canadian Customs Lady.
Only one more show, in Chicago tomorrow night, and then we get to drive all the way home to L.A.
Toronto is pretty ugly:
But it did have one great thing, Paul's Guitar Boutique
Oh No! Oh My! doing their thing at Sneaky Dees
The Toronto show went well, all things considered. One guy showed up who had bought our album off Emusic and "couldn't remember" where he heard about it. I thought that was pretty great. Maybe we're becoming sort of an airborne virus in the Canada air.
Jesse is Satan?
Toronto loves graffiti. And their bartenders are sarcastic cynics.
The New Hat
The tunnel from Canada to the US
Jason and Chris briefly rode this freight while we waited for it to back through Detroit
The Detroit show was out in Ferndale, which is about a mile from 8 Mile Road (of Eminem fame.) The venue was actually very nice and clean; the neighborhood seemed great, and we're staying in the supremely classy basement of a friend of Oh No! Oh My!'s. The horror stories about Detroit are probably true but we managed to escape the bad side of town this time.
All of our border crossings went swimmingly too. Both the Canadian and U.S. Customs folks asked "who's the lead singer?" and told us to "rock on." The Canadian customs lady even helped us fudge our paperwork so we wouldn't have to pay any taxes on our retail merch. Thanks Canadian Customs Lady.
Only one more show, in Chicago tomorrow night, and then we get to drive all the way home to L.A.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Fenway! Bah-Ston! The Sox win the Pennant!
We left New York around noon today. I miss it. It was an exhausting and fun week and I learned more about New York than I ever thought I would... and I miss it. It's a dirty busy mess, and it's great.
I didn't take nearly enough photos because I kept leaving my camera in the apartment. But I tried to snap some as we drove out of town towards Boston
From Jason's iPhone. On the subway:
Eating ice cream until I was sick at Serendipity. Right before this we took the Roosevelt Island gondola over to the island and wandered around for a minute. There's an abandoned prison out there where Mae West was briefly held on indeceny charges and Billie Holiday was locked up for prostitution. It's an incredible place.
Back to the boredom
This guy is either 250 years behind or 50 years ahead
Fall, real actual fall on the way to Boston
It was a small crowd at Middle East in Cambridge. The Red Sox were playing game 7 of the playoffs for the Series. No contest.
Falafel and chicken shawarma
Joel and Tex going to Fenway after the show to join the madness
Our home for the night: an old home in the woods outside Boston, Mike's friend's place. He works admissions for a prep school out here.
I didn't take nearly enough photos because I kept leaving my camera in the apartment. But I tried to snap some as we drove out of town towards Boston
From Jason's iPhone. On the subway:
Eating ice cream until I was sick at Serendipity. Right before this we took the Roosevelt Island gondola over to the island and wandered around for a minute. There's an abandoned prison out there where Mae West was briefly held on indeceny charges and Billie Holiday was locked up for prostitution. It's an incredible place.
Back to the boredom
This guy is either 250 years behind or 50 years ahead
Fall, real actual fall on the way to Boston
It was a small crowd at Middle East in Cambridge. The Red Sox were playing game 7 of the playoffs for the Series. No contest.
Falafel and chicken shawarma
Joel and Tex going to Fenway after the show to join the madness
Our home for the night: an old home in the woods outside Boston, Mike's friend's place. He works admissions for a prep school out here.
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