Big Pain in the Higher Brain

Murphys Law - "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Given infinite time all possible occurances will eventually take place. This mathematical law cannot be dictated by any human and while I sit down to share my thoughts I have to admit that I do not wish it away. After all, what is life without variable? Change is the same whore dressed in different clothes. One day she will love you and the next day she will leave. Whether or not you want to, you always take her back.

So these last few weeks have been ironic, comedic, and tragic. The holy trinity of art. So for the record I am not complaining.

Things are moving along as well as they can be for us right now. We have hit a few road bumps which will hold us back a week or two in getting started full swing on this record, maybe more. In no particualr order of annoyance there have been quite a few things that have kept us from getting traction...

Outside of the obvious frustrations of recording a record, there also is the self humiliation process and the different beast that the studio is compared to the live setting. On top of this there is the relationship of the band to deal with and the relationship with yourself.  Going from the stage to the studio is similar to crawling back into the womb. It can be quite unenjoyable on the journey back up the canal but sure is nice once you are back. We currently are elbow deep at best. Our live show obligations that remain, Murphy's law (see above) and our lives in general have their hands gripped on our ankles saying... "No No No... Not yet".  We have discussed our goals for this record and made a rough track list and started kicking these monsters in the face. I personally cannot wait to be inside.

On our second day of recording my speaker on my amp blew. This was a drag but a minor hiccup in my opinion. We weren't actually going to be doing actual takes for awhile and the damage was hardly noticeable unless I pushed the amp to hard.

While setting up to do pre-production, on only our 5th day of working on the record,  I noticed a strange burning in my right ear... I didn't think much of it and proceeded to try and lay down scratch vocals. The vocal takes were wretched and over the next few days as things progressively got worse.  I had come down with my first ear infection! Although I was able to perform live with it this past Saturday (you can read about that show HERE), I have been unable to get going on the vocal front in the studio. My vocal confidence is down and my stamina is worthless for the schedule we are running. Too worsen the already delayed progress I woke up on Sunday my chest, nose and throat were all clogged up. It will be at least a few more days before I am well and a few more after that until I get my voice on track. Regardless of my health in the vocal area we have been getting into the studio and putting down scratch tracks, analyzing, feeling, adjusting, and it is going well but has been slowed down at nearly every turn.

This past Friday, before our show on Saturday, we were doing an overnighter in the studio. This way we are able to get twice as much time in compared to our weeknights. Our warehouse where we are working on pre-production has some issues with heat so it was quite cold. Already having an ear infection these conditions were not ideal for me to spend 14 hours in, but I am into doing this record as much as anyone in our camp. I still  have not figured out how this happened but in between guitar takes my amp suddenly stopped working. No power was getting to the tubes and the next thing I knew I was playing my guitar through Kevin's bass rig!  We woke up stiff and cold and got back to work on doing some pseudo mixes to hear how our arrangements were working out, packed up and headed off to the show.

Big changes are coming and the obstacles that continue to appear are nothing that will keep me or anyone involved in this record up at night. My intuition tells me that a broken voice, a broken amp, and a broken plan is the perfect starting point. This is a downward spiral, the worst part isn't over yet. After all possibles occurrences take place we will be provided with new tools to make a better record than the one before, getting the downswing out of the way now is just perfect. After all, what is life without variable.

I hear talking in the clouds... surprisingly I am almost tapped in. I have been dizzy for days and WE have been tired for months. We will push and we will push and we will push and we will push and we will push.

Thanks for Reading!

~Stephen

IMPORTANT NEWS: THE LAST CHANCE to See Reverie in Chicagoland for a Loooooooooong Time....

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
Reverie will be performing this weekend, on Saturday September 19th, at Chicago City Limits in Schaumburg. These shows are always packed with great people and the sound at City Limits is always fantastic. We are playing with 3 great bands. The show starts at 9:00 and goes all night.

It is a great way to go out for 2009. That is right, this will be LAST REVERIE SHOW IN THE CHICAGOLAND AREA FOR QUITE SOME TIME. I'll say it again. SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 19TH is REVERIE'S LAST CHICAGOLAND SHOW.  It is not that we will not be performing live, butbecause we will be performing on the road.

Also performing at Chicago City Limits this Saturday September 19th: From The Broken, Moxxy (last show of 2009), and The Innocent - three very different and very good bands. Please come early and stay late!

BELATED BIRTHDAY FOR BRAD
Last weekend we spent traveling and performing out of town so Brad missed a chance to celebrate his birthday with ALL of his friends, instead of just us. Sadly we didn't do anything other than a bunch of shots of whiskey for him, so we are going to use this show as a celebration for Brad turning 27! Please come by City Limits and give Bradley a birthday hug and kiss and send him his most favorite thing on stage.... Whiskey!!!

BUT WHY, REVERIE, WHY?
People all day have asked me, "Why are you not going to play for so long in the Chicagoland area?" There are quite a few reasons for this. First of all, we have a great fan base and local band support in Chicago and I hate to continue playing if we don't have new material to offer them. They have been more than devoted and most wonderful to us in 2009 and really if we continue to drill these songs and this set in, I fear it will get old...because it will. At this point we already have some shows booked out of town and will continue to hit the road into the winter. Just no more Chicagoland shows.

OTHER THINGS ON THE HORIZON
Outside of those shows a majority of our next few months are going to be put into writing and doing pre-production for our upcoming full length release.  Since last August we have sold over 1000 copies of A Boy and His Crown and we cannot wait to finish what we started with our next release!

There is a lot of NEW coming and we are excited to bring it to you... Many opportunities are brewing and when we come out on the other side, we hope our fans are ready for everything that comes with this next transition! Keep your eyes on this blog for updates on Reverie from the road and in the studio. Video, pics and music will be posted occasionally through the process of this upcoming record!

We hope with all of our heart to see as many of you as we can on Saturday Thank you for such a great year and thanks as always for reading!!

Stephen Francis

A Return to Springfield and our first visit to Little Rock, AR. Happy Birthday to BRAD ELLIOTT!!!

This past weekend we did a short run down to Springfield and Little Rock. When we were invited to perform down at Midtown, a  late night billards bar in Arkansas, we were slightly hesitant because of the distance from Chicago to Little Rock. After deciding that it was worth it, we set up a show on our way down at the Keg in Springfield on Friday. Brad Elliott decided to spend his birthday performing. A beautiful sacrifice! Happy Birthday Brad!

When we arrived at the Keg it was great to see that almost everyone that had seen us when we played there in July was present. We had a 34-song set list put together for them and ended up performing a very long and hot 3 hours. Overall, the show went very well and Brad was feeling nice and loose from all of the Birthday shots that were being delivered to him.

To our surprise, on top of all of the return clientele, we also had quite a few people from Chicago and also some of Coate's friends. A few very devoted fans drove down from Chicago not only with a birthday gift for Brad but also with an open hotel room floor.  In addition, Coate had invited some of his friends from Illinois State University to watch us perform. Very nice sized crowd and great energy throughout the night. Thank you for a fantastic night Springfield, and thank you to new friends Alyssa, Adam, Matt and Craig from ISU and to old friends Vince and the ladies (you know who you are)!

After the show we headed over to the hotel room that was provided to us by our dear fans/friends and we were able to catch some  sleep on the hotel floor rather than the van floor.

When we woke up, we had a 7.5 hour drive ahead of us. It was at this moment that I thought... We are out of our minds. We were literally driving about 20 hours round trip to do 2 shows. In my gut I knew it would be worth it, though. Not only had I heard great things about Midtown, but I also knew that a late night crowd would be fun and rowdy.

Poor Brad got a ticket on the drive down. Happy Birthday Brad Elliott... Here is a speeding ticket. We arrived at the venue at about 9:30 pm, and still had 4 hours until we performed. We had a burger and a beer and set up our merchandise. Coate sent me around the venue to put down matches and at one point a drunk and angry patron took the book of matches I just put down and threw them at the back of my head. Just on par for an after hours bar. Drunk and rowdy.

See, our set was from 1:30 am to 4:30 am which had new implications - playing to a crowd of people already hammered and performing when we are usually getting off stage. This was going to be interesting.

Brad, Kevin, and I laid down in the van and took a nap until midnight when Coate woke us up. It was time to sound check...

The crowd was nice and full when we started. The previous night we came out with some 'softer material', but after I had been assaulted I figured we could come off with our 'heavier' (which is a funny word in Reverieland) material. This worked well! We performed some of our earliest songs in our catalog first. By the 5th song of our first set we had the crowd engaged, and over the next 2 hours we ended up winning them over. Many shots were delivered to the stage, the tip jar was hefty, and we sold a good amount of merch. So in the end we made new friends, we performed well, and came home with some cash in our shallow pockets. Not to mention, most importantly, the booker was satisfied.

We finished loading up at 5:30 am. Coate had stayed sober and somehow energized enough so he could get us on the road and back to Chicago promptly. With the sun coming up and 10.5 hours of driving ahead of us I layed down to get some rest. Shortly after hitting the road we had to pull over just once so Brad could puke up some whiskey, but before I knew it we were about half way home. I got up and took over the wheel bringing us the rest of the way home. I finally made it to my house about 6:00 pm. I was asleep by midnight.

Long weekend. Lessons Learned. Thanks for reading.

Stephen Francis

ROAD TRIP PLAYLIST:
So with a 10.5 hour drive ahead of them, what tunes does a band listen to?

COATE DRIVING, KEVIN SHOTGUN:
The Dissociatives - some tracks from their Self Titled album
Mute Math - "Armistice" album
Radiohead - "OK Computer" album, "Kid A" album
Foo Fighters - first few tracks of "Skin and Bones" live album
Phoenix - "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" album
Stereophonics - few tracks from "Pull The Pin"
Kenny Loggins - "Danger Zone" and "Footloose" tracks (Kevin's choices)

STEPHEN DRIVING, BRAD SHOTGUN:
Bright Eyes - "Fevers and Mirrors" album, "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" album
Derek & the Dominoes: "Bellbottom Blues" and "Layla" tracks
Fleetwood Mac - "Don't Stop", "Go Your Own Way", "The Chain" tracks
Harry Nillson - "Without You", "Coconut" tracks
Lou Reed - "Transformer" album
Muse - "Black Holes & Revelations" album (Much to Coate's delight)

LATER ON DURING THE DRIVE:
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Nina Simone - Greatest Hits
One Black Tooth - Ball Coffee

Interview with Stephen Francis for Bandcamp.com

Taken from http://www.bandcamp.com

Stephen Francis on "A Boy & His Crown":

WHAT INSPIRED THIS ALBUM?
I was personally shedding skin at the time and spending a lot of time listening to a lot of David Bowie, Beatles, Radiohead and other ambient pop formats. I wasn't consciously going for anything when I was writing other than not repeating what we had done with our previous album "Shaky Coma", which I was not very happy with. I wanted to shed musical skin also and 'get to the point' in our songs. Not in a pop way but avoid excess instrumentation and have stronger arrangements overall so the songs could be played with just an acoustic guitar if need be.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The EP is kind of a short narrative, not in any chronological order, but the themes represent innocence and power.... A Boy - Is the youth/delusion/hope and the Crown - represents entitlement from age/responsibility/power. And in the end the message is to hold onto what you believe. The perversion of innocence is a painful experience that most of us never truly get over.

For example 'Sound the Sirens' is about this make believe king in this make believe kingdom who suffocates everything he loves, but he doesn't know any better. "... karmic horses are changing courses..." - He is delusional believing that inevitably those who do not love him back will pay for it. You put a person of power into a situation of love and he doesn't view it the same as a young and naive boy.

IS THERE A THEME?
Yes. The theme is a more of a question of whether or not we, as humans, can hold onto our peace of mind when we are put into unwilling positions of power. Some people are not ready to grow up, some people do not want to lose their innocence. It is a rite of passage that we all go through worthy of us studying as a collective. Take 'Monster' for example.. The music is jangly but the message is dark. Every adolescent goes through these trials and I still haven't decided if I am okay with the things that were taken away from me.

WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?
I had this crazy idea that had something to do with a childrens book. Anyways, I was peeking around in libraries looking at childrens books and I wanted something that would be simple but say a lot. A Boy and His Crown... the innocent and the jaded. The angels and the monsters. Very simple themes that both children and adults could understand.

WHO DESIGNED THE COVER ART?
The cover art was done by Neil Danaher. He had assistance from Dick Thorn whom illustrated the boy and the crown. Neil did the formatting, layout and design with his graphic work and Dick's illustrations. Very great work.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU (FROM FIRST IDEA TO FINISHED PRODUCT)?
We actually were gifted some studio time so it took a lot longer than it needed to. It was not our time so we were only able to record when the studio was available. In addition our original drummer left after we recorded the first two tracks on the record. In the end we did it in three sessions... all on analog at Fat Recording in Mundelien, IL. David and I became very good friends when we met a few years back. I had sent him a few songs and he was supposed to pick one that he wanted to record.. He ended up liking them all so much that he offered to do the whole EP. We were in line to record a full length but do to the opportunity and the quality of his work and gear we went with doing only 4 songs as kind of a preview to what is coming next for Reverie. We ended up mixing it at our warehouse in Schaumburg, IL.

WHAT CHALLENGES DID YOU FACE IN RECORDING IT?

After doing "Shaky Coma" on our own we were well aware of the dangers and pitfalls of working in the studio. We spent a lot of time doing pre-production and trying the songs out at different tempos, thus eliminating the challenges we had our first few times through the studio. The biggest challenge was the transition of bringing (drummer) Brad Elliot in and basically starting over while we were still moving ahead. We went from doing a 14 song record to doing a 4 song EP that we virtually had no control or idea when we would be recording. For example, we were practicing one Saturday when my phone rang and David (FAT Recording) called me. He explained that it would be a good day to do a song. We then had to rush out and do all of the album takes for 'Monster'. Not being in the studio mindset and then being thrown in can really be a challenge, but in the end I feel we rose up to the occasion pretty well for the circumstances at hand.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR RECORDING PROCESS ON THIS ALBUM AND IN GENERAL:

Our recording process on this record was very different than previous sessions. Because our studio time was limited I did a lot of extra keys and guitars as 'just in cases'. So our arrangements were very crowded at the original mix. When we took it back to our warehouse Kevin, Brad, and I were able to take away from the mix and build the songs from the bottom up. Previously we had always figured out our arrangements before recording which left us always adding more.

ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE FINAL PRODUCT?
Yes and no. For the circumstances that we were under we did a really good job. Essentially these are very good demos, however if we could afford the allotted time to do these songs with some more time and not so '1 take' mentality we possibly would have performed with a bit more confidence. It is a bit safe for my liking, but sonically and arrangement wise it is the best work we have been part of. The songs are fun and interesting. On my satisfaction chart I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.


WHO ELSE PLAYED ON IT OR WAS INVOLVED (MIXING/MASTERING)?
'Morning Paper' was mixed at FAT Recording. Everything else was mixed at our warehouse in Schaumburg. I also added some backwards guitar and synth to 'Monster' post production. Bruce Breckenfeld put down a really nice B3 solo. I basically told him my idea and he shredded it. Matthew Kittner (Reverie's previous and original drummer) played the drums on 'Morning Paper' and 'Hang On To Yourself'.

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT IT?
It is a preview to a really exciting and colorful record that will be coming out near the end of the spring 2010. We have already sold a little over 1000 copies of "A Boy & His Crown" touring and through live shows... which shows me that this music translates better live.

PEOPLE WHO LIKE (INSERT ARTISTS/ALBUMS HERE) WILL LIKE THIS ABLUM:
People who like indie music will like this album.

ANY OTHER THANKS?
Thanks to David Martorana for his gift of studio time and his endless stream of brilliant advice.

--

REVERIE'S "A BOY & HIS CROWN" IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT:
http://www.reverie.bandcamp.com

--

FURTHER BOOKING/PRESS INQUIRIES CONTACT:
Andrew Coate - Collaborate Management
collaboratemanagement@gmail.com
708.259.4372

In Case You Missed The Elbo Room Show...

Watch a live performance of "Time Machine" HERE:

'Birthday Suits for Bender' - Sept 5th @ the Elbo Room

This past year I have made many new friends in the 'industry'. A lot of them have been made by attending shows, others have been made when touring, but a majority of these new friends came out of my experience working with Chicago Noise Machine. It is easy to make friends when you are joining a group of like minded individuals, but I never thought I would get so close to so many bands and individuals! One of the closest friends I have made in these experiences is Brian Bender.

I first met Brian booking a show at the Elbo Room. I was upset to find that good ol' Skip Warner had moved on from talent buying and this new guy, Brian Bender, would now be handling the shows. He vibrated at a higher frequency and his laughed creeped me out. Needless to say our first conversation turned out pleasant and I looked forward to working with him again. The date has slipped away from me. It was sometime last year...but ironically enough the first bill we booked with Brian had one of the bands cancel. In order to not leave a gaping whole in the night A Birdsong Valentine, a band that Brian sang in, rushed over from an earlier gig and filled up the slot. That was a really stand up thing to do and also gave me a chance to meet Brian face to face and for Reverie to melt his face off.

Later on in August of 2008 we joined forces with Chicago Noise Machine and ever since I have been working with Brian (and many other lovelies) on a day to day basis. Even without Chicago Noise Machine I would have seen Brian out at shows or on stage, but Chicago Noise Machine keeps us REALLY close. We have since had the opportunity to work closely on all Chicago Noise Machine endeavors. I probably spent at least on hour on the phone with him daily and had endless number of emails shared during the grueling creation of the first I AM FEST.

Every year Brian has an annual birthday bash. If you have ever seen the flyer it says "Brian Bender's ______ Annual Birthday Bash" and there is a picture of Brian's face smashed up against a pane of glass (example from last year HERE or to the right if you're reading this on Blogger). This will be the third year he is having it at the Elbo Room. I was surprised to recently find out that Brian has never seen the Elbo Room sold out. This is surprising because he WORKS really hard with the bands he books and on the Elbo Room. This man deserves a sold out show. Usually A Birdsong Valentine performs at Brian's Birthday Bash, but unfortunately the band has decided to move on to new opportunities, thus leaving a gaping hole in the night of Sept 5th. When Brian offered the slot to Reverie I couldn't resist. Not only would I love to perform at my friends birthday party, but if you can recall from earlier REVERIE owes A Birdsong Valentine a solid.

I want to sell out the Elbo Room for Brian and I want to be part of the first sold out show since Brian has been at the Elbo Room. Brian is an integral part of the 'scene' or 'industry' if you prefer, and any and all bands, other industry folk, and friends should help make this happen! Reverie is making the ultimate sacrifice. Say goodbye to cool jackets and tight jeans....

In order to give Brian his ultimate birthday wish we (Reverie) have agreed to play naked if the Elbo Room sells out on Sept. 5th (Brian Bender's 3rd Annual Birthday Bash). Lets give this man what he wants. After all.... It is his birthday!

'Birthday Suits for Bender' - Sept 5th. @ The Elbo Room.

Exciting News from Reverie!

A YEAR IN REVIEW

Hey Everyone!
We wanted to take the time to thank all of you for the fantastic support you have given us over this past year – and oh what a year that has been for Reverie!mTo take a look back on the year we have highlighted some of our favorite moments.

August 2008: ‘A Boy and His Crown EP’ release party at the METRO!

September-November 2008: Creation of
Chicago Noise Machine and massive sold-out Launch Party at the Cubby Bear!

January-February 2009: Filming and release of official music video for “MONSTER”.

March – May 2009: Creation of the I AM FEST

June 2009: Performance in the I AM FEST at the Congress Theater, Reverie signs with Andrew Coate from Collaborate Management

July 2009: Taste of Chicago show, NASCAR Chicagoland Speedway show, 15-show-in-16-day tour!




JULY TOUR FOLLOW UP
What a wonderful year it has been! Outside of the many numerous 3 day runs and one off shows in college towns, Reverie spent 2 weeks on the road this past July. This tour was full of both triumphs and trials, it served as a great time of growth, both as a band and as individuals. Overall it was a huge success for Reverie. For those of you just becoming familiar with Reverie or just joining our various groups spread across the vast and magical Internet-land, we kept a journal of our adventures – complete with pictures and video that you can access right here (just scroll down the page after reading this entry!)

Please take some time to read our entries and share in our experiences with us. We would absolutely love to hear your feedback on what’s here, and also on what you would like to see and hear from us as we move forward! We’ll continue to update that site regularly.


BRIAN BENDER'S 3RD ANNUAL BIRTHDAY BASH @ THE ELBO ROOM
Speaking of moving forward, now seems as good a time as ever to announce our first big “homecoming” show in Chicago! Mark your calendars right now because here’s this info: (seriously – stop reading this and grab a pen to write this down. We’ll wait…………..)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH
Reverie @ ELBO ROOM
(2871 N. Lincoln Ave)
9PM

We’ll be playing with some very talented artists named Mason's Case, Digital Mindy and Band Called Catch (Matthew Alfano of Mason's Case and Digital Mindy played with us at I AM FEST!) The show starts at 9pm and is also a birthday bash for our good friend Brian Bender. For those of you looking to catch up with us since we toured, and anyone else who has yet to catch us live, this show will absolutely be for you. So….BE THERE!

MA – MAAH – MA – MONNN – STERRRR!
OH! And if you haven’t seen our official “MONSTER” music video, view it as part of our brand new video playlist (complete with some live clips from I AM FEST and our tour) HERE:



OUR GRATITUDE!
If you’re still with us here, thanks for reading all this! We appreciate your time. We look forward to hearing from you all and seeing you on September 5th! Check back often, as we’ll be adding quite a few new shows and have many more exciting updates in the coming weeks.

REVERIE:
Stephen Francis – Guitar, Vocals
Kevin James – Bass, Vocals
Brad Elliott – Drums
Also Featuring:
Aaron Hosek – Guitar
Thomas Miller – Keys



In the meantime you can keep up with us here:
http://www.youtube.com/reveriechicago
http://www.facebook.com/reveriebandchicago
http://www.myspace.com/reverieone
http://www.twitter.com/reverieband

*It has come to our attention recently that some of you have been receiving requests or messages from other sources claiming to be connected to Reverie. We want to apologize for any confusion caused by this and let you know we don’t condone such actions. We won’t tell anyone else to message/spam you on our behalf, we promise.* :-)

Reverie...Acoustic? Really? Really.

Way back on August 1st, we arrived back in town from our tour and played an acoustic set at our good friend Jacqueline's "Cosmic Circus" Art Opening (you should check out her art. It's fabulous, and it's right HERE.) at Star Lounge in Chicago. A great time was had by all. Below you'll find a few pictures we stole from people's Facebook pages and two videos taken by Kevin's brother Chris of the set. Enjoy!

MONSTER [ACOUSTIC]

SYCOPHANT [ACOUSTIC]

1,000 Lighters, The 'Real'Job In My Life, and An Ordinance That Kept Me from From It

Here is a brilliant concept and stolen idea...

I am in a band.
I need to get my band's name heard.
I have no money to buy materials and flyers suck. (Yes, I hate them too...
Get away from me band guy! You AND your lame ass flyer! Nice flyer dude...get a job...Do you really think that helps? Buy me a beer and I will show up?
Or my favorite... "Thanks. I am in ______ and we are playing this day. See you there.")


Nearly 30,000 Reverie flyers a year are trampled on and blown away by the wind. No one actually holds onto a flyer anymore, ESPECIALLY at a festival. How can you hold onto a flyer when you have to hold two beers and get your cigarettes out of your pocket?

Even if you put the flyer in your pocket you keep pulling it out thinking you have more money...but you don't...just someone asking you to spend money that you don't have. I hate that. I really do.

Sometimes these flyers go into the sewers where the feces and urine of my neighbors bleeds the ink that once used to spell REVERIE across the cheapest paper the Uptown Kinko's could sell us. And no one is at the show... not even the guy that told me about his show. He seemed nice. Maybe they didn't remember? Maybe they are waiting to come to the next one? Maybe people DONT LIKE FLYERS.

Last year I received a lighter from a friend. Okay, scratch that. No one gives away lighters. Lighters are stolen only. Suckers pay for lighters. People hate buying lighters. I hate buying them too. I ALWAYS lose them...ask Brad, Kevin or Coate....sometimes moments after I buy them, even. Hey, they all look the same!

So anyway, this friend's lighter said 'Thinner Teed". I lost it a few times, but then I would find it. And when I found it in a friends hand I said, "HA! That is my lighter!" Then they would agree, hand it back to me, and in the process ask, "What is 'Thinner Teed'"?

Eventually, curiosity killed the cat.

Like any good kid of the 2000's I went to Google and I typed in
T-h-i-n-n-e-r (Space) T-e-e-d

Voila! Boom.

Thinner Teed is a band. (That is the last plug I make for that band. After all I did have to Google them.)

What a great idea. I mean, why haven't we done this? They cannot be that expensive. Wrapping them cannot be that hard, and lighters go through hands as much as money. What if I could find a way to get my band name on a dollar bill? That would rock.

So low and behold when Lollapalooza came roaring around the corner and all of these music fans were going to be in Chicago ALL hanging out together, I was convinced we should do something to tell the Lolla folk who we are. Introduce ourselves via lighter.

We should gift them like that band but we should put our web address. What a great concept!

I told this story and discussed it a bit. It was decided that we were going to hand out 1000 lighters to see how it would work.

We ordered the lighters while on tour Thursday. We got home Saturday. The lighters came in on Monday. We remembered that we had agreed to wrap 1000 on Monday. We freaked out on Tuesday. We called our friend Jeffrey in California on Wednesday. We misunderstood his design on Wednesday. He resent folding lines on Thursday. We wrapped half of them on Thursday. We finished the other half on Friday. We handed them out all weekend. 1,000 lighters... and let me tell you, they went fast. People love free lighters.

Remember... No one buys lighters... They steal them... like the way kids and lazy twenty somethings steal music and the way artists steal marketing ideas... The files sizes get smaller, and the marketing ideas get shared and improved and shared. Squeeze it in. Not too much.. Just enough... Put peanut butter on both sides of that bread and the jelly won't leak through.

We put our band name on 1,000 lighters, wrapped them by hand and made them with love. We upped that band that I stole this awesome idea from simply by adding our website and leaving out the super groovy tie dye that made it impossible to read at a first glance. No one will ever have to Google REVERIE and NOT find us again!

Late Sunday I was feeling tired and I had some things to do for my 'real job'. I am a musician to the people that know and understand me but to the rest of the world I am only a guy on the 9th floor who plays in a band. I had to work on things for these people too, because they are good to me.

So I left Lollapalooza early. I had to get up for work early and it was almost 9:30 already. I still had band work to do and real work to do and other work to address. I walking out when suddenly I saw a glimmering sign in the distance. It said..

"The Chicago Promoters Ordinance Kills Indie Music"

I walked quickly up to the gentleman and I said. "You are god damn right it does. I have been looking for you. Aren't you with Jagoff?" and he said, "Yes I AM! Who are you?"

So I gave him a little background about how I am this guy in a band (Stephen Francis of Reverie), this is what we do (we play hard), this is what we are part of (independent music,Chicago,)this is what we are creating with friends (Chicago Noise Machine), blah blah blah and YOU should come speak at our next event about this ordinance!"




We chatted about a lot and I learned a lot. Gary is a hell of a guy with a heart of gold. For nothing in return this guy is sitting outside of the Lollapalooza gates sweating his nuts off in the heat. At this point he is trying to educate people on the dangers of the CPO. After all it does take away both the 1st and 14th amendment from Reverie and all of our favorite independent bands. At least in Chicago... for now.. if it happens. I can tell you if we do not stand up for our rights as artists, musicians, and more importantly as fans it will happen.

I ended up standing outside of Lollapalooza holding up this sign for nearly 2 hours, despite my previous engagements. What would another night lacking sleep do to me?

I got home an hour after my friends whom I left to get home early and no one believed my story.

"What?" I said, "I am not lying. They are going to tag me on facebook holding up the sign.... YES since I left. Why would I make that up? I have to get that work done now. Why are you laughing?"

I slept 3.5 hours last night.

We handed out 1000 lighters, I went rushing back to my 'real job', an ordinance got in the way.

If you don't know about this ordinance...Watch this documentary.

And this panel discussion.

Thanks for reading.

Stephen Francis

What Happens When You Break Your Own Rules of the Road

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMtkHQai-EE

Glory be to Gus's bar and all in Lansing

We almost made a big mistake today. We considered not playing a show for about 15 seconds. Thankfully we made the right decision.

When we showed up at Gus's Bar in Lansing I walked in to find out that we had been canceled. I was never notified that we were canceled. From what I knew we were still on to play "Happy Hour" at 4:30 for $XXX.XX, and now the club is telling me that they had no idea we were coming anymore. Mary, whom was helping us figure out the dilemma, had mentioned that at one point we were scheduled, but had been canceled. She called the gentleman who handled this show and came back and offered us half the money to play "Happy Hour". This show was set up third party, so from where we stood taking half the money was better than making no money at all. For all we knew we never were supposed to make the money we thought. It could have been pure miscommunication. Mary said, "If you guys want to play, you can start loading in, I apologize for the confusion". I felt like we weren't wanted and was feeling so tired that getting in the van and making it to Chicago by night seemed enticing.

I went outside and talked with the band explaining what had happened. Keep in mind that at this point we have played 13 shows in 14 days... We have played REALLY big stages, and we have played REALLY small stages. We have been asked to turn up, and we have been asked to turn down. Our last 3 shows... i.e. Pittsburgh, Annapolis, Cleveland we decided (based off of the crowd, feeling in the room, and size of the room) to play so unusually quiet that it was really messing up who we are as a band.

This was hard on Brad, and especially hard on my guitar tone. Guitar amps, especially tube amps, do not sound good at 1. So venturing once again into the unknown seemed intimidating. It takes nuts to lay yourself out there to a room full of strangers, especially when the elements are against what you usually do. Trust me when I say, and have been told, THIS WILL MAKE YOU A BETTER BAND. Playing outside of your element will force you to alter everything. Sometimes you find something you wouldn't have in a song or a move.. or how to move more with less space... or how to sing softer without sounding lame. "Stretching" as James from Union Pulse calls it. The life of an independent touring band is all about venturing into the unknown.

When I initially walked into Gus's I thought... "Here we are again". Small stage, older clientele, and no sound system. From previous shows this translates to... "Can you turn down?", or possibly and eventually some people taking offense to the volume of the band and leaving. Either one is bad for a rock band. We are not an extremely loud bands by any means. We play very dynamic... but when you are in a neighborhood bar... The locals decide what is loud not you.

Do not let this falter you. Like the note in my previous blog: Do not alter your performance based off of crowd analytics. The day after I wrote that note in my blog we played in Cleveland. A majority of the crowd had their backs turned and we sold only 1 cd. This was the down from the previous up in Pittsburgh when we sold a good amount of records and were tipped out very well by a lot of the patrons. Same scenario in Cleveland and completely different results. Sometimes, no matter how well you perform, you will not win over the room. This is a lot harder "Half - Staff", when you have even less control of how you are selling yourself.

With all of thougts on my mind; the heat, the thought of setting up the PA, loading in, and the thought of singing with a tired throat, I was ready to just say... "lets go". We discussed it and quickly my mind was out of the lazy and cowardly gutter. Reverie drove from Cleveland to Lansing... We are playing this show regardless of the outcome.

We set up quickly and got to our first set at about 4:30. The first 10 minutes or so I was unsure if these folks were just clapping because they wanted to be polite. Every performer has this insecurity. I just like talking about mine. Once again, I was wrong. By midway through the set a lot of the bar had changed their seating arrangements and moved closer to the stage. By the end of the set we had men and women from 21 to 60 whistling and cheering us on, not only between songs but while we were mid-song. Our set concluded and we were happy to see many of these bar patrons buying tee-shirts and CDs.

One of these patrons happened to be one of the owners. Ray was a co-owner and was just stopping in to have a drink. He ended up calling his friends and relatives and helped fill up the room for us. Ray and then Ralph, a regular, tipped us some extra cash and offered us money to do another set! I said.. "No way I can take that, but we can talk about doing another set with the bar". I can't take money from a stranger like that!

Ray assured me that we needed to stick around and perform again at 9:30. He offered us some more pay, some food and free drinks to do it all over again.

In all the years I have been playing, I have never come across a group of 20 people that wanted to hear the same 2 hours of music... again. Sheepishly, we agreed. Almost everyone in the bar stuck around for the next 3 hours until we played again and to our surprise more people showed up.

We did almost the same exact set, with some new covers thrown in and a few other originals we hadn't performed the first time. Once again we had the crowd lit up and when we finished all of the people that weren't there before, got in line to buy CDs and Tee shirts. We were happy to sign the tee shirts and CDs for them. We spent some time meeting a lot of these people... Ralph, Ray, Justin, DJ, Kaitlyn, Candance, and Doug to name a few! Thank you for a wonderful afternoon and night. I am so grateful for your support.

I am SOoooooooooooo glad that we made the right decision. Our final night out of town proved to be not only our biggest lesson learned but also our most lucrative venture. Making new fans and pleasing them is glorious.

Glory be to Gus's bar and all in Lansing.

Stephen Francis

Tour Summary Stats - Immeasurable

Miles driven - 3,119
States visited/played - 10
State Capitols visited/played - 7
Load - ins and Load - outs - 30
Shows performed - 15 in 16 days
Songs performed - 240
Guitar strings broken - 1
"Free Bird!" shouted - Lost count
"Free Bird" played - 0
Hours on stage - Over 27
Hours in van - Over 70
Nights in van - 3
Times Van Battery Died - 3
Gas + Oil - $423.52
Pounds lost - 26
MySpace/Facebook friends gained - Over 450
Tee Shirts sold - 20 (out of 29)
CDs sold - 52 (out of 56)
Boobs signed - 3
Random floors/couches/futons slept on - 12
Total pairs of pants worn between Kevin and Coate - 2
Showers - 5
Hot meals - 2
Chipotle burritos - 7
Deli sandwiches made out of back of van - 22
PB&J sandwiches - 32
Peanut Butter jars spilled - 1
Bottles of water - 72
Red Bulls - 24
Coca Colas - 36
Bags of ice for cooler - 14
Shots of Red Stag - 16
Shots of Jameson - Lost count
Beers - Lost count
Bottle of wines opened - 2
Bottle of wines opened with a corkscrew - 0
Vomits out of windows - 1
Genitals drawn on Brad because he fell asleep with his boots on - 4.5
"Jiggle Joints" visited - 1
Civil War graveyards visited - 1
Russian Mobsters met - 1
Stores Coate visited in search of "Throat Coat Tea" for Stephen - 17
Pockets Coate used to store money in - 9
Extra time spent in Pittsburgh trying to find the right exit - 36 minutes
Head injuries - 1

Memories and lessons learned - immeasurable

Final Stretch

Hey everybody reading this in cyberland. Thanks for reading our ramblings about the road and following our fun times. We appreciate each and every single one of you. Almost done on the road. What an adventure it's been! We've met so many great people, made so many new friends, seen so many new places, had so many great adventures and I cannot wait to get back out again.

The last couple of days were fun. We played in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night at Cappy's Cafe. It was quite the quaint place. Both very friendly staff and locals. We had some fun conversation about the Pirates and Cubs. I was talking about the disappointment I've had over the years and I'd rather the Cubs don't even get my hopes up only to get swept right out of the playoffs. They said they'd rather still have a reason to watch baseball in October. Ohhhhh there's always two sides to the sword. After some people started coming through the door we ended up playing the quietest electric set that we have ever played. Stephen's "playing at half-staff" post is by no means facetious. This was due to the size of the "stage" and venue. I thought it went pretty well considering we have never done this before. Afterwards we went back to a couple of the staff's pads and partied for a while. Sarah, Jason and Meadow took care of us at Cappy's and even offered up couches/floors/futons. Some great eggs, toast and tea cooked by Sarah were had to get the day running. Unfortunately the van wasn't running so it was not the start we all hoped for. Sarah lent us her car so we jumped the van and returned it to her residence. Then we scooted off to Cleveland.

The Barking Spider was our Cleveland destination. That place is awesome. If you ever go to Cleveland stop in and have a pitcher. They are excellent people and run a neat place. It was more of a laid back, acoustic hippie jam feeling place but we don't know anything about that. Just rock and roll. So that's what we did. And we did it well. And then we hung around for a bit and made yet more new friends. Melissa and Eileen hang out at The Spider and complimented us on our set, introduced us to Melissa's shy dog Sophie and then we took left to hit our next destination...with a small pit-stop ahead.

We're playing in Lansing, MI shortly (I'm typing while we're driving there). We crashed at Jinan's, an old friend from home, last night. It was great to have a feeling of home on the road. She took us in and we all had drinks and convo to catch up.
I watched all 3 episodes of South Park's "Imaginationland," of which I laughed my ass off to. A mini keg of Oberon Wheat, Black Box of wine, fun with Nina (8 week old boxer...such a doll), great breakfast consisting of french toast, eggs, strawberries and array of drink options (non-alcoholic), showers and laundry we set off to Lansing. And that's where this ends for now...

Kevin James

Brand New Video Playlist

Hey all.

This playlist comes from our Official Reverie YouTube Page. Once the tour ends we'll be updating it more steadily with video from the road and upcoming shows, etc. Thought you might like to get an early look though!

New Boo Boo Pic

Steve's Boo Boo

Playing "half - staff" - Pittsburgh gets a gold star!

I haven't slept a wink.

These late nights and early drives are really starting to wear me thin. A few more shows left and then sweet home Chicago. Anyways, Pittsburgh rocks. Last night we played at Cappy's Cafe, in Pittsburgh. Cappy's cafe is not accustomed to having electric acts but they were really cool and helped us fit into the cafe so we could perfrom as an electric act. We played super quiet which was a really cool challenge. We now have coined that as playing "half - staff". Trying to have energy and still sing/play quiet is like trying not to .... when you are really excited. It is the smallest stage/area we have ever performed and I had to do kung fu dogding to avoid getting slammed in the face by Kevin's bass.

The crowd was similar to what the crowd would be if we were playing in the Chicago neighborhood Andersonville. Very well dressed, polite, and kind people. After the first few songs I was getting the impression that they really were not digging Reverie. To my surprise after the set I discovered that I was, thankfully, way wrong. Cappy's is a place were friends go to drink, eat, and talk. Since we were able to play at a relatively quiet volume a lot of the clientele continued having their conversations. This would leave a musician to believe that there is no interest coming from the crowd. I have now learned that this cannot be assumed.
People can be digging you enough to drop a $50 dollar bill into your tip jar, buy a CD and have their backs turned the whole time.

Note to self: Do not alter your performance energy if you "think" that people are not into it. Stick to playing music, not crowd analytics.


After our set many of the cafe patrons came and greeted us with warm welcome and deposited money into our tip jar. We ended up selling a couple records and meeting some really kind folks. Two of the gentlemen that we met were Pat Clark, a local music advocate, whom is devoted to the Pittsburgh independent scene. We were fascinated with his accomplishments and dedication to distressed areas of Pittsburgh and their music community. We were also accompanied by Shadyside's councilman, whom also is a big supporter of the music scene. Very great insight about Pittsburgh. Thank you.

The scene in Pittsburgh from what we gathered is strong and growing because of extra effort being put in by local musicians to continue feeding the scene. I find it interesting that we are finding a lot of the same uneasiness with music scenes in other cities like the ones we have in Chicago. Chicago Noise Machine is part of a national movement. A lot of cities are conscience on making sure that they are centralizing their finest. Very inspiring.

We made many new friends in Pittsburgh. They are similar to Chicagoans... easy going and loud. Sarah, Meadow, Jason, Pat, Brian, Clair and Bill were some of the people that we met during our 18 hour visit to Pittsburgh. Thank you for your insights and hospitality.

I have to say that Pittsburgh gets a gold star.

Tip: Make sure you have 3 people looking at the same map. Pittsburgh is quite confusing to navigate around. In fact every city we have been through in the East is one way streets that run on angles and turn around. Very confusing! :)


Stephen Francis

We hope to make it back soon.

I Have A Boo Boo On My Head.

Thank god for Spongebob band-aids.

Two nights ago we played in Charleston, West Virginia at a fine place called Sam's Uptown Cafe on Capitol Street. For some reason or another this seemed to be the longest period of downtime we have had on this tour, but Sam's fed us twice, and comped our drinks. We spent a majority of the day promoting online and doing other productive things... like getting Brad on Facebook. From what I can understand Sam's is an after hours bar and our friends Union Pulse, whom are playing acoustic on this tour, thought that we would connect to the later crowd. Union Pulse and Reverie alternated sets back and forth, (i.e. Reverie at 10, Union Pulse at 11, Reverie at midnight, and Union Pulse at 1 am). This was interesting and fun. The show concluded with an impromptu jam of "What I Got", featuring every musician in the room, including Dave, the bartender, on the washboard.

Outside of Sam's we met two super nice people named Karen and Ali, two Chicagoans whom happened to be traveling through Charleston and randomly came into a bar we were playing. Naturally this was a funny coincidence.

Unlike most of the shows on this tour, the crowd was a bit thin. It was a Monday night in Charleston but like always, there was an upside to this. We were able to meet everyone in the bar and perform just for them. Despite the thin crowd we translated well and sold some merchandise. To our surprise, it turned out that Ali and Karen were on their way to Annapolis, our next stop. We said our goodbyes and started loading up.

For almost two weeks we have gone without hurting ourselves, outside of the occasional hangover. I have learned now that the reason you have roadies is to protect yourself from injury, to save energy, and to set your gear up. It is exhausting when you are fully clothed in the summer heat loading out gear. After a 2 hour performance and a lot of alcohol you feel rubbery, drained and the last thing you want to do is lug the band's gear down 24 stairs... and walk back up and walk back down and back up, and back down, and back up... There were 24 stairs at Sam's.. I know because I counted.

During our load out from Sam's I whacked my head really hard on the back of the van. I was inside of the van loading gear in, pivoting from facing out of the van and back into the van. On one of my many turnarounds I must have stopped crouching and lunged back into the back of the van to put in a pedal board. In the process I managed to catch my forehead on the latch that sticks out the back of the van. I fell to my knees and began moaning every curse I know. There was barely blood, but the welt was good sized and it was throbbing. Luckily, our manager Coate knows something about hitting his head on things and after making sure I didn’t have a concussion patched me up with what first aid supplies we could find at the moment (i.e. 2 napkins, some sanitzer and a band aid). 2 days later it is still tender so we stopped and I got some Cortisone cream and some trusty Spongebob band-aids.
Ali and Karen ended up making it to Annapolis with their friends that they were meeting in the first place. It was nice of them to bring some extra people out and watch us two nights in a row. Luckily for them we played a slightly different set, filled with humor and sarcasm.

This show was similar to the night before, not only because we were playing with Union Pulse, but because the crowd was a bit thin again. This does not bother us. We are well aware that thin crowds are often a part of touring independently, but we are noticing that our performance changes when there is a big crowd compared to a smaller crowd. James from Union Pulse reminded me that it has to be enough playing with your band despite the size of the crowd... I replied by explaining that we aren't used to it and that it affects me sometimes, not because of an ego issue, but more because we are “spongey” people. I love feeding off the energy of the crowd, and sometimes when the crowd is thin it is hard to perform. For our style of music it feels rather aggressive. However the sarcasm and humor must have worked because we sold some tee shirts and cds, and signed some autographs (which is still weird to me but fun)!

It is enough playing with Brad and Kevin every night. I wouldn't be out here doing it if it was not. We have made a lot of progress as performers and entertainers on this tour. Playing 2 hours a night (sometimes 4 hours) will tighten you up and Murphy's Law will be in full effect on stage. After our show at Sam's, Brad and I nearly stabbed each other due to poor communication during the set. These things can get frustrating but we were able to figure out some signals and new rules to avoid us throwing any verbal or physical blows.

In the end I do miss Tom and Aaron. I cannot lie about that. For those of you who do not know, Tom and Aaron play in Bullet Called Life. For our Chicago shows and a few out of Chicago,Tom and Aaron play with us.

Days become days become days...

Hey again...Kevin James reporting from the rainy road. We're driving to Pittsburgh right now and it's raining. Nothing like the drive to Lexington though. I was driving and it was pouring so badly that the majority of cars pulled over onto the shoulder. While this seemed like a sound idea I was not fond of it. Either go 20 mph and bear it or pull over and be a sitting duck ready for a car to plow into one and start the domino effect. Passed on that option. Since I already gave you my recap of Lexington I'm moving on to the past couple of days.

We had a day off on Sunday and decided to camp and unwind. Yet another great sounding idea except for the fact that it was hot and damn humid. Waking up in a tent that feels like an incubator sucks. Regardless, we worked on getting a wine bottle open for a good 20 to 30 minutes with no opener. Who the hell brings 2 bottles of wine and no corkscrew?!?! One speaker monitor screw, screwdriver and electrical box thingy later it came to. Got to enjoy some wine over band conversations with our manager Coate. Love Coate.

Monday we were off to Charleston, WV to play Sam's Uptown Cafe. Pretty wicked little joint. We got there way early to do some work and promote. Krista, the bartender at the time, brought us some fabulous grub while we chugged away. She was kind enough to come back and catch our set after her shift and 3 hours of sleep the previous evening. The bearded monster Dave was our bartender upstairs in the venue. His beard would eat people. All these beards are making me want to bring mine back. Another grand meal, drinks, and a couple sets later we were done at Sam's. During Union Pulse's set we all got on stage and had a nice little jam to
Sublime's "What I got" - Dave (yes, the bartender)on the washboard, Brad on tambourine, Stephen on acoustic gitfiddle and myself on drums. Then Jaqueline, an older bar local, told us we could crash at a pad she was housesitting for a friend. It was pretty interesting. The front yard was a graveyard. A bunch of old old gravestones, i.e. 1817-1843. We picked out the parents, their children and the grandchildren. Probably sold the house at that point. Stephen and I crashed in a twin together and he informed me that I was sawing some serious logs (for those that don't know...snoring) and Jaqueline was laughing at me and talking to the cat. West Virginia. Done.

During the venture to Annapolis, MD our van started giving us some serious shit. Go figure. The fluttering sound coming from the serpentine belt mechanism sounds like a pretty muscular mopehead. We tried to get it fixed but the noise went away and check engine light off. The mechanics can't really diagnose something that doesn't exist to them. Shitty. I decided to splurge and get myself a nice real meal at the Federal House Bar (place we played). Blackened Salmon covered with lemon butter sauce from the East Coast. Sick! One of the best bits of fresh fish I've ever had. I got to enjoy that while Union Pulse entertained us with great tunes, jokes and logic puzzles. Then we hit the stage. Fun show, Lydia was a superfan and danced away up front to Reverie tunes. I have yet to mention but we met some amazing people in West Virginia from Chicago, Ali and Karen. They just happened to walk into Sam's and were roadtripping with no real destinations in mind. They followed us to Annapolis for another Reverie show and offered up their hotel room for crashing quarters. This was music to our ears as Annapolis was the damn most humid place we've been so far. I must say though, it was pleasant to walk along the bay and smell the salty Atlantic Ocean air. Made me miss the days of living in Southern California. The front desk at the hotel did not have a corkscrew so yet again we had to come up with another innovative way of opening a wine bottle. One screw from a shelf, screwdrive and hanger top later we all had a glass to enjoy. Here we come Pitt!

Kevin James

The Longest day EVER!!!

Two days ago we were in Champaign, IL. We were slotted for 2 shows, one aquired on Tuesday, the other was our original slot. Seeing that the sets wouldn't conflict we each other we agreed to do both and hopefully double our exposure. It really wasn't the longest day ever, but the first time I have ever played four very long sets, 2 shows in one day. For our particular slot times and set requirements this meant 42 songs, and 5 hours on stage. In college towns this could also mean twice as many shots are brought to you on stage.

After a long but rewarding night in Springfield we awoke and made our way to Champaign. Our first show was at the Phoenix, a local pool hall that usually features metal acts. The owner is a kind man with a hell of a grip. A visit to the Phoenix the next time you are in Champaign would be worth your while, if you like kind people. The crowd was really open minded and took in our original music with ease. We did pretty well in merch and hustled our way out of the door.

We had loaded in and performed two 1 hour sets and had to promptly load out in order to make our load in time at Joe's. Now this seems simple in theory. 1.5 hours from our set end to load in at our next show. But when you are meeting your new fans, coordinating a van pack, and trying to corral all band member and managers in a timely manner it is always a challenge. Also, packing the van has become a science, just recently we found the correct way to do it efficiently every time, but as of Thursday we were not so consistent at it. In addition, Curtis, the forementioned bar manager, was kind enough to lend us another main so the crowd at Joes would be able to hear me during our set. This main happened to be the biggest speaker I have ever used in my life. I rode from the Phoenix to Joes with my knees at my chest, wondering if we would be able to get the speaker back after our set at Joes before the Phoenix closed.

Upon arriving at Joes we had to have a drink and eat some food before we set up. Our first show was hot, and I personally was pretty drained. Knowing that I had to sing another two hours, I kept my water bottle close and my mouth shut. An old friend, who happens to be a general manager at Joes took care of us by giving us free reign on the menu. We stuffed our faces with the first hot meal we have had in days and got back to work. We set up and proceeded to follow through with our first set quickly and with no difficulty. Now on our 6th show of the tour I found that as a cohesive unit we were firing like a machine. Usually when we do 1 off shows in the city or the surrounding suburbs of Chicago you have to prep mentally to get into "machine mode". Playing every night makes this neccesity disappear, therefore leaving you with more energy to perform.

Playing college towns is always tricky. The crowd is usually too drunk to stand and very hard to please. At Joes in particular, the crowd is kind, but are passing time until all of the other students show up... which is usually about 1 half hour after we finish. The music has to stop (it is outside in the beer garden) at 11 o clock, and a lot of college kids don't go out until 11:30. Therefore you usually get the early drinker crowd, whom are usally shit hammered by 7 o clock. Naturally, groups of "day drinkers" will chant or clap their hands in unison if you get them at the right time. About the 5th time someone calls out "Free Bird!", you know it is time to really start turning it on... Just never actually play "Free Bird". I was in a band once that covered that song every show (I was 14 don't judge). I have found that regardless of how well you do that song, you will attract the drunkest guy in the room, who will insist that is the best version of "Free Bird" he has ever heard, the whole time knowing that he most likely won't remember seeing you at all. Instead you should continue playing original music and get that same guy to buy a record. At least this way he knows who he saw the night before.


During our 4th set of the day we were welcomed with a lot of new faces walking through the door. I was running on empty, but the crowd was starting to get it. We finished strong and prompted to leave our equipment set up so we could socialize with some of the college folk, and get some more free drinks.
After we finished loading up we got paid and pulled across the street so we could rest our weary heads. I decided to try and sleep across the two seats in the back and let Kevin try the floor. This was a bad idea, for when I awoke, not only was the van 105 degrees, but my spine was all out of whack and felt like a sideways "U".

Attached is a picture of an edited set, with last minute adjustments and new covers added. If you do the math, the opportunities are really mind boggling. With the amount of songs you know, the amount of songs you can play, and in which order... Sometimes adjusting the set spot of one song can totally alter the ebb and flow of a performance. This may be obvious to most people, but for those of you who have never considered what it is like coordinating the order of songs for a 3 hour show, you should not take for granted that bands like Pearl Jam and Metallica, whom sometimes play for these lengths, and somehow it never gets boring. Then you walk into another show and the set is so terribly arranged a half hour seems like an eternity. There are keys, tempos, dynamics, and endurance to take into consideration. There is quite a science to it... From the picture you can see that we are still learning.

Stephen Francis

I Don't Have An Interesting Title For This

First and foremost, this is grand! We are having one hell of a time on the road and loving every minute of it. There is a slight misconception though to a posting I made online earlier that said, "Drive...Play...Drink...Sleep..." I received several responses, some of the likes of "you boys live a tough life...lol." So to clarify that post...Drive, 3 to 7 hours while the other individuals in the van do work for the band online...Play, anywhere from 1 to 4 hours depending on the time and atmosphere...Drink, depending on if we have a rider worked out or the locals are game to buy us drinks...Sleep, unless someone is kind enough to give us a couch/floor to crash on we have a van crammed with equipment, bags, and other various items to try and squeeze 4 gentlemen in, comfortable or not...and it's certainly not. Ahhhhh the life.


Recap: Champaign,IL, Indianapolis, IN, & Lexington, KY - the last 3 days.

Champaign was one long day. We played 2 sets, one at the Phoenix and one at Joe's. Both were lengthy and fun sets. Cliff, the manager at The Phoenix was kind enough to lend us a speaker to use at Joe's for our P.A. And Dan, the GM at Joe's and an old high school friend, fed us a great meal and took care of our drinks. We really have run into a ton of great people along the way!

Indianapolis was awesome. Doug of the band Henderson, who we met previously while playing at The Cafe in Macomb, IL, invited us over to their band house for some chill time before the show. Luke, a resident of the home whom I quickly developed beard envy for, went out and got some Coors for everyone and told us about the Miller High Life guy (that you've all seen in the Livin' the High Life commercials) that was at the store and told him to, "Enjoy the Kers." No, that is a not a typo. And that we did, prior to and post the show until the wee hours of the a.m. Met some really cool people at Birdy's and the afterups. Then I awoke to the smell of homemade biscuits and gravy with some bacon and coffee cooked up by Luke, got supplied clean towels for a shower from Tennison, and jetted out. Mmmmmm...what a way to be sent out of Indy.

Next was Lexington. Oooooohhhhh Lexington. I'm very sure we'll be back there sooner than later. Nick, who quickly introduced himself, was a rad local that we met right when we walked into Cocktails and he gave us a tour of his sweet pad right behind the club and generously offered up some Woodford Reserve. The night only got better and better from there. Instead of giving you a lengthy description on one of my most favorite nights so far I'll phrase it up like this...locals drunk 3 hours pre-show time, $1.50 Amber Bock, whiskey for Brad, Girls blatantly, uhhh..."enjoying each other" during a Reverie set, Metallica requests, more whiskey for Brad, great staff, Sam Adams, Red Stag in beer, industry locals rockin', even more whiskey for Brad, impromptu covers, Brad puking and speaking gibberish, after party after after party, hitting the bar that's closed (with the manager and keys of course) to get more beer, and ending with drawing on Brad who passed out in the back of the van on the floor with his boots on (see Brad's rules of the road #4).

The only thing I did not like from the above was the Red Stag in beer.

Kevin James