happy halloween!
i know i’ve been neglecting the site a little
it is mostly because we are working so hard in the studio. before i talk about that, here are parts of two shots of the crowd at the stadium in oxford oh. lots of people there, lots of fun as always.

clearly the right side of the room had more fun (top).

me changing strings in a room at the lab recordings in dayton ohio. the studio owner, joe winner, also happens to be a DJ at the X, dayton’s rock radio station. joe has played our music on his shows for years, even when our mca single was serviced and the station agreed with most other rock stations that we weren’t rock enough to be on rock radio. joe and i talked radio a litle bit and it was good.

we are not self-conscious about our rockness.

if i was self-conscious about how much i rock, i might start throwing around curse words like “shit yeah” and beer more often. or i might just tell you that i rock because i know i am saying what i want to say, and i am trying to say something real. i might tell you that we are a real band, in that nobody put us together but us, we play our own instruments, and we actually play and sing everything live, live. i would tell you these things if i were self-conscious but i am not. and by the way i think kanye west, who has recently reminded me that we are all self-conscious, rocks harder than a lot of rock.

but bands like us, who don’t have gravelly voices (or aren’t artsy), end up on “hot AC” stations where they have more melodies and some lyrics about real things. that is fine. i say these things as matter-of-factly as possible. that’s just how it is. no insult to gravelly angry man voice, but it’s just not quite how my voice comes out of my throat, so no rock radio for us. what it always comes down to, is that it is not my job, or the bands job, to figure out if, when, and where we fit on the radio. we will just make music we want to make, and maybe some stations with some formats will play us and maybe they won’t. joe winner encouraged this outlook. thanks again for your support joe. rock.

the studio lounge.

drew (our bassist) playing trav’s recently set-up stratocaster. he plays really well actually. as does dan (our drummer). maybe i’ve already told you this, but all five of us play the guitar. if we ever need to break out five stools and five acoustics for our reunion tour, we can do that. shit yeah. we can do that.

dan and eric. thanks to eric for his continued hard work. this guys is working his ass off to help make our music sound great for you guys. i can’t wait for you to hear the stuff. december 26th is the release date.

i am playing solo acoustic at the mad frog this thursday night. i don’t remember the last time i played a solo acoustic show. i’ve played in apartments and hotel rooms, and on stage as part of a jfk show, but this will be totally different. come out if you get a chance and be easy on me. i have no idea what i’m doing. come around 10pm for ryan montblue.

tuesday is election day. i don’t want to politicize the band, so i’m not going to say who i’m voting for, but his name rhymes with harry. it’s a lot like harry, but with a k instead. he’s the guy who didn’t lose tons of jobs, rack up the deficit and get us into a messy war based on false premises. let’s not get snooty about voicing our opinions here. i am an american and that’s what americans do. i just happen to have a journal and a rock band. i still love you no matter who you vote for. i just hope you vote. it is really important right now. i don’t think anyone would argue with that–the country is a little bit f’ed up and needs a lot of fixing. pick someone to fix it.

i am tired so i am going to bed.

trick or treat, smell my feet.

shit yeah,
joe