10/30/08 - Neisen's - Savage, Minn.

October 30, 2008
Neisen Bros.
Savage, Minn.

Set:
| Last Night | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | M'Lady | Soul Shaker | Good Vibes | Chosen Ones | Lady Madonna | Clone You | Aphrodite | Jumpstart My Rocket | La Bamba [Ritchie Valens] |

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So it was that Junebug decended upon the southern suburb of the land, the town of Savage. The gentlemen of Cryptic (who are close personal associates of Nick's) invited us to play with them at Neisen Bros. Sports Bar & Grill. Well, we did. I (tony) was talking to Liza and Katie and we both agreed that it reminded us a bit of Aberdeen. If we were to combine the Eagles and Lager's, it might be close to Neisen's. There was a pretty fun crowd there, too. There was a table full of what I imagine are bar regulars who had evidently had a few drinks and were ready to rock. And as we were finishing up, the bikers descended. Pretty amazing.

Our set was delayed a bit by numerous technical difficulties. There were issues with mics and monitors and balance and all that. But Anna and her brothers assured us that it sounded fine in the crowd - at least better than it did in our monitor mixes. I mean, people were dancing and hollering, so it couldn't have been that bad.

On one final note, there was a dude that was requesting "La Bamba" all night long. Well, after our final song, we did the whole "Thank you, we are Junebug, CD for sale" bit. As we were getting ready to walk off stage, the dude yelled "La Bamba!" one more time. We figured, "what the hell." We've never played it before, but you have to keep the public happy, am I right?

10/28/08 - Turf Club - St. Paul

October 28, 2008
The Turf Club
Saint Paul, Minn.

Set:
| Clone You | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Last Night | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | M'Lady | Moon Over the Water | Chosen Ones | Aphrodite | Jumpstart My Rocket |

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Junebug returned to the Turf Club tonight, but this was Nick's first time there. We played this show with the Brutes and Droners. Junebug has played with the Brutes before (July 1, 2006), but when we tried to reminisce, we found out that three out of four of the guys in the band were not in the band back then. Anthony and I (tony) each went through them one by one and we each got three strikes. Funny stuff.

There were decidedly more people at this show than at our last show. Some of them Turf regulars, some came to see the other bands. At the very least we were exposed to some new people who may not have heard us before. We decided to go full on and play a solid rockin' set, with a little "Moon Over the Water" thrown in for good measure.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Anthony's voice tonight. He called in sick to work because of some major sinus and cold issues, and it was clearly evident in tonight's performance. There was some scratchy, croaky vocal stuff going on, but we powered through like the rock stars we are. A couple of times, Nick and I (Dustin's mic was accidentally set up in Nick's spot) sang along so the vocal line could actually be heard..

No matter, though. We all had fun and we rocked the Turf like you might expect us to.

10/23/08 - Eclipse Records - St. Paul

October 23, 2008
Eclipse Records
Saint Paul, Minn.

Set:
| Spring Fever | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Last Night | M'Lady | Moon Over the Water | The Date | Chosen Ones | Lady Madonna [The Beatles] | Aphrodite |

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Tonight was interesting indeed. It was by far the smallest show we've ever played. It was honestly just the bands (My Lady Four and Haroh), the girlfriends/wives, a couple parents, and a few others. But that didn't stop it from being fun. Oh, not at all.

First off, Eclipse Records is a pretty fun little space. It's a local record store which has a small video arcade and a show venue. The room is completely black and it's concrete and brick. And it's loud. Quite.

We played a set that was pretty indicative of what we've been playing lately. Mostly tracks off the album with a couple strays thrown in as well. Those present really seemed to enjoy it. I know we did.

As a further comment on the attendance of this show, it was interesting to notice that between each band, the audience area was completely empty... because everyone in the audience came back to the backstage/band room area. At one point, I (tony) stepped onto the stage to an empty room, pumped a fist into the air and triumphantly shouted, "Hello, Saint Paul!" I expected to hear the comforting chirping of country crickets, but instead the sound guy peeked out from behind a speaker and chortled politely.

It was fun, though, and that's the reason reason why we play shows. Sure, it's nice to have crowds like we did at the Fine Line or at the Ramkota before we moved out of Aberdeen, but it's sort of a rite of passage, isn't it? To play a show to almost no one? It was fun and funny and all that. We actually look forward to playing Eclipse again. It was a cozy, neat little place. It'll be even more fun to be there when there's a crowd.

Nick was shooting some video tonight of the bands and of the backstage antics. When we were onstage, his buddy Carp (the drummer from My Lady Four) filmed us. So we'll see if anything ever comes of that footage. Ah, well. Y'know.

10/17/08 - Fine Line - Minneapolis

October 17, 2008

Share CD Release
The Fine Line Music Cafe
Minneapolis, Minn.

Set:
| Last Night | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | M'Lady | Share | Place | The Date | Chosen Ones | Lady Madonna [The Beatles] | Good Vibes | Soul Shaker | Clone You | Aphrodite |

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If we thought the last show was fantastic, we didn't know what was coming to us. This Fine Line show trumped all Twin Cities shows thus far. We had been looking forward to playing the Fine Line for a long time and it really was a blast. We had people from Aberdeen drive out for it and some friends from college and high school were there as well. Gabe and Hannah even flew in from Kentucky to be there. Awesome. We had the benefit of having the crowds of Love in October, Jon Wayne and the Pain and My Lady Four there, too...which didn't hurt at all.

The energy was high and the crowd was diggin' it. We managed to pull it off with only a couple flubs, but no one seemed to notice at all. Except when Dustin executed a rockstar leap and kicked the mic away from Anthony's amp, causing his guitar to go silent. If I (tony) could have, I would have held up a card giving him a score of 9.0. It was a good leap.

Tonight Anthony told the brief version of the story of how the album came about, saying that Gabe had heard our demo version of "Place" and decided he wanted to make it sound good. We then invited Gabe onstage to sing "Place" with us. It was kind of a cool gesture to say thank you for all the work he put into it and the strings he pulled to get our album made. Very fun.

One of the cool things about the Fine Line is that in the band rooms downstairs, many of the bands that have performed there in the past couple years have written their names on the rafters. I saw Wolfmother, Shiny Toy Guns, Paddy Wagon and others. Pretty cool. Needless to say, we left our mark.

We loved the Fine Line. The staff was all excellent and the sound guy was amazing. We heard from a number of people that it was the best live mix they'd ever heard.

Anthony's description of Share: "Sometimes when you're in a dark alley and there's a ninja there, you gotta share that lollipop with that ninja! You're not going to fade into the darkness! Kill him with kindness."

Guy overheard on a fan video: "They're not too bad, are they?"

Thank you, guy. We appreciate it.