Saturday, September 14, 2013

9/14/13 - Memory Lanes - Minneapolis

Set:
| Hell-Bent Woman | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Moon Over the Water | Beards | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Time [Pink Floyd] | Heaven's Just a Mystery |



Poster designed by
Tony L. Kollman
We've been saying that this was going to be our last show of the summer. It really seemed like the first show of the fall. The temperature was in the 50s and it was cloudy and raining. I was happy I had my jacket with me.

Memory Lanes is always fun. It's a bowling alley and they set up the stage right over a few of the lanes. People are literally bowling right next to the stage, with that familiar thud... rumble... crash, in the midst of your performance. It's fun. 

We played tonight with two other bands that we've played with before. Moving Parts and What Tyrants always put on a good performance. All three bands are a really good fit for a solid night of rock and roll.

What Tyrants performs on the Memory
Lanes stage as patrons bowl
We only had a forty-five minute set tonight, but we wanted to pack in as much as we could. The setlist that was written could have easily filled an hour, but we cut down on the between-song banter and only cut one tune. We brought life to that old mantra, "Less talk, more rock."

Everyone used Moving Parts' drumkit, which ended up being a minor challenge for me. No rack toms and only one crash cymbal. It's quite different from what I play, so there was a lot of on-the-fly split-second decision making. Sometimes I would fall into the song and give myself over to muscle memory, but then, oops. There's no drum there. Oops. I just dropped a beat. But that's okay. I made some different choices in some songs and they worked out well. It's nice to be challenged once in awhile. 

Thanks for a great spring and summer, Junebuggers! We're not necessarily done with live shows for the year. I'm sure we'll play more, but we have already begun work on rehearsing the material for our next album Stan. There's more to come! Stay with us!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

9/4/13 - Live From Studio 5 - KFAI Studios - Minneapolis

LIVE FROM STUDIO 5 on KFAI FM

Set One:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Beards | Mystic Princess | Modern Age | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Fluffy Little Hands | Give Yourself | Soul Shaker |

Set Two:
| Last Night | Hell-Bent Woman | Handlebar Mustache | M'Lady | Jumpstart My Rocket | Please Please Me [The Beatles] | Moon Over the Water | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Heaven's Just a Mystery |




KFAI's Live From Studio 5 invited us to perform on their program. We jumped at the chance. We've been wanting to do an in-studio performance for awhile now, and Beards is a great record to do it on.When we arrived at the station and started setting up, we learned quickly that everybody there was really, really nice. It was going to be a good night. 

Setup went on and we all were pretty much ready, but we noticed it was only about twenty minutes to air time and we hadn't done a soundcheck yet. As it turned out, Studio 5 was having some major technical problems. They were able to quickly get us checked in the board and continued to work on their issue. In the meantime, the show started in Studio 4 with an interview and a couple spins from our newest album. We talked a little bit about our background and about the album and the fact that there's much more music to come.

Now, the main job of an audio engineer is this: problem solving. The guys that were there tonight, Mike and Mike solved it. It involved running a long cable snake down the hallway from Studio 5 and plugging it in to the board in Studio 4. It got the job done. The show went on. We got settled into the studio and kicked it off on-air with a classic Junebug track from our first album, "Poet (Who Didn't Know It)" and the rest of the first half of the show was filled with Beards material. There was a break in the middle for other regular segments, which gave us an opportunity to go outside and get some fresh air. We visited with the engineers. I drank some water. I stretched some muscles. I forgot to visit the restroom, which came back to haunt me later in the second half. 

But no matter. We came back and after playing some more tunes, we realized that we had a little more time to play than we had originally planned for. We played some tunes off Share, a song off Modern Day Fairy Tales, and a couple covers for good measure. Dew Glass, the second half host, made mention of the four lads from Liverpool, and we decided we'd whip out "Please Please Me." We also threw in a little "All the Young Dudes." 

We ended the show on "Heaven's Just a Mystery." The song was a bit longer than the time we had available. So the show ended before we were finished. But they told us ahead of time to keep going since the performance was being recorded. Hopefully, the technical difficulties did not prevent that recording from taking place. Because it was a swell performance that didn't all go out on the airwaves. 

KFAI is a great organization. It's a public radio station that runs heavily on donations and a volunteer basis. It's so good to see this type of independent radio still happening in the age of huge corporate syndication. We were happy to be here. Listen to KFAI and support them. 

We would like to extend our thanks to Doug the Thug, MJ Gilmore, Dew Glass, Georgia, Mike and Mike for making us feel welcome and showing us a great time.







Pictures below provided by Live From Studio 5

Junebug Junebug Junebug 
Junebug JunebugJunebug
Junebug Junebug Junebug Junebug

Sunday, August 25, 2013

8/25/13 - Aster Cafe - Minneapolis

Set:
| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Mystic Princess | Please Please Me [The Beatles] | Fluffy Little Hands | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Modern Age | Heaven's Just a Mystery |



Yasen Marie: Contrary to what the
kick drum may suggest, none of these
women have beards.
It's not often that we play on a Sunday night. Because, y'know, we're grown-ups with jobs and all that. But we headed down to the beautiful Aster Cafe on St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis. It's a nice little place with a beautiful view. And great food, too. I had the wild mushroom and cheese flatbread. I recommend it. Plus, I got a killer parking spot. I was so happy about that, I vowed to not take it for granted.

Yasen Marie started the night. We've played with them many times before. They're talented and always very entertaining. Their mix of originals and their take on popular songs is perfect. I said it to them tonight and I'll say it again, their renditions are still in my head.

When they finished, we took the stage at around 10:30. We were initially thinking that we'd be playing until about midnight or 12:30. As it turned out, right as we went on, we were told to be done around 11:15pm. No matter. We're flexible. Plus we all had to work in the morning, so okay! We'll just pound out an hour and half's worth of energy into 45 minutes. We did and it rocked. 

Our longtime friends Heather and Isaac were there with their youngin'. It was nice to see them. I was a little surprised by how many people were there on a Sunday night, and how many people actually stayed until the end. The capitalist man can't keep the rock down with his work week schedules. Defy him, we did! 

It was a Beards kind of night again, with a couple covers and "Poet" thrown in. We got a good response. "You guys don't f*** around," one guy said. "Except when we do," was Dustin's reply. A moment passed while Anthony tuned his guitar. "You guys don't f*** around," he repeated. "Well, we are right now," Dustin said. 

The sound was good. We had a great time. 

Taken from out front of the Aster. Taken on an iPod Touch, 4th 
generation. Excuse the poor representation of a beautiful view.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

7/27/13 - Fitger's Brewhouse - Duluth, Minn.

Soundcheck:
| Good Vibes |

Set One:
| M'Lady | Golden Girls Theme [Andrew Gold] | Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Age | Moon Over the Water | Please Please Me [The Beatles] | Hell-Bent Woman | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Time [Pink Floyd] | 

Set Two:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Soul Shaker | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Refrigerator | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Crossroads | Handlebar Mustache | Give Yourself | Jumpstart My Rocket | Last Night | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | Heaven's Just a Mystery | With a Little Help from My Friends [The Beatles / Joe Cocker version] |




We sang the Tetris theme.
This road show was another of the rare occasions in which we've all piled into just one vehicle and gone together. It usually happens that we don't. It has simply been the Junebug way. The fates were in our favor, however, and we all went up north to Duluth in my minivan.

Duluth is beautiful country. Hills, trees, large bodies of water. It looks like the pictures you would see in a Minnesota tourism brochure. I mean, that's probably literal. Duluth shares the state border with Superior, Wisconsin. Our show was in Duluth tonight, but our hotel room was in Superior. It was a two-state night for us.

We settled into our hotel room which was in an old building in downtown Superior on a road that was closed for construction. It gave the illusion of being in a deserted ghost town. We could look down on the dirt pile below and pretty much see no one. The man at the front desk had a very bored and dour look on his face that had a hint of suspicion for this group of thirty-something hooligans.

We all rested for a couple minutes and Dillon took a nap because he played in Omaha the night before with his other group, Communist Daughter. Anthony, Dustin and I went for a walk. We found an adult beverage store and Dustin was delighted to find some local beers he knew of. We went back to the hotel and hung out for a little bit and then we headed across the border to the venue.

Fitger's Brewhouse is located in the Fitger's brewery complex which is steeped in local history. It's in an amazing huge building which was built in 1857 to house a massive brewery. Today, it is a great shopping complex with twists and turns housing specialty shops, clothing stores, night clubs, and yes, the Fitger's Brewhouse. They are a brewpub, brewing their own delicious beers on site. 

We sat down for dinner and were greeted by our very cool server Misty. Who had just the right balance of friendliness and sass. The food was fantastic, the service was great, and the beer was oh-so-tasty. 

When we were done, we met the sound tech Keenan, whom Dillon and I know from our IPR days. We loaded in and got all set up. The brewhouse is actually kind of small. And we can get kind of loud sometimes. But we didn't want to blow anyone's ears out, so on Keenan's suggestion, we decided to lay back tonight and just chill. Amp volumes were down a bit and I played with rods instead of sticks. It was a good call. It gave us a bit of a different sound, but it was very fitting to space and the atmosphere.

Everyone in Duluth was just so damn NICE. People were kind of coming and going all night. But they would often wait until a song was over to leave. Then they'd come over and say nice things to us and assure us they weren't leaving because of us, that they just had other plans already. When we were done, people were asking what we're doing now and would we like to hang out. After we tore down and loaded the van we ended up taking our server Misty's invitation to hang out at the Rex, a bar in the basement of the Fitger's complex.

After wandering through the maze-like hallways looking for a way down, we finally found the place and hung out. Again - everyone, nice. We closed the place down and headed back to the hotel. In the morning it was home again, home again. 

What a fun gig. This was Junebug's first time in Duluth and we would really like to come back. 


Friday, July 19, 2013

7/19/13 - Fine Line Music Cafe - Minneapolis

Set:
| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Handlebar Mustache | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Hell-Bent Woman | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Heaven's Just a Mystery |



Tonight we had the pleasure of closing out July Fighter's CD release show. July Fighter are pals of ours from a few years back. In fact, their drummer, Jin, is a fellow Aberdeen transplant. He went to Northern State University, like we did, and he used to teach my wife's younger brother drum lessons. After moving to the Twin Cities, I also would see him around IPR from time to time, since he was the drummer for the late great Bruce McLaughlin who was producing his album during that time. 

At any rate, it was good to see Jin tonight. And he offered to let me use his drum kit. His kit is a much different setup than mine, but the other bands were using it and I didn't want to be that guy. It was a good decision. And I really enjoyed his dampening technique on his toms. Some people tape tissue to the drums. Jin uses maxi pads. Sounds silly, and I thought so at first, but those things work. They're self-adhesive and they dampen well. His drums sound great. If you're a cashier and I purchase maxi pads from you, don't judge.

I've said it before, but the Fine Line is always a great venue to play. Finding parking can be a little tough on Twins game days like today, since the ballpark is literally blocks away, but we manage. The sound there is always good and the space is fun. July Fighter drew a really nice crowd for this show, too, and most of them stayed for our closing set as well. It was good to get our new songs in front of a new crowd that hadn't heard us before. We played all stuff from Beards aside from a David Bowie cover. It seemed to go over well. I felt good.

It was fun to be downstairs in the band rooms. People who play there often sign the walls. Of course, there are some pranksters who sign names as jokes. I don't think Beyonce has actually played the Fine Line recently, but her name was in the rafters. I enjoyed finding the space which I signed for us when we played our Share CD release there back in October of 2008. It reads "Junebug is your mom... whatever that means." It's still there, loud and proud, with many new scrawls surrounding it. 

Someone said they also saw our former bassist Nick there tonight. He's friends with Jimmy from July Fighter. I didn't get a chance to see him. I would have loved to have said hello.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

7/11/13 - Christensen's Big V's - Saint Paul, Minn.

Set:
| Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Modern Age | Hell-Bent Woman | Crossroads | Refrigerator | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) |



Poster provided by Bear.
It's been a while since we've played at Big V's. It was nice to be back again. We had told Dillon numerous tall tales of the amazing coin-operated squirting cologne machine in the men's room. He attempted to use it, but it did not work, unfortunately. The legend lives on in our memories, however. 

I had a faint memory of writing something on the graffiti-filled wall in the back entry way a few years ago. After a little bit of searching, I found it. It reads, "Junebug is your mom. Whatever that means." Beneath it, sometime in the years that have ensued, someone else has written, "Think about it." Well played. I have thought about it. And thought about it well.

This show was intended to start at 8 p.m. and since it was a Thursday show, people would have to go to work in the morning. Things ended up being pushed back a half hour. No big deal. As it stood, we would finish up around 12:30 or so. However, the engineer didn't arrive until about 9 p.m. The entire show got rolling around 9:45. As things progressed, we ended up starting around 12:30, rather than finishing. That also meant that most of the folks there left before we started. Because, you know, work in the morning. The other groups stuck around for us, thankfully, and there were some regulars still there at the end of the bar. 

No matter. We give it our all. We ripped through a good set. Dustin gave a history lesson: "Ever since the first caveman took a stick and hit it on a stone, we had rock and roll." It's history. You can't argue with it. 

Lately, we've been working on material for our next upcoming album. We considered pulling out the song "Stan" tonight. But in the end, Anthony decided against it. 

Before we played our last song, Anthony said, "We want to thank Chants & Seas and Bear for playing tonight, as well as Junebug," "Yes, we want to thank Junebug," I reiterated. "They really outdid themselves this time," Anthony added.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

7/3/13 - Wakeside Bar & Grill - Mina, S.D.


Set One:
| M'Lady | Beards | With a Little Help From My Friends [The Beatles / Joe Cocker] | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Please Please Me [The Beatles] |

Set Two:
| Fluffy Little Hands | Time [Pink Floyd] | Hell-Bent Woman | Mystic Princess | Downtown Liquor Store | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | Refrigerator | Crossroads | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Soul Shaker | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Golden Girls Theme [Andrew Gold] | Handlebar Mustache | Jumpstart My Rocket | Chosen Ones | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] | Moon Over the Water |

Encore One:
| Heaven's Just a Mystery |

Encore Two:
| Last Night | Modern Age |



 "Not a f*** was given."
Photo by Dustin
It's always nice to be back in the Aberdeen area. We were in Aberdeen just about a month and a half ago, but being out at Mina is a bit different than the typical downtown Aberdeen show. It was a totally different crowd. I had thought at first that we were just playing at a restaurant on the lake. It turns out we came out here to be the Wakeside's entertainment for their Independence Day celebration out on Mina Lake. The Aqua-Addicts ski show happened first, followed by Junebug, with a break for fireworks, and then Junebug played the rest of the night.

We got a bit of a late start, due to some technical difficulties at the soundboard. So that meant some anticipated quiet during the festivities and a little bit of an abbreviated first set. We had setlists crafted and written up, but pretty much abandoned it and cherry-picked songs that we thought would keep the folks engaged right off the bat. Although, by the time we got started, there wasn't much time before we had to stop for the fireworks. The man in charge said explicitly, "we need silence at ten o'clock." So we ripped through some hits along with a crowd-pleaser "With a Little Help From My Friends" and a wham-bang "Please Please Me." Then we paused for the fireworks. 

My wife and son were there, so we found a spot on the grass down by the water to watch the show. The fireworks were being set off very close. I had never seen fireworks that close before and it was pretty big, loud and cool. I'm not sure my two-year-old liked it as much as I did. But he seemed to dig it.

This is what we do.
It was kind of good that we had already made the decision to throw out the setlist. By the time the fireworks were over, it was totally dark out and there were no lights on the stage. We would not have been able to read them anyway. So we went by the seat of our pants and I kept track of the songs we played on my iPod Touch. 

About twenty minutes in, a dude came up and asked us if we knew any Zac Brown. When we let him know that we don't, he kind of gently lectured us on how the crowd was trying to connect with us, but it just wasn't happening. Evidently, the music of Zac Brown would have healed that wound. Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the cards. But there were plenty of other folks that seemed okay with drinking beer and visiting with their friends to our performance. It was pretty okay. "Poet" was dedicated to Zac Brown tonight, in memory of the guy who couldn't connect.

While we were in the midst of the show, the pyrotechnics crew were tearing down and cleaning up form the fireworks display. It seems that during the fireworks show there were some that did not discharge. They had to blow them up before they could complete their work, so there were these huge fireworks going off while we were playing. It gave the illusion that we were far more important than we are. Delusions of grandeur are fun now and again.

Anthony decided it would be good to end on "Moon Over the Water" since we were playing right next to a lake and you could see the moon. Y'know, out over the water. After the song was over, Anthony left the stage, but there were actually people asking for more music. So, after a little discussion, we decided to play "Heaven's Just a Mystery" as an encore. It's a good show closer. So we did. And the way that song ends, we generally end up leaving the stage one by one. So we did. And people were still asking for more. Anthony was already visiting with friends and family members, so it took some prodding, but we got him back up there to close the night out with a couple more songs. 

The party continued without us. After we tore down and loaded out, folks were still drinking and laughing and talking and generally celebrating our independence from King George.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

6/30/13 - Twin Cities Pride Festival - Loring Park - Minneapolis

Set:
| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Golden Girls Theme [Andrew Gold] | Hell-Bent Woman | Refrigerator | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] |



Poster designed by
Tony L. Kollman
For the fourth time in five summers, we played the Loring Stage at the Twin Cities Pride Festival. And this year, the attendees had a lot to celebrate in terms of state and federal legislation regarding gay rights. The entire festival had an energy unlike that of previous years. Instead of a "let's do this" vibe, it was a "we did it" vibe. People are usually celebratory at this fest, but this year it was different. It was good.

We played a selection of stuff from Beards as well as a couple favorites of ours at Pride: "Refrigerator" and "Golden Girls." The crowd dug it and more people than in previous years stopped as they passed by to sit in the grass and enjoy the tunes. Kids were dancing and playing, including my son Josiah. He was, as he calls it, "run-dancing." Everyone had a great time.

And, as always at Pride, we had an American Sign Language interpreter on stage signing our lyrics. It's always fun to see what our songs look like. And during the song "Beards" she got a real workout with all the names in the song. She just gave up on some of them. I felt for her.

We're always happy to play at Pride and to celebrate with everyone. It's always such a great, inclusive, welcoming environment. Can't wait for next year!


Friday, June 28, 2013

6/28/13 - Acadia Cafe - Minneapolis

MPLS Habit at the Acadia

Set:
| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Age | Hell-Bent Woman | Soul Shaker | Refrigerator | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Give Yourself | Heaven's Just a Mystery |



Poster designed by
Tony L. Kollman
It was the Friday night MPLS Habit series sponsored by KFAI FM and the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis. We had all been there before on previous occasions, just in a hanging out capacity, but this was our first time playing at the Acadia.

The other acts were really great. As we were watching them, though, we began wondering if the organizers really knew what kind of music we play. The other acts were much quieter than we are. We were the only ones with a drum kit. We talked to Cait Leary, one of the performers and the person who put the show together, and she assured us that, yes, she was well aware that we are a bit louder.  Whew. Weight off our shoulders.

Our performance was timed just right, it seems. Right about the time we started, another show down the block just ended and the patrons were all coming into the Acadia for a drink. Seeing as how our show was free, that encouraged folks to stick around. We pretty much just played Beards tonight, minus "Handlebar" and adding "Refrigerator."

We won over some new folks, and sold some of our wares and trinkets. We want to thank Cate Leary, MPLS Habit, Cait Leary, and KFAI for a great, fun night.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

5/23/13 - Nomad World Pub - Minneapolis


Set:
| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Age | Hell-Bent Woman | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] |



Tonight we were supporting our friends What Tyrants in their Minne-series at the Nomad World Pub. We've played other groups' Minne-series in the past. The Nomad has a band take up residence every weekend in one month. Each week they invite different supporting acts.

The crowd was great. The weather was beautiful. The people were awesome. The beer was plentiful. The bocce was bocce.

We kept it short and sweet tonight. We were on stage for probably about 30 minutes or so. But we hit it hard, kept it simple and rocked some faces. I was into it and I had fun. Before I knew it, the set was over. People called for one more song but we left them wanting more.

Afterward, we hung out, visited, listened to some music and just had an overall good time.

Not much more to say beyond that. It was compact. It was fun.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

5/18/13 - Music on Main - Aberdeen, S.D.


Set:
| Last Night | Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | M'Lady | Please Please Me [The Beatles] | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Refrigerator | Modern Age | Hell-Bent Woman | Soul Shaker | Karma Police [Radiohead] | Mystic Princess | Moon Over the Water | Downtown Liquor Store | Fluffy Little Hands | Time [Pink Floyd] | Chosen Ones | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Heaven's Just a Mystery |



At this point it goes without saying that an Aberdeen show is by default going to be a great show. And by that I mean, even if something went wrong and we didn't play well, we'd still be surrounded by a whole lot of wonderful beautiful people that wouldn't care. We'd just be happy to see each other and hang out.

Well, luckily we played well tonight so that wasn't a problem. This was part of the Music on Main series in Aberdeen. It was exactly how it sounds. It was music. On Main Street. It was awesome. It was a two-night event, Friday and Saturday. We played Saturday. I was a little apprehensive because the weather reports kept saying there would be severe weather in just a couple hours. Then they'd push it back. Then they'd push it back again. So the entire day and evening there was this looming threat of rain and lighting. For last night's show, one of the organizers told us that the rain held off just until they had everything torn down. Then it poured. Today it was pretty hot and humid. So a storm would not have been a surprise, but the show went on.

We were the last band to play tonight. The "headliner," if you will. Jason Hepola gave us a rousing introduction. He thanked the previous bands for coming out and heartily praised the Aberdeen music scene and local artists. He then mentioned, "these guys are from Minneapolis now, but when they come here, they're local." It was a very nice sentiment and everyone echoed it from the crowd. We always get a warm welcome.

We played a pretty good variety of stuff. The crowd knew most of it, which was cool. There were many people out there singing along. That's always an ego-stroker. Those who didn't know the songs from Beards had their opportunity to pick it up tonight. This was the first time we've been back to Aberdeen since the album came out.

So many beautiful faces were there. Old friends, new friends, young strangers, family members. We played on into the night. The dark came and we carried on. In the distance I could see lightning flickering closer and closer, but we continued until our time was up. We tore down and hung out and the weather cooperated. It wasn't until the bar shut down that it started sprinkling.

Yesssss. Mother nature was on our side.

Thank you, Aberdeen. We'll be back again.






Saturday, April 13, 2013

4/13/13 - Driftwood Char Bar - Minneapolis


Set One:
| M'Lady | Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Please Please Me [The Beatles] | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Refrigerator | Hell-Bent Woman | Soul Shaker | Modern Age | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Moon Over the Water |

Set Two:
| Crossroads | Last Night | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Time [Pink Floyd] | Give Yourself | Clone You | Handlebar Mustache | Heaven's Just a Mystery |

Encore:
| Jumpstart My Rocket |



Poster designed by
Tony L. Kollman
It's been awhile since our triumphant CD release party at the Ritz, and it was time to show our faces in public once again. We grabbed our friends Moving Parts, whom you may have seen at the Ritz, and we headed down to the Driftwood in South Minneapolis. As you may know, it's a nice little haunt with that neighborhood atmosphere. Always a good time. Moving Parts rocked the place, and drew a good bunch of folks there.

This show was kind of a reprise of our release show with some other stuff thrown in, too, such as our brand new version of the Fab Four's "Please Please Me." (That's the Beatles to the uninitiated.) 

Before "Give Yourself" tonight, Anthony said that every album that involves facial hair needs a good breakup song. "I shaved mine," Dustin said. "It was a mistake." I chimed in. "I didn't like this beard at first, but then it grew on me." Groans were sent up. And then we played the saddest song we've written. Hilarity.

We filled the night with plenty of rock and grooves and when our time came to an end, the remaining crowd absolutely demanded an encore. So we burped up "Jumpstart My Rocket" to close. 

What more can be said about this show? It was a fun time at a fun place with fun people. And facial hair. Beards. 

Saturday, March 9, 2013

3/9/13 - 'Beards' Album Release - Ritz Theater - Minneapolis

'Beards' Album Release

Set:
| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Age | Hell-Bent Woman | Soul Shaker | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Give Yourself | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | All the Young Dudes [David Bowie] | Handlebar Mustache | Heaven's Just a Mystery |

Encore:
| M'Lady |



Tonight was the big night that was a long time in the making. We worked hard on Beards and we worked on it for a long time. Eleven tracks, three producers, multiple studios, and about a year and a half later, we've got the album in our hands.

I had never been to the Ritz Theater before. I walked in from the cold rain to find myself in a pretty little theater with warm lighting and stadium seating. The stage is wider than most stages we've played. The seating was about perfect. It's not a huge theater, but we didn't necessarily expect a huge crowd. It was just about right.

We loaded our gear alongside the other two bands, greeting them as we came. The audio and lighting crew were busy bees, buzzing around the stage getting things set. Our friends from Level Up Multimedia were also there, setting up their video production equipment for the evening's festivities.

Image courtesy of Level Up Multimedia.
I won't bore you with all the specific details. You can watch a replay of the live stream below and see all the details for yourself.

But I will tell you that the other bands were class acts. They are both extremely talented and supportive and we are happy to have shared the stage with them. Kevin Bowe said some very nice things about Junebug and about both me and my son as well. That gave me warm fuzzies. I love that dude.


I can also tell you about how tonight felt. In a word: fun. We had fun tonight. We worked really hard on this album, and we practiced really hard for this release show in particular. I think overall it paid off in both instances. The record is great (in my not-so-humble opinion) and the show was a resounding success. We played well, and at least I could feel the energy amongst the four of us as well as with the crowd. 

And speaking of the crowd, there were a lot of wonderful and beautiful people there. I couldn't mention them all because there were too many of them to accurately remember without leaving someone out. There were friends, family, and some friends we haven't seen for awhile who traveled some pretty respectable distances to be there.


Image courtesy of Level Up Multimedia.
The energy climaxed at the end of the night with our show- (and album-) closer "Heaven's Just a Mystery." And as we all walked off stage one-by-one, we could feel that it had been a success. My wife later told me that with the sound and lighting at the end, there was a surreal element. I overheard someone else refer to the ending of the show as "epic." Okay, I'll take that. But one thing we hadn't planned for was that the crowd might just want "one more song, one more song." Honestly, we hadn't even thought about or planned for that possibility. So when Anthony walked off stage, he immediately went outside to go around to the front of the building to greet people in the lobby. After Dustin came offstage and there was no one left out there, the applause kept coming. People were calling for one more song and we were like, "Okay, what do we know?" Dillon ran outside to try to catch Anthony and Dustin and I wandered back out onto stage and awkwardly held vigil in near silence while we waited for the others to return. As it turns out, it wasn't nearly as long as it felt. So we played "M'Lady," appeased the masses, and called it a night. A very, very fun night. 

This was the release of our album Beards. It was a long time in the making. We think it's worth the wait.

We give a big thank you to Craig Grossman, Paul Bolen and Student Run Records who organized and promoted tonight's show.



Enjoy these select performances from the album release party:


Poster designed by Tony L. Kollman