Cheapo Discs
Minneapolis, Minn.
Soundcheck
| Clone You |
Set:
| Spring Fever | I'm a Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | M'Lady | Moon Over the Water | Place | Chosen Ones | Good Vibes | Aphrodite | Jumpstart My Rocket |
Our first performance at Cheapo Discs in Uptown Minneapolis went swimmingly, as they say. Sadly, there was a miscommunication and the camera crew was not there to tape for the television broadcast. He is on vacation, we were told. However, we were told it would be totally fine to reschedule another show, since the taping was one of the main reasons we wanted to play this particular show. So be on the lookout for that.
Cheapo Uptown is kind of like a giant four-walled warehouse, with the stage set up in one of the far corners. It's pretty sweet. We were able to play at our normal volume, but customers could still shop at their liesure. It was pretty interesting playing in a retail setting. Most of the people weren't there to see music, they were there to purchase it. However, a number of customers came up to the stage to watch us for awhile. We also had friends there, which was nice.
Our set consisted mostly of Share tracks, since we were promoting our album at a store that sells our album. We also threw in Bad MammaJamma and Jumpstart My Rocket. Because face it, they rock.
An observation I (tony) had was that good, energetic, fun sets are pretty much the rule now, not an exception. It seems that probably 95% of the time we come off stage and congratulate each other on how great the show felt and how awesome the energy was and how much fun we had. Even when there aren't a lot of people in attendance. Each time this happens, it feels as if this show was an oasis in a desert of suck, when in reality, they all have been feeling great. It was just something I noticed, based on my own feelings, of course.
On to Stasiu's in just a few hours, to play a second show in the same night.
How "rock 'n' roll" are we, right?
We returned to the Uptown Bar tonight. We were slightly worried about turnout since the news was reporting that the roads were treacherous and slippery, when in reality they really weren't bad. Turnout was actually pretty decent for a Tuesday night.
This was Junebug's first time at Station 4 in Saint Paul. I (tony) had never even been there before. So when I first walked in to the bar it seemed very small, with a diagonal wood floor back in one corner. I mistakingly thought that was where we would be playing. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was led into the actual venue area. No, it's not just a corner of the room, it's a fully functional show space.
At any rate, we had fun. The sound guy did a nice job too, with monitor mixes and house mix and such. And Carp, the drummer for My Lady Four, said that my kit sounded really good. My kit doesn't usually sound good...so kudos to the sound guy for that. And personally, I love playing on a stage that has an actual drum riser.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
