Junebug Show Diaries

Saturday, April 5, 2014

4/5/14 - Slackers - Aberdeen, S.D.

Set One:

Set Two:

Encore:

| Handlebar Mustache / Champagne Wishes Jam |

Poster designed by
Tony L. Kollman

Every time we play in Aberdeen I end up typing the same thing into the show diary -- something to the effect of "it's always so great to come back to Aberdeen." It's true. So here is my traditional expression of that: It's always so great to come back to Aberdeen.

We played again at Slacker's for the first time. Meaning, we've played at Slacker's before, but they have moved and this is the first time we've played in the new location. In the old space, there was no stage. Bands would just set up on rugs in front of the big front window. In the new space, there's a stage and the drum set ends up being set up in a display window. So people outside can come within a foot of the drummer and stare at him/her if they so choose. I felt like a zoo animal. And I liked it.

Playing with us tonight were our pals Honest Engine, featuring a member of the Junebug family on guitar. Our former bassist and old friend Brandon Johnson now calls Aberdeen home and it was really good to see him again. The way things had worked out, we hadn't even really seen him at all since he left Junebug a couple years ago. But he came right up to me, gave me a big ol' bear hug, and it was like no time had passed. And he and the Engine boys killed it on stage. What a fantastic show, complete with a hard rockin' version of "Royals." I mean it. It was good.

From Instagram: @JunebugMusic

We got started in our typical fashion, noodling around while the levels get set. Dustin greeting the crowd saying, "Hello, Aberdeen. It's your hometown zeroes." Anthony interjected, "Don't call it a comeback." "Because it's... it's not," Dustin replied.

We kicked into high gear off the bat with a couple of older favorites from Share. Again, in typical Junebug fashion, the top of the show was plagued with technical difficulties. I mean, it wouldn't be Junebug if there wasn't some kind of issue, right? Anthony's gear was messing up and while he went to work on it, the rest of us kicked in a bit of the ol' "Law & Order" theme. Always appropriate. Never gets old. No debate. When it was done, we heard a request for the "Gilligan's Island" theme.

It's been no secret that the main riff in "Hell-Bent Woman" was inspired by Stone Temple Pilots' "Vasoline." Therefore tonight, we decided to pay tribute to this fact by mashing the two together. Did it work? It was surely fun. I'll leave it there.

Let me take you to a place...

We kicked off the second set with a slow jam which ramped up into Bad Mamma Jamma, much to this Aberdeen crowd's delight. We continued with some more solid tunes of our own. We wound down that stretch with "Fluffy" and just as it ended, Anthony's mom shouted out "Bad Mamma Jamma!" Well, we already played it and we let her know. She wasn't satisfied. She wanted to hear it, dang it. And she's Anthony's mother. Anthony said, "My mom wants to hear 'Bad Mamma Jamma' so we're gonna play half of it!" A look of great insult descended upon Mrs. Bergman's face and she shouted, "AM I HALF YOUR MOTHER?!?" So in an unprecedented move, we played "Bad Mamma Jamma" a second time in the same set. But with a twist. We played it in its entirety, but twice as fast. It was a workout. And a success.

As sad as it may sound, there are some Junebug tunes that have sort of retired themselves. Some songs only get played in Aberdeen for the die-hard, longtime fans. And then only sometimes. Tonight we got a request for "Downtown Liquor Store" by one Mr. Scott Waltman. Though we haven't played this song probably since the last time we were in Aberdeen, we obliged Mr. Waltman happily. It's a song of triumph and inspiration. Why wouldn't we?

We unveiled some tunes tonight from the next album we're currently working on, Stan. Aberdeen got to hear "7 Eleven" for the first time tonight. They also got to hear "Stan" for the first time since our going away party at the Ramkota in August 2007.

We closed out the night with a jam on "Heaven's Just a Mystery" from Beards. But when it was complete, boy oh boy, Aberdeen wanted more. So we appeased their appeals for "one more song" with "Handlebar Mustache" dedicated to our good pal Wade.

You can't describe how we feel in Aberdeen. It's like coming home. It's like we never left. As Anthony said tonight, "There is no place in the world like Aberdeen, South Dakota." So many beautiful people. So much love. 'Til next time, my friends.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

3/6/14 - Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater - Minneapolis

Set:

Show poster provided
by Moving Parts

We haven't played a show since September. We've been learning, rehearsing, and beginning the recording process of our next album. But tonight we broke our silence. Our friends Moving Parts were releasing their new EP tonight and we played with them to celebrate.

We had never played the Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater before (and I had never even been there before). It's this great, cozy little black box cabaret theater attached to a restaurant/bowling alley. The space was great and the staff were lovely.

People packed in the place pretty quickly. We definitely had our share of folks there, but I suspect most people were there to celebrate Moving Parts. The place was nearly full just fifteen minutes after the doors opened. We knew there was a very strict cut-off policy at midnight due to other tenants in the building. So with that in mind, we kind of wanted to start a little early to give moving parts as much time as possible. However, it seemed they had a strict start-time policy too. We went up at about 9:45, but were told to wait until ten.

But we were so excited and just couldn't wait. So Dustin and Dillon started some really cool ambient atmospheric sounds that were kind of just background noise, setting the mood. I kept a close eye on the clock and kicked in with the drum intro to "Beards" exactly when the clock struck ten.

Place packed. Rearin', ready to go.

I would like to make note that at this time that I am actually quite clean-shaven. I shaved my beard when my newest son was born in February. So playing "Beards" was admittedly a little odd. I mean, practice what you preach, right? I felt like a bit of my wisdom and power had left me. I considered wearing (and actually brought along) a fake beard specifically for this song. But I decided against wearing it. I gotta represent me, smooth-face flaws and all.

A little later in the show, we unveiled some brand new material from the new album. It was the prelude to and first song from Stan, introducing the character and his job at the convenience store. It went over very well, which was a good sign.

After the new original, we decided to throw in a new cover. We recently worked up "Don't Let Me Down" by the Beatles. It too went over quite well. While playing, I realized that we've done a number of Beatles tunes in our time. Wouldn't it be nice to throw together an EP? Just a thought. Not a plan.

Tonight's set was a nice, tight, energetic, and accurate introduction of Junebug to anyone who may not know us. It was also good for us to get our feet wet again after all this time. We're coming out of hibernation, folks. We've got a few more dates lined up. Join us, won't you? It's gonna be a good time.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

9/14/13 - Memory Lanes - Minneapolis

Set:

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

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.

Listen to the replay here!

Pictures below provided by Live From Studio 5

Sunday, August 25, 2013

8/25/13 - Aster Cafe - Minneapolis

Set:

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:

Set Two:

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:

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.

Junebug Show Diaries

Saturday, April 5, 2014

4/5/14 - Slackers - Aberdeen, S.D.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

3/6/14 - Bryant Lake Bowl & Theater - Minneapolis

Saturday, September 14, 2013

9/14/13 - Memory Lanes - Minneapolis

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

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

Sunday, August 25, 2013

8/25/13 - Aster Cafe - Minneapolis

Saturday, July 27, 2013

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

Friday, July 19, 2013

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

Note from Tony:

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