Junebug Show Diaries

Saturday, September 27, 2008

9/26/08 - Centerfield - Minneapolis

September 26, 2008
Centerfield
Minneapolis, Minn.

Yes!

Tonight was the kind of show we love to play. It was concise, it was extremely high octane and we all had a blast. In talking to Dustin afterward, I (tony) compared this particular performance to Altoids breath mints. It was "curiously strong."

After the musical stylings of Section 30 and Sunshine Behavior, we took the stage, hurrying our butts off so the crowd didn't completely exit before we began. It was a tightly crammed stage, but we didn't let it stop us from putting it all on the line. My drum setup didn't even quite fit properly, but I made it work in the end. Because everything was so tight, I misjudged the placement of my drums and cymbals a few times, and ended up with a bloody knuckle and perhaps a small blood spatter on my snare drum. I haven't looked closely enough yet. But that just goes to show you, we give our blood for our art. Or something.

Tonight's show was shot in part by Sidenberg/Tesnow (Six-Ton Productions) for a music video that will be coming your way before too long. Tonight's shots were the live performance portion of the video, with more scripted shooting to happen later on. But just so you know when you see it, it was shot tonight.

Lastly, and most importantly, tonight was NICK WOSIKA's first show with Junebug! The energy was high, and everyone was feeling it. Nick felt it too, and we felt him. Then we played music together. Haha. Get it?

But seriously, Nick is an excellent addition to Junebug. We're totally glad he's with us, and anyone who has ever been into Junebug will have to agree. We knew it already and tonight's performance proved it. Phooey to you to missed it, suckas!

Saturday, August 30, 2008

8/29/08 - Red Rooster Coffee House - Aberdeen, S.D.

And so we returned to the Red Rooster Coffee House for the second time since we moved away, and the first time since our album Share was finished and printed. Our Twin Cities CD release party isn't until October. But we decided we wanted to celebrate with Aberdeen first.

This is our first show since the addition of bassist Nick Wosika. However, he was not able to join us for this show, since he was playing a farewell show with his other band, Stereoscope in the Twin Cities. So we played sans bassist tonight, just like the old days at the Red Rooster. Also reminiscent of the old days was the opening lineup, made up of The Blue Orange and Fed By Doris. Both of these bands used to play with Junebug regularly at the Rooster, and I happen to also play drums in both these bands.

We took the stage and Dustin welcomed everyone, saying, "Dear our people, we are pleased to meet you again in this certain time and place that has predestined to be here and now again." I (tony) then announced, to great reception, that this is our CD release party. "Here's our CD," I said and pressed play on an onstage CD player. We listened to "Spring Fever" in its entirety. I was in favor of just letting the entire CD play while we sat/stood onstage, but the other dudes were not keen on that. So I left it up to the crowd. "Do you want us to actually play, or do you just want to listen to the album?" Jeremy Storly shouted out, "Leave the CD on... I've heard you live." Everyone else wanted us to play. We've got to keep the masses pleased, you see.

Since we had no bassist tonight, we asked Jeremy Burckhard to come up and play bass on a couple of our older tunes, "Found My Boogie" and "Bad Mamma Jamma".

In the middle of the band intros during "Bad Mamma Jamma", Jeremy and Dustin spontaneously broke into "Deuling Banjos" and it kind of blew my mind a little bit.

Some of you may have noticed Anthony's unique style of dancing at shows. He tends to bounce a lot. Tonight he mentioned that "a Junebug show is like a workout for me." I added, "If he's not doing the limbo, he's not working hard enough." He returned with, "It's called JAM-ercizing!" I think he may be on to something.

We then played "Moon Over the Water" off the album, a song which has never before been heard in Aberdeen.

Our dear old friend, the violinist Elizabeth Andrews, joined us on three songs tonight; "Place", "Breathe You In" and "The Date".

Tonight, I dedicated "Breathe You In" to Vinny and Barb, who are getting married tomorrow. This song was actually played by Junebug at my wedding, so it's good for those who share the loves.

During some downtime on stage, when Anthony was messing with his settings or something, I decided to fill some dead air with jokes provided to me by our old friend, Rory Behrens, who was no in attendence tonight. Q: What time do you know you need to go to the dentist? A: Tooth-hurty. Q: Where does patio furniture go when it dies? A: To the cement-ery. It should be pointed out that nobody laughed. I was just trying fill the dead air. Someone from the crowd asked what kind of cheese was not mine. Dustin emphatically replied, "That's nacho cheese!!" Then we played a song.

Anthony put me on the spot, by saying he had to tune and it was up to me to come up with some witty banter. The best I could muster was to talk about my hat and say that I was not even modest about it. I furthermore added that "Tony" and "witty" do not belong in the same sentence.

Tonight we debuted our version of The Beatles' "Lady Madonna". It's very rockin' and we like it. The kids in the crowd really seemed to dig it. "Jumpstart" was next, and the energy was good. The crowd was clapping in rhythm to start it out and in the middle breakdown. They were jumping and dancing and it was all good. This is why we keep coming back to Aberdeen. This is good stuff.

We got a request for "Jammin' Out in a Soundproof Room" tonight, so how could we deny the fans? It was one of the better performances of that song, and Anthony said it really took it out of him.

We closed the show out tonight with "So True" playing right into "Summertime", which is what closes out the album. It's a fitting ending, I suppose, for the CD Release party.

We thanked the Red Rooster for always being good to us, and we thanked the staff for staying late while we played long. Thank you, Aberdeen. We shall return.

Monday, July 14, 2008

7/13/08 - Clebergs - Aberdeen, S.D.

Fallout 1k Run
Prelude:

| Chariots of Fire [Vangelis Papathanassiou] |

The Fallout Creative Community put together the Third Annual (even though it was only the second time they did it) 1k Run. The concept was involved the participants meeting at the Red Rooster Coffee House and running a daunting one thousand meters to the Clebergs' house. Since it is such a gruelling race, there were rest checkpoints set up where participants could chug a Mountain Dew and smoke a cigar. Anyhow, when the race was over, the runners were met by Junebug at the finish line playing our rendition of the epic "Chariots of Fire."

This show was pretty informal. We had no established setlist, but rather took requests and took songs as they came to us. We played a number of older songs that haven't been heard in awhile. This included "Downtown Liquor Store" and "Fargo Gypsy Girl," among others. Happily, "Fargo Gypsy Girl" was supplemented by the talents of our old friend Bruce Likness.

We didn't have a bass player booked for this show, but a guy we know named Brian Hoesing sat in on a few tunes for the beginning portion of the show. Add another name to list of bassists who have played with us.

At this show, we announced that this was the start to the Junebug backyard tour. We may be coming to YOUR backyard soon, but the catch is you can't ask us to come to yours or you're out of the running. It's just random backyards. Yours may be the one. Or not.

We pretty much HAVE to mention the fact that we played The Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon." Or at least part of it. We played our own version of it, totally Junebug-ized, but then after the shot rang out, "To the Next Episode" took over. Jeremy Burckhard was visibly upset.

The show continued much in the same fashion, ending with a special performance of "Jumpstart My Rocket" dedicated to a departed fan by the name of Denae.

To illustrate the magic and power of Junebug;
Anthony: "This band is going to make you believe again."
Audience member: "I'm not afraid any more."

Saturday, July 12, 2008

7/12/08 - Great Aberdeen Pigout - Aberdeen, S.D.

Encore:
| To the Next Episode |

Today was the Great Aberdeen Pigout in downtown Aberdeen. It was also the first time we've played in Aberdeen since moving to the Twin Cities nearly a year ago. We were asked a while back if we wanted to play this show and we took a long time to work out schedules and see if it would work. Luckily, there was still room for us. However, we were scheduled to go on at the same time (different stage) as Snakebeard Jackson. This was a problem, because Snakebeard's mandolin player is Josh Rieck, our former bassist who would be guest performing with us today! Well, the scheduled conflict was fixed and it all worked out.

That's right, Josh stepped up on stage with us after having not played with Junebug for nearly a year -- rehearsals included. No practice, just Josh's musical and muscle memories taking over. He didn't skip a beat. It was as if he had been with us all along.

We performed on the South Stage, which was set up near the Capitol Theater on Main Street. I (tony) was allowed to pull my van into the restricted area so I could unload my gear conveniently. Although I brought my entire kit, I found out that I would be using a backline kit. It wasn't a problem, though, since it was nearly identical to mine. It was the same brand, color and finish, just a newer model. It was a very nice day, but it was quite windy as well. When I was setting up my cymbals and stands, a gust of wind came along and knocked one of my cymbals to the asphalt below. The cymbal is dented, but still usable, thankfully.

Outdoor shows are always fun. There's something really fun about the sun shining down on you as you play, with the breeze in your face. We took the stage and Dustin welcomed the crowd saying, "We're happy to be here! We're happy to be anywhere."

We had this idea that it would be funny if, after our triumphant exit from Aberdeen, we returned and sounded absolutely horrible. So we started the set with "Poet", but intentionally played the intro horribly. I have to admit that it was pretty amazing, though I fear it was lost on some.

When our set was over, there was still a little time left and the people wanted to hear more. So we played a nearly impromptu version of "To the Next Episode". We hadn't rehearsed it, so we didn't know what Dustin was going to do in the middle portion. He usually teases a well-known song and then we kick back into "Episode". He played "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, but we were all horribly off. It was the epitome of trainwreck. We completely fell apart. So Anthony just yelled, "EPISODE!" and we all kicked back in. So we bookended it. We started horribly (intentionally) and ended poorly (unintentionally).

The Pigout was a lot of fun. It's nice to see a local festival with local and regional bands get so much support. We hope to be a part of this again. This support for local bands and bands with ties to Aberdeen is invaluable to the Aberdeen music scene.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

6/17/08 - Turf Club - St. Paul

June 17, 2008
Turf Club
Saint Paul, MN

The Turf Club in Saint Paul was a great venue to play. City Pages named it the best music venue of 2008, so it was pretty great to be able to play there. We were contacted by a local band called Morning Society (we have a mutual friend) to fill an empty slot in their show.

Kai Catudio played bass with us tonight, as we ripped through a solid set of groovers and rockers. Some tunes were a little shaky, but it certainly wasn't bad at all for our Saint Paul debut.

PJ was present at the show, and as usual had his recording equipment on hand to capture a live recording that turned out pretty decent. A number of other friends were on hand to cheer us on, thankfully. Understandably, the crowd wasn't huge. It was a Tuesday night, after all. But all in all, the Turf was a fun venue to play. We look forward to playing there sometime again.

Friday, June 13, 2008

6/12/08 - Uptown Bar - Minneapolis

June 12, 2008
Uptown Bar
Minneapolis, MN

So tonight was our first "real" show since moving to the Twin Cities. By that, we mean of course, that it was an actual booked show rather than just on a contest roster. We played smack dab between Ah, Venice and Morning Society at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis. It was a nice, cozy rock and roll venue, with a real good sound guy.

Kai Catudio played bass with us again tonight, and we all tend to agree that his onstage energy and attitude is always welcome whenever he can contribute. He's pretty darn good.

We had about forty-five minutes to make a good impression, and based on our post-set response, it seems we accomplished just that. The whole set was energetic and in-your-face, and we rocked up a good sweat.

Tony's in-laws drove all the way from Aberdeen specifically for this show, and they said they were blown away. The official report from Mr. and Mrs. Johnson is that it was "really, really fun and the music was just unparallelled." So, that's good. (On a related note, we recently received word from Aussie Danny Ch. that his parents also delighted in the 'Bug on a drive from Sydney to half-way across the continent. Apparently parents love us.)

Both Ah, Venice and Morning Society were great and we were quite pleased to be sharing the stage with them. Lookin' forward to more of that.

Monday, May 19, 2008

5/18/08 - Varsity Theater - Minneapolis

May 18, 2008
Gorilla Productions
Battle of the Bands
Varsity Theater
Minneapolis, MN

After focusing these past few months exclusively on our upcoming album, Share, Junebug finally played a show! This was the latest installment of Gorilla Productions' Battle of the Bands series. We sold some tickets and played with a few other fun Twin Cities bands at the famous and historic Varsity Theater in Dinkytown.

The show started at 4:30 and we went on at 6:00. We kept the set short and sweet, due to a thirty minute time limit, and all the tunes we played tonight were off the upcoming album.

Our bassist tonight was the incomparable Kai Catudio, who recorded bass with us on ten of twelve album tracks. Kai's energy and musicianship were perfect for our live show and we truly loved having him play with us.

Though we didn't win the "battle," we got a lot of really great feedback from audience and musicians alike. The Varsity was a great venue to play. In fact, it was voted as City Pages' top music venue of 2007. It was great to be included in an event that took place in the Minneapolis music scene. We look forward to possibly playing shows with these or other bands in the near future.

Finally, we got to see an old friend at this show -- the mighty and elusive P.J. Pearson! Of course he bootlegged the show with his fancy schmancy audio equipment. Because that's what he does.

So, anyway. Fun show. It was a good start to what we hope is a successful run in the Twin Cities.