Battle for the Basilica
O'Gara's Garage
Saint Paul
Set:
| Last Night | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Found My Boogie | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | M'Lady | Moon Over the Water | Chosen Ones | Damn the Man | Jumpstart My Rocket |
Tonight was the second round of the Battle for the Basilica. The first round consisted of judges' review of our album and promo sheet. Out of 70 submissions, we were among the top twelve selected to compete in the second round. Twelve bands were split up into four nights of three bands each. One band from each night advances to the finals on June 25, with two of them winning a slot at the Basilica Block Party. This amazing weekend includes such bands as The Black Crowes, The Hold Steady, Tapes 'n Tapes, Counting Crows and the Jayhawks among others.
Again, tonight was the second round. Junebug was the first of three bands playing with the winner to be determined by audience vote. We brought out our A-game tonight. Tonight was our first time at O'Gara's and we loved it. The stage is nice and roomy and there's a drum riser which I (tony) appreciate. However, the ceiling is low and the killer light rigs are really close to the performers. So while we had fun, it was HOT. All of us were sweating like crazy.
Junebug fans came out of the woodwork tonight to support us and vote for us. They were dancing and cheering and hollering and having an awesome time -- and so were we. We all felt very positive about this show, and we just banged right through a high-octane set with not a lot of break or banter, just full-on less talk, more rock.
And whatever we did worked. We won this round and we move on to the finals on June 25, again at O'Gara's. Exciting, peeps! We'd love to play the Basilica Block Party.
We returned to the Cabooze for a full night of loud rock with Smiling Politely and Cryptic. This show ended up being better than our previous show at the Cabooze. Cryptic has a pretty solid and loyal following and so does Smiling Politely, so there were plenty of folks present.
Other than all that, we hung out in the green room, had a few beers and had some good chats with the other bands and talked more about where we're headed as a band. We're all positive, folks. The dreams are big and we'll keep on chasing them.
We all packed into my (tony's) van and headed to Winona, Minnesota. By "we all" I mean Anthony, Dustin, Liza and me. Nick drove himself. That's one of the bummers of not having a vehicle that fits the band, the gear, and the merch girl. We end up always having to take at least two vehicles. It sucks, especially in a world in which we're trying to be more environmentally conscious. But that's what we did.
We played last tonight and it was another one of those bangin' shows in which we really tried to keep everyone grooving and in the venue, since most of them probably came for GLaGSpeed. We didn't want to be the room broom of the night, if you know what I mean. Like I said before, it was a very cozy room. The stage pretty much just accomodated the drumkit and the amps, with the others standing on the floor in front of it. And boy, was it hot. Luckily, though, there was an open window right next to the stage and from time to time, I could feel a heavenly cool breeze. It was a really fun room, though, and we were sure to tell the staff that we loved it.
Tonight was our first time playing at the Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. It's a nice place, kind of long and narrow with a stage at the back end. What the stage lacks in width, it makes up for in depth. We had to stagger ourselves in a pretty strange formation in order to all fit, but it all worked out. The sound guy (whose name eludes me) was a perfectly nice guy who helped us out and talked us through it.
Tonight's show was put on by Positively Tangled and Junebug was sort of a last-minute addition. Our previous experience at Stasiu's was mixed, whereas there weren't a lot of people there, but our energy and show were great. It seems that the same thing happened this time as well.
