BONESAW SAYS:
February 24, 2010
Well I just turned 32 about 2 hours ago. Wooo hoooo! This is three years in a row I’ve been out on tour for my birthday, thinking that if I spend every birthday of my 30’s on tour that that would mean that FS will have had a pretty great career, right? Well my 30th birthday was in Atlanta and though we had a fun day playing sports on a sunny Monday in a park, the show was played to ZERO people that night, so that wasn’t quite ideal. I have a feeling tonight in Cincinnati will be a different story.
We just spent 2 days in Cleveland and though everyone knocks Cleveland, I had a GREAT time. weather was pretty crummy. But we got to town around 1pm on Monday (no show) and proceeded as planned to the Rock n Roll hall of fame. It started off well when they let all four of us in for free because we were in a band (that’s gotta be the coolest policy ever) and we were all quite relieved to not be dropping $22 each to get in. phew. First thing I saw: Kurt Cobain’s guitar that he used on many of their tours. Wow. I won’t go into tons of detail about all the amazing stuff that I saw there, because you should definitely visit, but I will say that it was incredibly inspiring and motivating. The whole time I was thinking…. “I’m glad I’m IN a band and creating memories and adventures” like all the guys and girls in the bands we saw there, rather than wishing I was doing it. How can a band guy not imagine seeing his beat up Les Paul 25 years from now behind the glass case? Or imagining seeing Smellman’s braided t-shirt belt buckle or a Hoagman headband as part of a display? Believe me they have weirder things hanging there. They even had Sid Viscious’ rings for god’s sake. Elmore James’ guitar! Slash’s top-hat! Randy Rhodes polka-dot Flying V! Bono’s Fly glasses! I was almost too much to handle. I actually went back the next day with Joel (my friend and our manager, bass player in Scotty Don’t and Badfish) and got a second dose. He was most interested in the old contracts and the punk rock stuff. I thought that was fitting!
Took a run before the show thru downtown and saw into right field of the Indian’s stadium… it was the second MLB stadium I’d seen the field of in three days and both were covered in snow. As I texted my older brother tyler… I can’t wait for baseball.
On stage in Cleveland they have a huuuuuge curtain that hides the beautiful wood stage from the crowd. It’s always hard to go from being at-rest to being in the middle of a set, so I did a little 10 minute blaster workout right there on stage behind the curtain, lights were low and 600+ people were 10 feet away. It was kind of a funny scene. Here’s me doing lunges and up-downs and they’re hammering beers and fighting for position on the railing. Haha.
Pat from Badfish is a virtuoso sax player and very few people know it. He busted it out last night and played a mindbending solo. Rushing over to side stage where I was watching I was hyped and said in his ear “dude that low note was amaaaazing!” to which he responded “man, the low note costs extra!” quote of the day right there.
We’re brainstorming ever wackier ideas about what to do onstage. I suggested we play a game called “Dress Up Smell” where I encourage him to strip to his undies and then we ask the crowd to throw the appropriate (or inappropriate as the case may be) articles he needs to re-dress himself back on stage. Rules are he has to wear whatever gets thrown on stage, and people get a free CD for donating. Could be hilarious, could be incredibly embarrassing as he stands there in his undies. Maybe tonight?!
Dunkin’ Donuts has $1 egg patties. They’re nothing close to as good as the eggs my hen MaryEllen lays back at FS-HQ, but it was a big discovery nonetheless. I could eat eggs for every meal.
Go USA Hockey!
February 19, 2010
So this is what it’s like driving thru a snowstorm on tour, eh? The Whale is definitely white , but he’s unaccustomed to this kind of whiteness. Twink is exuberant like a little kid back there, especially since two days ago he was talking about how he’d never seen a snow plow nor knew one existed (“do they just shovel the parking lot at Walmart by hand?”) and we’re behind a snow plow right now. It’s actually coming down pretty hard, I’m a little nervous, but not as nervous as when we drove thru that tornado in Arkansas a while back. Now THAT was some scary shit. . .
Anyway… round two of this winter tour supporting our friends in Badfish / Scotty Don’t. Cain’s Ballroom was huge – 800 people! – and our second time on that big stage where so many country legends’ portraits hang off the rafters like championship pennants in an old basketball gymnasium. It’s one of the most gratifying things at a big show when the staff clearly has a great time and rocks out to our set as much as the fans… especially because I know they see so many bands night after night. But we’ve been to Cain’s a few times now and some of them knew we were coming and it was great to see all the gigantic lineman-sized bouncers bobbing their heads and getting CD’s after the show. We also debuted the Merch Wheel of Fortune that my dad thought of (to expand on the Merch Pong) and Smell’s dad built. It’s awesome and it’s a good money / interest generator. I think we’ve finally figured out the balance between how to make SURE that tons of new fans leave with merch (and cd’s in particular) without giving them away and not losing money on the deal. If someone wins a CD playing merch pong for $1, well at least we covered the cost of making it and they’re hopefully going to be hooked for more. I hate the idea of giving out cd’s… when something is free it just doesn’t have the same value, ya know? Anyway… our merch table is turning into a carnival. Somehow that seems to fit.
My back and hip problem still plague me but not nearly so bad, frustrated that it’s still an issue but luckily Hoagman knows some of the chiropractic tricks that keep it in line now thanks to my friend and PT Tom H back in Austin. He signed the inside of the Whale and wrote “I Got Your Back –Tom.” Love that! The rest of the band has some minor aches and pains too. Twink has the sniffles and is chugging Emergen-C (which is kind of a tour ritual I feel like). Hoagman is being careful with a scratchy throat (so much talking at loud clubs). My pinkies are back to normal size, but still kinda splitting with all this cold weather. WAY better than it used to be. Smellman is feeling great (I think). Sadly, that’s our entire crew for this run! we’re all missing Conman, Sambino, Chito, Cakeman, Mooger, Pukey, Beaux, and all the other cool friends who have rolled with us on tour. We did have a fun visit from our cousin T-Unit who goes to college in Boulder CO and drove to Lawrence KS last night to rage with us. Middle of the set a huge pit broke out during “Trumpets” and who is right in the middle? T-Unit. Love that guy. He was wearing the first EVERY Full Service shirt in existence. It’s a custom job. Old school Texaco “F” logo on the back. Nice.
Oh good, the windshield is freezing over. Not nice.
It’s going to be a heavy duty spring for us on the road, mostly touring with Badfish which is so fun for many reasons, but mostly just because of how our two bands engage is such friendly and fun games of one-up-manship every night. Throwing little licks from each other’s songs into solos, big group jams, soccer matches, etc etc etc. fuckin love fest. Pat has been texting Hoag sweet nothings at 5:30am. I’m thinking about offering to switch with him so that I can ride on the bus and he can share a hotel bed with hoag every night. I live in fear of his “safety” call every night. . .
The performances have been better and better each night, but it will take me a while to recover fully from what I think was perhaps my WORST screw up on a song of my career last night. We were playing “Multitudes” which has a really hard to play but cool bridge part (instrumental). The crowd was really hyped up at this point in the set and loud and rowdy and right up in my face. So I ran over to the left side of the stage and got down for the big bridge. Totally in the zone, eyes closed. Now Twink (he’s on that side) doesn’t like to have much in his monitor speaker except bass, so I can’t really hear myself when I’m over there playing. So I just assumed… and we all know where that gets us. Not until the final note of the bridge, which I hit with particular conviction, did I realize that I had just played the ENTIRE section a half step out of key. In other words, it sounded as bad as possible. I was mortified. Fans were confused. I feel like circuit breakers in the venue might have been blown. Boy that was a tough one. Next time I think I’ll at least CHECK to see where I’m at, right?
Sloooooooooow going on these snowy roads in the Midwest. The road long, the Whale strong. Twink is drive… ain’t nothing going wrong!
February 8, 2010
This was maybe the most fun i've ever had on stage or at a show. Hopefully crowds stay big and surf stays up!
January 28, 2010
Whale riding 5 deep with our friend Marko from Baton Rouge and plus Hoag and Smell and Twinkles, currently driving over the vast marshlands between new Orleans (last night) and baton rouge (tonight) at the beginning of the first leg of this tour. So far, couldn’t be better. We hadn’t been to new Orleans before (except for me in 10th grade with my high school jazz quartet) and the weather was perfect. Soccer at a park on the water then a guided tour thru the French quarter by Marko (paying a special visit to Pirate Alley, of course). Reunited with our mates in Scotty Don’t / Badfish and from then on generally shook walls and tried to see who rocked the hardest. We implemented a new game at the merch table called “Merch Pong” which is essentially beer pong, except that fans who play can win our cd or a kazoo or t-shirt. Really brought more people to the table, was huge fun, and we made extra $$ and more people got CD’s… so win all around. Best part of the show for me was that I played it all full-out and felt great physically afterwards…. That injury is finally licked. We also debuted a new song – “Greetings From Beyond” – in which Hoag and I switch instruments for the last chorus and I get to smash away at the kit. Was barely holding on like Sly Stallone in “Cliffhanger,” but we pulled it off. Hoag had the lyrics written in permanent marker on his snare head.
The mood in the van at the moment is very quiet… I think because it’s 11am and nobody except me has eaten breakfast (I bring my own and just got some milk from the hotel). That’s a bad combo when you have a tanker sized stomachs like Hoagman has. And we’re in the middle of a 24 mile long bridge. Yikes.
We had a long stretch there without any shows that produced a lot of new material (“Hallways,” “Greetings From Beyond,” “Time’s Infinite” and a bunch buy Hoagman, plus more that are only partially done). I also got a chance to heal up my body and get back in shape, re-planting four new gardens… raised this time. The most popular on is the Beer Garden that is the one right by the front curb. Hoag, if you don’t’ already know, is a super beer ‘snob’ and enjoys a high quality brew or two every night at “beer thirty” (5:30pm). I don’t drink beer, but I’ve been collecting his bottles and made a big square garden edge with all of them. People honk and wave when they ride by, it’s incredible. My neighborhood must love beer. Anyway, there’s some nice lookin broccoli sprouting in there now!
In other news… my guitar teaching side-job is also in a really great place. I’ve had the same core slate of students for a while, a mixed bag of a bunch of 11-year old kids, high school peeps, and some adults who come by the HQ to rock. My one student Kyle / Trevor have a band called Apostrophe (at Westwood High) that is starting to play gigs and we might be recording some of their music soon. They have a song called “Ostrich Attack” that is balls out killer. Another student / friend Zeke has been doing bass for a long time and now doing guitar. We had a long jam in the jam room with hoag on drums and Zeke busting out solos for the first time. He totally crossed over into being a guitar player at that moment. Good stuff. The other great thing about guitar lessons is that I end up writing a LOT of our new music while in the lessons. It’s really helpful to write simple riffs and chord progressions – that are still cool and interesting – that intermediate or beginner guitarists can play. Something out it just brings out great riffs. Greetings from Beyond, the newest tune, as well as Coconuts are the best examples of songs that came from lessons. I’m thinking of making an album called “Songs I Wrote Giving Guitar Lessons.”
A’ight… got other work to do. Peace!
BS
December 6 , 2009
I tell ya what, this Gibson sponsorship just keeps getting better and better! Right before our show on Friday my friend Codey up there asked if I liked the Flying-V. my answer.... YES! So here's my newest ax, which i busted out on "Black is Back" at Stubb's in Austin in Friday. More pics (in action) coming soon!
November 29 , 2009
I've been writing plenty of wierdo and not so wierdo noodlings recently. Here are two that will probably end up being songs. The second one is a quick ditty i wrote while sitting outside with my chickens! The first one i might play this friday at Stubb's while Hoag reads some verse from The Oddyssey leading into "Hi Ho."
November 23 , 2009
November toursaw is in the books! I almost can’t believe how much stuff was crammed into one month. Got to see two World Series game, saw my favorite band (Mastodon) live in Philly, also had front row seats to Metallica at the Madison Square Garden (thanks to my man Mike in NYC), hung with lots of our old high school buddies at Hoag’s 10-Year High School reunion (oh and we also rocked a show at that, which was a trip), had a perfect fall afternoon with my nieces and nephew in CT on our way home from some shows up there, 5 or 6 days recording in the studio with Gtori at the same place where we recorded “The Earth,” a great hike and visit in CT with old friends from my teaching days, two beach runs by the ocean in Myrtle Beach…. and that’s not even counting the band adventures! Top two shows for me on this tour were Northampton (mostly because of the extreme awesomeness of the FanSaw Street team up there that came out in FORCE and filled up the club on only our second trip there) and then the last show at the House of Blues Myrtle Beach with Badfish. Not just because the crowd was huge and receptive, but because jamming with Pat, Scott, Joel and Colby is just so damn fun.
Some other highlights:
- Seeing Carey and Ben Baldwin again after so many years in Providence. Carey is going to be a famous fashion designer in the not too distant future, mark my words.
- Brioni’s coffee at Whitman’s house.
- Barn Basketball at the Rose’s house. It was my first basketball since coming back from injury. The Whit brothers are FORCES under the hoop, and we took it to Hoag, Smell and Rose for an overtime win.
- The return of Toursaw Soccer! We had epic 2 on 2 games at Wentz Park here in Philly (Red Team Twink and Bonesaw won 1 game, lost two) and especially the 2 on 2 game we played with Joel at UNC in the POURING rain. Team Hanks / Bonesaw pulled that one out to the extreme dismay of Hoag / Smell.
- Hoagman has finally become a respectable ping-pong player and took it to me a few times in the basement here, though pong remains one of the few contests that I usually dominate him in. basically I have baseball, distance running and ping pong. He has soccer and street hockey. The rest is a toss up.
- We got to the Northampton show early and had a lot of time to run in the woods around Smith College (Hoag and I ran in there and got a little freaked when it turned dark quicker than expected and we were left dodging rocks and roots blindly) and to chill at a local coffee shop where miraculously the barrista was a girl who until last month had been working at Garden District Coffee shop (my hang spot of choice at home) in Austin. how weird is THAT?
- A fan named Angel came all the way from Charlotte to our show in Myrtle Beach. She had first seen us on the Takeover Tour! Hoag noticed her singing all the words front row and was like “huh?!” and later found out the story. AND it was her birthday. That was way cool.
- Joel’s (from badfish) 8 year-old daughter came out on stage in front of 500 people and got a little mic in between Hoag and Smell and, armed with her FS Kazoo, rocked OUT on “Trumpets!” She’s amazing!
- For the last song of the tour and the show at Myrtle Beach, all four of us came out for “Pawn Shop” during the Badfish set and had a big ol’ jam. The perfect way to end the tour….
Tour lowlight was DEFINITELY taking a fall off the front of the stage in Chapel Hill during the break of “Trumpets.” I swear that speaker sub was stable the first time I stepped out onto it, but I think I was a little dizzy from spinning around already and went right off the front, sprained my knee and re-injured my back / abs. DAMN! Seems to be healing OK though. . . another one was Club Hell in Providence not having any working toilets, and also that they had us play early so some of our devoted Providence fansaws missed the show. I’ve vowed never to play a club where they bathrooms suck ever again!
anyway, that’s the scoop on Monday late morning. . .
November 13 , 2009
It's not every day that you walk downstairs and are asked "Hey Bonesaw, wanna see your highlight reel?" Um, that's an easy answer!
The idea for this video was our friend Shawn V's - after hearing about my budding relationship wtih Gibson Guitars (they're officially sponsoring the band, and this 2009 LP Traditional you see in this video was their gift to me), he thought that I hadn't done enough to get the word out about it. So he proposed this video: "What Do I Do With MY Gibson?!"
October 26 , 2009
So it was a hip injury all along, and it looks like I’m almost back to my old self again! WOOO HOOOO! Or perhaps I should say that I am now able to build myself back up again so I can move and play like pre-2009. it’s annoying how our biggest shows ever have all happened this year and I haven’t been able to properly perform because of this ab / hip injury, but it seems I’m almost thru. Maybe 2010 will be even bigger and it’ll all be worth it.
In fact, it does look like 2010 will be enormous. Nothing confirmed yet, but it looks like a 7-week national tour is in the works for mid-january thru February that will not only help save the planet but blow up FS. It’s all based on a much older blog post I made here about trying to get these big venues we’re playing these days to recycle the ocean of bottles and cans that are thrown away every night. We’ll call it “Recycle This Tour” and I’ll have a lot more info to release on it soon… stay tuned.
My brother Hoagman had a wonderful dog named Nessie who died while we were making “The Earth Still Wants You.” None of us in FS have really recovered fully, but recently Hoag discovered some footage of her while working on the Takeover Tour movie. Here is the clip he made.
In other news, I got this email from a fansaw in Chicago who has been doing some street teaming for us. It’s basically the best piece of fanmail ever. Now THAT’S what it means to be a fansaw! Free tickets to all future shows for this guy:
What's up Tim? Its Guitar Center Will from the House of Blues Chicago. I just got your package in the mail my friend... thank you so much. So, you'll be happy to know that Full Service is sweeping my college, my work, hell everybody I know loves you guys. I have burned so many CD's in the last month, I could barely touch the ones you sent out. I have a unique way of spreading Full Service, and it has only gotten me one ticket from a cop who said he likes the music but not the way I was playing it... I installed a PA speaker under the hood of my truck and hooked it up to my CB radio and I rock out to Full Service in the truck with it blaring outside as well as inside... man its rocking and so are the people with the privilege to hear it. I'll keep spreading the word, and I can't wait til y'all head back this way, I'll go outta state if I have to. Keep Rocking Guys, and I'll keep doing what I'm doing, this way you'll have a hell of a turnout just for you guys when you come back.
Peace out!
Guitar Center Will
Anyway, that’s it for me for now. Oh look, there’s a gum wrapper on the ground… let me pick that up… and it doesn’t hurt to do so! Haha.
BONESAW
September 20th, 2009
I have a limited time to write because our p.o.s. power converter in the Whale isn’t powerful enough to rock 2 computers and Hoag is working on the other laptop making tour videos. So I’ll try not to get all run-on with this one. . .
We’re burnin’ down I-44 west headed to Tulsa after a weird night in St. Louis and one of our best shows / trips to Chicago on Friday night. The House of Blues shows are by far our best, no matter what city it is. I’m always amazed at how much detail they pay to decoration and vibe at those places. EVERY wall and space is painted with murals, even the stairwells and bathrooms. Our backstage room was on the 6th floor and secluded in this corner. The bathroom was decorated with blue background and flowers and vines, but written over it was a million signatures of bands and people who had played there. lots of big bands and small bands. It was cool to see how many bands have come thru there, but then I also realized the sheer number of other dudes on tours who have used this little haven to sit for a bit, and that was kind of weird. But hey, there’s nothing like a clean bathroom when you’re on the road and in need of some privacy. Unlike last night in St. Louis where the ONLY buildings within 5 miles were strip clubs and the venue… which had two stalls and one was clogged. Nice. the less glamorous side of being in a touring band!
Anyway, enough of that talk. My day today started as I wish every one did – with the discovery of a beautiful state park honeycombed with secluded dirt trails. It was raining when I got up but not too hard and when I crossed the street I saw the sign for the park, which was actually a sculpture garden of sorts. Dense trees and really steep trails that wound around lots of feeder streams and a main creek. Hidden everywhere in the forest were these sometimes wacky (giant blue squares stacked on wheels) and sometimes natural (mounds of earth particularly arranged or a design cut into a giant tree trunk long since dead). It was really odd, but what a great find, and lucky. I wish I had has more time to explore, but we had to get moving for the 6 hour trip to Tulsa. We also had to sneak out of the hotel room carefully as they were on us really tight for having more than 2 adults in the room. I almost never lie, but when we’re on tour I lie every night when they ask me at the front desk how many adults. Just can’t part with that extra $15!
Hoag sneezed. Bless you, Hoagman.
We’re cooking up a really big stunt for our winter tour that we’re tentatively calling the “Recycle This Tour.” It comes from the idea I had a while back about how incredibly wasteful these big venues we’ve come to play at are when it comes to recycling. . . in other words, they don’t recycle. It looks like we will be a part of the Badfish winter tour that covers January and Feb and most of the country. Possibly the whole tour, but definitely some of them. This is when FS will set out to save the world… or at least recycled a bagillion pounds of glass an aluminum.
Here’s a word file of the original idea and the pitch to some of the potential helpers. What do y’all think? any ideas / suggestions?
In unrelated news, my abdomen is still not healed. I long for my 2008 self.
We are going to record “Coconuts” soon and release it as a single.
I am reading “Lust for Life” which is about Vincent Van Gough. I know next to nothing about art, but I’m loving this book. I read a similar book by the same author about Michaelangelo that was one of my favorites. Chito and Twink are reading “Dirt” about Motley Crue, Smell is reading “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (though I thought he already read it) and Hoag is getting down on “The World Without Us.”
I thought I had a new canine running partner there on Thursday (see Hoag’s diary update), but it wasn’t meant to be. Still lookin’. . .
Battery life is running low so I must go!
September 5th, 2009
I’ve realized that most of my diary updates come out when we have these super long Whale rides on tour. Right now we’re at exit 810 in East Texas heading from a really killer show last night in Baton Rouge to a radio appearance on the Texas A&M station followed by a 3 hour show at night after the season opener football game at Zapato’s. the radio show is supposed to be at 3pm, but considering that’s in 2 hours and we’re 3 hours away, I think it’s gonna be more like 4pm!
Anyway, we only slept about 5 hour last night (3am – 8am) and I’m pretty much toast already. Hoping to take a little nap in the middle Whale bench and then a run after the radio show to pick myself up. Last football season I was able to sneak into the A&M football game when we played there, but I’m not sure I’ll have it in me this go around. What I’d REALLY like to do is play some soccer or some Frisbee or something, but this f’n abdominal injury just will not heal. Yes, I’ve been complaining about it for 8 months now! some day it will get better, I’m sure. . .
Last week was a great week for me as a guitarist because Gibson Guitars – makers of the best guitars in the world! – officially signed me onto their artist roster. Woo hooo! Until then I had been on a trial basis but they had been happy with how things had gone (and it didn’t hurt that my friend Stuart wanted to purchase a Gibson like the one I currently play) and they gave me the Les Paul 2009 Traditional that I had been playing since April on loan. The EXTRA cool thing is that now as part of the sponsorship I’ll be getting a lot of Gibson guitars that I can customize and sell as merchandise. So if some of our fans want to get a Les Paul or a Flying V or any model of Gibson, soon you’ll be able to get them thru me at a killer price! So before you buy another guitar… make sure to email me.
It was not the best summer at FS-HQ for me, I have to admit, particularly compared to last summer’s awesomeness with the Takeover Tour adventure and everything. Nothing too major, just a lot of little things that added up to kinda of a ‘blah’ few months. One of course was the fact that it was scorched-earth hot in Austin all summer. . . hottest summer on record. Something like 70 days and counting of over 100 degrees. And let me tell you that there is a BIG difference between 95 and 108 degrees. Eyes burn when you walk outside. It’s as bad as I imagine a North Dakota winter would be like. It meant extra early runs in the morning and absolutely NO activity during the day outside. And in that my injury continued to keep me on the sidelines, we haven’t played a rowdy game of inter-band sports all summer! I miss kicking Smell’s ass all over the soccer field. Ya hear that, Smell?
The band has some really big shows scattered thru the summer, but we intentionally took a lot of time off to earn some personal money and gear up for this big fall tour, and that always makes me feel kind antsy when we don’t play out a lot. I need to stay very busy and for the first time in years… I actually had time on my hands! Not that that was a bad thing at all, it was just an adjustment. I am so focused on pushing the band up and up and up that when we take breaks, I got a little nuts. I remember reading an interview with Slash where he talked about the come-down from being on tour. . . he turned to drugs; I ran a lot of miles, painted the rooms in the house, wrote some songs, and went night swimming a lot.
Learned a lot about myself this summer though, and still learning. A few weeks ago my then-girl ended our relationship that had been going on all year, and though now I realize that I had ignored a lot the warning signs that it might be coming, it took me a lot by surprise. It’s probably not appropriate to go into all the details, but I’m still kinda sad that it didn’t work out, even though in the end it turned out to be the wrong relationship for me (and her too, apparently! Haha). I got a lot of great advice and comments in passing from some friends and family. . .
“The best thing about my breakup was that I really found out who my true friends are” said one friend (who is only 16!)
“Whoever loves the least in a relationship, has the most power,” said another.
Those were two that stuck with me, simple as they are. I also remembered or re-learned that there really are two breaks when a relationship ends – the initial one, and the much harder one of cutting all the ties, losing the friendship, resisting the urge to call or return calls… in other words, letting it go. Sounds very simple and ‘no duh!” but most true things are really simple. One final odd side effect of all that was that my obsession with Mastodon finally broke… it had been like 3 solid years of listening to almost NOTHING else. Still love ‘em, but now I can at least listen to something else. . .
Anyhow, like I said, it was a weird summer for those reasons and others. However, in many many other ways it was fantastic! For the past 3 or 4 months we’ve been managed by our friend Joel, who also plays bass in Badfish and Scotty Don’t. It’s incredible how much of a boost and a help it is to have somebody busting his ass on our behalf… and getting results! Not long ago most of our shows were played to 40 – 50 people. Now a days it’s been anywhere from 400 (last night) to 4,000 (on tour with 311). That’s bananas!
Last weekend I took a run and happened upon a mama and baby deer drinking from the same spring that I was 3.5 miles deep into the greenbelt. It was super quiet, and they didn’t move even though I was like 5 feet from them. a great moment, and one shared by my friend Morgan yesterday, coincidentally, on his run back in Philly.
Of all the new songs, I’m most excited about “Already Had a Heart” or whatever we’re gonna call it. Wait til you hear it. . .
We witnessed a war take place in our van last night. About a year ago we made some really cool fans named S and K in Baton Rouge. Super cool girls (and very much Bo Ding as well!) who tagged up the inside of the Whale like all the cool fans do. They were like BFF and everything, drawing pictures next to their autographs and all that. THIS time around, S is nowhere to be found, and (I’m assuming because of some boy or something!) K declared that they are “NO LONGER friends!!!!!” So she did a little bit editing on S’s entries. The “sexy brunette from Baton Rouge” is now The “SLUTTY!!!! Brunette from baton rouge!” It only got worse from there, but I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
Fox should make a new show:
"Whale 90210"
July 17 , 2009
Well again I have been woefully silent on my little FS blog here. It’s not because we’ve been super busy on the road, or in the studio, or because of anything really except that it’s summertime and the days are long and my laptop gets really hot and it’s already 110 degrees in Austin and I’m distracted by the transformation of FS-HQ from a band house to a farmhouse / bandhouse (more on that later) and yada yada yada. I’m a wuss is all.
It’s been a weird summer having so few gigs and some people might be thinking that FS has lost it’s mojo, which is definitely not the case. There are sweeeeet new tunes coming out of the jam room, including one that I think could end up being my favorite song of all time. you can hear a snip of it in the video that hoag posted last week. Most of the songs and riffs I’ve been writing have been using that hybrid-picking technique that I stole from watching Brent Hinds of Mastodon where he picks with his pick and his fingers. It’s opened up a lot of doors to make single note riffs – on the higher three strings – instead of just classic-rock style riffs that are deeper and dirtier. Examples on “The Earth Still Wants You” would be the intro riff to “Rocketships,” the bridge on “Eyes Like Snow” and the main riff of “Everybody.” There’s a little song I wrote a few months ago called “hangover” (not like the drunk hangover, though) that is the best one yet, but only a few people have heard it. . .
Speaking of “Earth,” Hoagman texted me the other day with a little bit of “Trivia, Trivia, Trivia” at like 1:30am. It said:
Hoag: “Riddle me this: What is the last word on “The Earth?”
Bonesaw: “Best” (since he says “You’re the best!” at the end of the hidden track)
Hoag: “well, yea, but not counting the hidden track?”
Bonesaw: “no idea…”
Hoag: “It’s “God.” So the first and last words on the album are “Who?” and “God”
Hoag thought that was pretty cool. definitely cool. we’re not a religious band per se, but still cool.
I’m struggling to get over this abdominal injury that has kept me out of any sports, working out, rocking too hard… everything except running… for 7 months now. I’ve been in huge magnetic machines and had many doctors poking at me. finally seems like one guy has it figured out and I’ve been doing some physical therapy. Anybody every heard of the Multifidus muscle? I hadn’t either. Not sure why this back muscle is making my abs feel like they’re ripped open under the skin but it’s feeling better since I started doing all these rehab exercises! My goal is to be 100% for the august shows in Houston and Dallas so I can go jumping off speakers and stuff again. Here’s a picture of the multifidus muscle. Haha
The little break in shows has done some cool things for the camaraderie of the band. We haven’t played ANY sports together because of my injury, which sucks. I think Twink is very happy about that though as I think he started to chafe pretty bad at the insane intensity of the daily soccer game. I, however, miss the blood lust and venom that comes outta Hoag and Smell when they are trying to score on me and Twink. Body checks into the thorns on the fence, a little extra elbow to the neck going for a rebound. I think it makes for good jam-room nastiness as well and I’m all for that! Smell hasn’t been around nearly as much as he’s taken the opportunity to do a semester of summer school at ACC which is bad ass. he’s done now. ask him about trigonometry or music appreciation and I’m sure he can enlighten you! ask him how to spell “syrup” and I give him a 20% chance. haha. I love you Smelly! Hoagie is now obsessed with a little xylophone-style bells set that he has, so look for it on our next record and rough recording. He and I have been jamming more one on one just like in summers of old when we wrote all our first songs together back in like ’96 and ’97. ya know what, I’m gonna put some of them up here for you to listen to if you want to. that’d be fun. This is some OLD stuff, and instrumental. Here’s a music player with a few of the tracks on them:
The dude mowing the lawn at my parent’s house (I’m in Philly for a wedding) just plowed past me spraying me with a cloud of grass clipping. Dick! I love some cut grass smell, but not in my freakin face!
* I’m reading a kids book about dragons.
* My favorite baseball team is the Phillies
* I have a new running partner! He’s a super fast boxer, but he can’t catch me. I never knew running with a dog was so fun…
* Yesterday my mom called me “cheap to have as a son” as she bought me an $8 shirt. hmmm.
* Also yesterday I had my hair “done” by about eight 6 year-old girls from inner-city philly who were out at the camp my mom runs. They had sticky fingers from just eating ice cream. I asked them how they put those beads in their hair and all that and their response was that “You look like a GIRL” and “Do you wear that headband cause you a samurai?!” umm. No on both questions! and no luck on getting the beads in the hair. I wouldn’t have needed to get extensions, either!
I gotta go!
BONESAW
June 18 , 2009
With pretty much the entire summer off, it's finally time to start writing again. I've had plenty of stuff to write about, too. After a solo dip in the Springs under the lights last night, and with some green-tea and Jack Bauer Cat sitting on top of my amp in the jam room, I recorded what i got so far from this tune. The original idea came out on Monday, and i just riffed on it a little last night. . .
June 1 , 2009
I got this email from FS honorary member and multiple tour veteran Chito Bambino this morning. Easily the wierdest dream ever!
"Dudes!!!
Yo I had a crazy awesome dream last night or really early this morning involving the FS Crew and I had to email this to you guys bc it was so vivid.
So its the band, me, Sammer, and Moog. We are in Kansas City, MO and I had just joined up with you guys kinda like I had in Prov, RI. You guys had already played your Kansas City show, but we hang for the rest of the day in KC to check the Incubus show that was to play there that night. Apparently the venue said that if you guys wanted, the venue would be able to get you guys in for the Incubus show for free, as long as Incubus' people were cool with that. So we pull up in the Whale and we meet up w/ a security/venue liason guy at the show. He's this short Americano-Phillipino mix lookin guy and he's totally cool and said "Oh yeah, you guys played last night. Yall were badass. Yall are good to go, come on in." So we park the Whale and walk in to the show. If you remember the feeling of the 311 shows when we would get there to unload, thats what if felt like walkin into this venue (Incubus sound checking, us not wanting to make too much of a commotion type feeling).
So we're all in there and we decide to hang backstage somewhere on the side. We get escorted to our seats right before the show. Incubus comes on and starts to do their set. After a while we're bored and you guys think it a great idea to get dressed up in your Ninja Turtles costumes (Halloween '09) and mainly a Smell and Hoag idea. We ask the Phillipino lookin guy if that would be cool, and he's totally down with the idea thinkin it would be awesome. So we all venture back to the Whale and the four FS members come out in their green garb. You guys run up to the front row where the security guards stand right in front of the audience and start dancing all crazy and weird. Then one of the Incubus guys gets weirded out and stops the set and asks security to do something w/ these fools. Meanwhile, Moog, Sammer and I are hangin back in the crowd watching this all transpire, laughing our asses off. But when the Incubus dude stops the show and calls for security, Hoag calls out loud for help, yelling "Turtle Clan" and whistles three times. Sammer, Moog, and I run to help. Or if to seem like an itimidating presence.
Then gun shots ring out in the air from afar and the crowd starts to run in hysteria. More shots ring out and thugged out men in dark attire w/ bandanas over their face run about w/ AK-47's. Holy shit. We run over to where the Whale is parked and we take cover in the ditch near by. Some of us in the ditch, some under the whale. It is raining and this ditch begins to fill quickly. These guys w/ AK's are lookin for us and so is the local authorities. We realize the coast is kinda clear and we run back into the backstage area where it is even more chaos. Security guards are running about hollering back and forth to each other, screaming "What the F*c! is going on?!" Incubus is in a secure room w/ their family members and parents. The Phillipino grabs us as we turn a corner and takes us to this room where Incubus is. People are not happy with us and people are not happy w/ the Phillipino guy.
We are seated and questioned hardcore. There is a cooler in this room and I see a few people with Miller Lites in their hand. After all this chaos and tensioning of my nerves and ability to not shit my pants I ask if there are any more beers left. There are none left in the cooler but there are few out that are room temp. I take whatever I can get and so do a few of the rest of the guys...Hoag, Sammer, Smell, and even Moog take a Miller Lite. We are asked so what the hell were we thinking. Come to find out, there is a hostile Mexican Mafia threat in the city, Incubus had been weary about doing the show, and when four dudes in Turtle attire show up the band is alarmed. Then Hoag called for backup and let out those three whistles, that was the cue for Mexican Mafia footmen to ask for backup when confronted w/ opposition, thus the reign of terror that ensued. Luckily though, affter a while the dust settles and we are let go, FS still in full turtle garb. And apparently the Phillipino guy was a newbie on the staff and just loved FS music so much that he didnt even ask for clearance, he just let us in on his own accord. No one knew who the hell yall were or why you guys were there.---
So that was the crazy part of my dream. Totally intense and real it felt. but awesome. Forward this to Twink, Smell, Moog and Sammer."
-chito
May 23, 2009
This was funny.... the day after we did the 101X Morning Show, Shock Jock Jason "Dick" did a little riffing on how I am "deushy" because I introduce myself as "Bonesaw." Ha! Deb had my back though... Click below to stream it or right-click and 'save target as' to save it and listen later.
"Bonesaw is a D-bag" on 101X Morning Show 5-13-09
May 21, 2009
Wasn’t I just here? Exit 91 on I-35 N, about 30 miles from Oklahoma City? In fact, last time I WAS here it was last week on our way up to Tulsa for show #2 of the 311 / FS tour and we were heading straight into a WICKED patch of storms. All orange lightening and radio reports of baseball hail. It was dark, the Whale had a full belly of people, and I was instant messaging. We eventually turned around and booked it back to Ardmore, OK where we got a cheap hotel room (the concierge was in fact a storm chaser himself, and wished us good luck. . . “believe me, I’ll get you up if it hits us real hard!”). Anyway, we’re back on our way up the gut of the country having played at the Dallas House of Blues last night. Tulsa tonight and then a new city – Kansas City – tomorrow night before heading back home. I feel like I’ve been constantly on the move since the first week of April when we headed out to Baton Rouge on April 2, then hit it all the way up to Vermont to start the east coast tour, way back home to Austin for four days, Corpus Christi for a 3-day weekend of shows, and then a flood of visitors last week (including MomSaw and DadSaw, Connor and Sammer who are college seniors now but who once upon a time were my middle school students back in Hartford, Mooger the movie maker and Takeover Tour veteran and his sidekick Cakeman, also in from Philly). Back out on the road rolling 9 people deep for the 311 / FS tour, home for four days, then back out again on this run.
Phew.
The best month and a half of the band’s career without a doubt, more fun than I’ve ever had and the biggest and best shows I’ve ever played. Sharing the stage with some of my musical heroes, playing the venues I grew up going to to see the big concerts, etc etc etc it’s all been a big jump and feels good to be moving the direction we want to move. Right now, however, I’m missing a little bit of home. My garden (have been eating radishes grown in Alien Garden Patch that is right next to the Whale Garden in the front yard) is definitely on my mind. I mean, even when we were at home in Austin this month I had to sleep in Hoag’s room because either he was too scared to sleep in there (thinks there spiders in his room) or Mooger was sleeping in my room cause it has an AC unit (that I never use… doesn’t make any sense). Spent three nights in hotels in my own city! That’s how many guests we’ve had. I loved it, and I’m eager to have the other-side of my life back too for a bit.
Mooger and I had a fun time this tour and I love how our friendship has come back around again both with the Takeover Tour last year, the making of “The Earth Still Wants You” over winter break, the continuing movie project, and now this tour that he came on to finish his documentary. One of my favorite moments was after the run, when he stayed for a few extra days. I took him around to a few spots to get “B-roll footage” and on Tuesday morning we went over to St. Eds to get a shot of the skyline, then just sat under a MASSIVE oak tree in the shade and reflected a bit on this accelerating ride we’ve been taking. Homeboy works at a much different pace than me and we don’t always see eye to eye on things, but that’s also why we work well together, if that makes any sense. I hope the movie gets made and turns out great. “My dad always said we’d be friends forever” he said in a text message. Man that comment goes back to when we were like 8 years old or something. Good stuff. warm fuzzy.
We packed a little bit of everything into the day of the Austin Music Hall show last Tuesday. Definitely a day I’ll never forget. Starting with the early wake up run and getting everyone ready for the 101X Morning Show appearance at 8:30am. I don’t think Jason Dick liked us too much and to be honest I was smelling BAD when we got there, but Deb was cool, and what a huge hook up Chito Bambino made happen by getting us on there. The highlight of the day was when the whole Takeover Tour crew (minus Twink plus MomSaw, DadSaw, Abby, and Conor and Sammer) went to the Barton Springs Pool to cool out and relax before the big show. Perfect weather, cool dip. You shoulda seen DadSaw wearing Hoag’s swim trunks and a cut-up-t-shirt-headband. EXACTLY like Hoag (in about 40 years). Hilarious. Cakeman in the water: “wow, this water makes my skin feel so smooth. I feel like a baby!” haha.
At the show, I enjoyed the pre-show texts from some friends who came. It was really cold in the venue before our set so I escaped out the back door and ran for a while on the hike and bike trail that connects behind the Music Hall. Nobody knew I was out there, the sun was setting, and it was the perfect antidote to what was about to happen inside. Then I missed the first note of the first song “Rocketships” (meaning Hoag won the bet) and somehow survived the guitar cable getting unplugged during that song and the strap breaking during the second song. I love that our band is so loose that pretty much ANYTHING can go wrong and it won’t derail the rocking. I had the worst f’n stomach ache that night. I’m sure nobody noticed. Made me think of how it’s impossible to know what REALLY is going on in other people’s minds or lives, ya know?
I’ve been working on a new song called “Roots into Rocks” that nobody has heard yet really. During soundcheck at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield (the venue is a SUPER old, HUGE gymnasium style thing with no air conditioning) I played it alone and it sounded so huge and reverberating in that giant place. I wish I could have just recorded that and put it on the next album. The vibe was right.
I finally have a lot of new wrist flair. I like it.
Everybody comments on Hoag’s Nessie tattoo on his left shoulder. Last night I commented that the only thing that sucks about that is that then it always brings up Nessie and he’s gotta tell people about her. He said “I know, that’s cool.” I hadn’t thought of it that way, he really really fuckin loved and loves her.
MAN I’m tired… I gotta shake this before we get to the gig! Joel, Pat, Scott, Colby and Ben in Badfish challenged us to a game of Wiffle Ball before the gig (or did we challenge them? that’s probably how it went down, to be honest). We are going to crush them, obviously.
April 25, 2009
Chito Bambino in the drivers seat.
Smellman playing his little video game thing in shotgun.
Hoagman writing an update of his own in the back with Twinky P looking VERY uncomfortable with his skinny legs pretzeled up and his Adidas had pulled over his face.
Me in the middle seat, been returning emails… fansaw mails! Haha… for the last 3 hours straight. Yes, apparently we have more than 5 fans now that we’ve been riding our friends coattails on this tour.
Wooooooahh Chito! A’sdkagsldjkag making a sharp right turn getting onto I-84 East. Holy crap!
Funny that we’re on I-84 East, I once wrote a song named that when I lived in Hartford, which is exactly where we’re heading now. Our show in Wheaton got cancelled due to a scheduling conflict with the referees at the Wheaton v. Babson lacrosse game that was SUPPOSED to be today and was SUPPOSED to be the ‘stated’ reason for the big fiesta tonight, but now the game has been moved to tomorrow morning and that means no party. But alas, we’re jamming at Amherst College (my alma mater) tomorrow early afternoon so had to make the trip anyway. Feels suuuuuper long and not just because we got stuck at a weird little shopping center in some part of new jersey as I ate cereal for dinner by myself in the parking lot, Smell went on an 8-stop adventure looking for a microwave to heat his dinner, and the Hoag/Twink/Chito trifecta took advantage of $4.99 pizza night at Joey’s Jersey Pizza. Or whatever it was called. Only on toursaw, let me tell you.
Wanna see the cooooolest thing ever? My man Mike Walker who owns The Walker Project Surfboard company out in San Marcos, CA has been the one consistent and most solid FS sponsor since day ONE. Well, Mike and I finally got our heads together and made a Full Service surfboard all for me. well, actually, I did virtually nothing. My friend Joel Skotak designed the banner, and Walker did all the rest. How amazing is THIS shit?!?!
Who wants to go surfing?! I’ll have the board up at our merch table for the 311 tour coming up. come check it out. and check out The Walker Project and get yourself a board, too.
Anyway, many highlights of this tour I could talk about. Dream-come-true shows on the big stages like the Electric Factory in Philly. Frustration over my continued battle with this f’d up abdominal muscle tear that prevents me from rocking full out. MomSaw finally letting Smell and I make her a garden in the backyard. The EPIC ping pong matches between me and Joel from Scotty Don’t (I lost 2 outta 3 but the rubber match was bullshit. He forced me to play when I was just off stage, dehydrated, and unfocused. He went up 9-0 and I got it back to 17-17 once I had a chance to get some water in me, but couldn’t pull it out in the end). Chito scoring us an invitation to be on the 101X morning show in Austin on May 12th to promote “The Earth Still Wants You” and the show with 311 that night. the MASSIVE pothole Chito just ran over. Haha. so many late nights and lost voices talking and recruiting fans after the shows over loud music. . .
The interesting stuff to me personally is always the in-between stuff. seeing spring popping thru the snow in the tops of mountains in Vermont on our hike. The little song idea that pops into my head in Gabby’s photography room at my old high school after playing a lunch-concert in the student center. The chance to unleash a primal scream on stage and getting 1,000 screams back in reply. Mmm that’s’ fun stuff. Not so much losing in street hockey to Hoag twice. That sucked. But I’ve run in many new places, found some muddy paths and streams to run beside. The blue track at Bloomfield High in Hartford, CT. The “Betz Loop” at my parents’ house in Philly. Valley Green in Philly too. Running thru historic Providence and getting lost on the EXTREMELY hilly Rhode Island School of Design campus. So many nice runs. Seeing my older brother walk into the club in NYC Thursday night on his ONE DAY OFF from traveling around with the Yankees, that was huge. I wonder what he really thinks of his wacky brothers? Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, hit the spot more than the hot plate of eggs that my old friend Mackey cooked up for me on the balcony of his apartment in Providence, RI the morning after the biggest show we’ve ever played. 3 hours sleep, no hot food in days, a long run to find his place. . . thanks Mack!
Let’s do this show tomorrow afternoon, get the Whale in order, and head home. There’s a lot of catching up to do. . .
April 22, 2009
Look who is now endorsed by Gibson guitars! Meet "Joel," my new Les Paul (compliments of Gibson USA):
April 11, 2009
There are always SO many things I think of writing about and then they slip away before I get to the computer. Unfortunately it happens with song ideas too, though I’m a lot better at making sure those get documented. Speaking of which I’m workin on a sick new tune tentatively called “Alien Babe” that I’m pretty sure y’all are gonna be boppin’ to at an FS show in the near future. Gotta figure out what to do with the bridge and then get Hoagman to sprinkle some melody love onto it and it’s gold. Stay tuned.
In the van right now driving from Texas to Vermont. It’s too far.
We have a friendly competition with our boys in the Ugli Stick (Mobile, AL) about who are the bigger nerds. Generally, Hoag and I can ‘out-nerd’ just about anybody, but Birdman and Dale just won the prize forever with this email I just got from Dale the other day. Birdman, by the way, is the guest rapper on the new song “Hops” off “The Earth Still Wants You.” Here’s what Dale sent me:
You gentlemen have just been out nerded. Eric & I were discussing the plight & betrayal of Benedict Arnold & how odd it is the he is considered the ultimate traitor. I said that all the founding fathers were traitors to England & the Benedict was simply a two-time traitor. (Here come the nerdiness) I then joked that if he had switched sides 3 more times for a total of 5 he'd be a "penta-traitor" to which Eric replied "if he doubled that and stayed in doors while doing so he'd be an interior deca-traitor".
Wow. I admit defeat.
I apologize in advance and in hindsight to anyone who may have noticed that I haven’t been rocking as hard at recent shows. like an idiot I tore an abdominal muscle and for the past four months it has felt like somebody had cut a hole in my gut. Can’t seem to shake it, definitely the worst of the many injuries I’ve had. Broken collar bone, torn rotator cuff, partially torn Achilles (twice), plantar faciitis (twice), broken nose, broken rib, illiotibial band syndrome, fractured ocular bone, patella tendonitis (‘runner’s knee’), shin splints, broken finger, dislocated AC shoulder joint. . . that’s normal, right?! Anyway, let’s hope it goes away soon and the sports and heavy rockin can commence. Hoag is getting worried he’ll get a beer gut as his taste for fine brews has increased and our sports have decreased due to my injury. Good luck with that Hoag.
I am also now the proud owner of three hens in my new chicken coup! They’re named Martha, Mary Ellen, and Miriam and I’m bummed cause I’ll no doubt miss their first egg laying, but believe me I’ll post some pictures when they do!
However, they'renot even the most exciting and cool new members of the FS family… that title belongs to the new dog that Hoag and I adopted about a month ago. Cornflake!!! So far The Flake is an amazing running partner, super fun and excitable playmate, great sleeper, and COMPLETE house destroyer. When do they grow outta that? Here he is. . .
I feel like FS is on a razor edge these days. . . super fuckin close to taking the big leap into the ‘dream realized’ realm, but just as likely to stay in the struggling, dirt poor band-on-the-run side of things. Big opportunities like the 311 mini tour, all these dates with our friends in Badfish / Scotty Don’t, some radio stations starting to get on board (thanks Tulsa 104.5 the Edge!), and most importantly our fans telling their friends and really lighting a fire… this is all good stuff! I had hoped (perhaps pre-maturely) that we might be invited on a longer tour with 311 this summer and it appears that probably won’t happen. And the NYTimes said they wouldn’t run Hoag’s “Takeover Tour” article. And our local rock station – 101X – can’t seem to find the time to return my calls. But then again, our shows are more and more packed, people seem to be into the new album, and I’m super proud of what we’re doing. Have met some REALLY cool and dedicated fansaws over the past few months, peeps like Marco Polo, Rainwater, Hawkland, Broussard, and The Punnisher in Baton Rouge. Other peeps like Stephen K and Robert L in Houston and Austin and Tray in Dallas. Oooh Fernando in Dallas too. Naomi in Rhode Island and Rachel in Amarillo. People from ALL OVER the country have been hitting me up volunteering to pass out demos and spread the word virally. If I didn’t have to do all the booking and all the other stuff about running a band all the time and could just run with it with these kinda peeps, well that would be awesome. It’ll happen, it’s already happening.
Anyway, if anybody has figured out how to solve my problem / idea about recycling at bars and clubs in the last entry, please email me!
Finally, congrats to Shana and Nate on their wedding today. I WISH we could be there instead of in the van driving sooooooo long. And to Cornflake, the 3 M’s, jack bauer, pancho and the Alien... I miss y’all already!
~bonesaw
February 19, 2009
We’re heading down I-65 from Auburn to Mobile, AL right now and it’s about mid-day, just switched to Hoagman driving after my usual early morning shift. Smell and I are railing on Hoag for his very Hoag-ish and extremely annoying pre-driving ritual. It’s goes like this:
a) get everyone in the van, ready to go (he’s the last one in the Whale)
b) get in and search for his iphone and headphones (1 minute)
c) ask Smell for the bag of chips (20 seconds)
d) search for the hand sanitizer aka “tizer” and make everyone turn the Whale upside down looking for it (1 ½ minutes)
e) prepare his beverage (this time it was an apple vineagar concoction to stave off a cold, apparently) (1 minute)
f) do about 10 impressions of people, this time it was Josh from the “Stuff You Should Know Podcast.” This is about the time Smell and I start to get pissed. (1 minute)
g) start to pull the Whale out of the parking spot, only to stop mid-pullout and doodle on his iPhone to get whatever it is he wants to listen to. Ignore honking car trying to get by (1 minute)
h) begin driving out of the lot with drink in one hand and iPhone in the other, fumbling with his earbuds (driving with his knees).
i) Stop mid-way of pulling out of the gas station to re-adjust his ipod, take off his jacket, and ask “wait, which way are we going?” (45 seconds) j) Smell and I then completely lose our shit and lambast hoag with insults while he takes a wrong turn headed the opposite direction, still doing “Hey and Welcome to the Podcast, I’m Josh Clarke…” impressions.
This is exactly what transpired not five minutes ago, but it could be any day on any tour. We're talking like 8 minutes or somethign there. Ugh, Hoag…
Anyway, there are always scattered thoughts (interesting to me, at least) that pop up on these long trips or at the shows or wherever on TourSaws. Here are some of the recent musing….
Podcasts have literally revolutionized our driving experience, and for this we all owe A.R.G. a huge debt of gratitude (though the side effect of the endless Hoag impressions is almost enough to negate the positives).
There’s nothing more lame, in my opinion, than when bands ask their fans to vote for them to win some bullshit contest that would lead to… absolutely nothing. There are no shortcuts.
I have a feeling that Twink harbors some serious un-aired gripes against me. this could stem from the fact that he thinks I’m always ripping on him for cheating the system and never deviating from his tour “uniform” on stage or by day. I’m conflicted because a) I am definitely a judgmental ass and b) I’m also right!
I’m thinking that a good way I can start affecting a small but significant environment change is to somehow start a campaign to get bars and clubs to recycle all those f’n beer bottles that get thrown out every night. when you look at those giant trash cans at 3am after gigs, you can’t help noticing that 90% of what is in there is recyclable glass, and 100% of it is going to the trash. Hmmmm. I gotta think on this one a little more, but I think maybe starting on the local level in Austin is a good place to begin. Not sure how to make it all work, though.
I think I may be ready for some Trouble with a capital “T.”
My favorite track on the new album so far is “Laundry on the Line.” Bill (the guy who mastered the album) says we’re stinkin’ hippies dancing in a field of daisies for writing a song like that, but that he can’t help loving it. favorite one to play, though, is Multitudes.
Speaking of the song “Multitudes,” the name for the track (and the song, for me at least) is inspired by a sample on a Public Enemy song called “Show ‘em What You Got” off of the “It Takes a Nation of Millions” album. The quote is “Freedom is a road seldom traveled by the multitudes. . . “
Those dudes in Scotty Don’t we toured with a little bit last month, and more in April, are the hardest workin dudes in this game I’ve yet met. I’m both jealous of their opportunities and in awe of their work ethic. Go get it guys.
We voted the other day in the Whale on a long trip and determined that Ashsaw is both our oldest and most dedicated fan. Way to go AshSaw… you even got Smell to call you for that, and he won’t even call me. in fact, I’m surprised he knows how to use a phone, to be honest.
Finally, if you’re in Austin, come to our pre-party at FS-HQ before the CD Release show this Saturday night (Feb 28th, 2009). Holla if you don’t know where it is. . . bone@fullservicemusic.com. Peace!
BONESAW!
January 28, 2009
Hoagman thinks it's funny that I have an allegy to wheat. funny guy, that hoagman. . .
December 18, 2008
It's 10:20PM east coast time and hoag, twink, Morgan (producer / engineer) and I have been in the studio since 10am with a few breaks here and there. Yea suckas, that's' over a 12 hour day. the process started with consecutive 16+ hour driving days in the Whale (Austin to Nashville and Nashville to Philadelphia) on Sat and Sunday. My GOD that's a long time to be locked in a tiny box for a fidgety guy like me. Arriving at HomeSaw we were put to work straight away at 10am the next morning raking leaves until the sun went down for MomSaw and DadSaw. . . gotta earn our keep. . . and we're all three still sore in random places like that space between your thumb and pointer finger where the rake goes. Ouch.
But to the studio! In two days we've cut every track off the new album (basic tracks: drums, guitar 1, vocals) as well as a bunch of extra cuts. Battleship, Oh Kill Me, The Pieta, Raven King, Cuba, You'll Pay. . . there's never any shortage of material and some of you hardcore FanSaws might recognize those titles. Possible remixes of those old tunes could turn out on the album, ya never know. Right now we're going over bass parts with a close ear and it's a lot of "punch in here?" "Wait is this the third time or fourth time?" "One more time, I promise" and stuff like that. Oh, and Hoag throws in a "that'll be UBER tight" ever once in a while.
The more exciting news is that it snowed yesterday and when we were leaving the studio Twink almost crapped his pants with excitement. Dude has only seen snow in Europe when he was about six years old. I've never seen the guy so excited to be pelted with a bunch of snow balls hurled by rocket armed Kepner brothers. We even built a snowman which Twink named Thug Rufficus. It's his new best friend and source of inspiration.
Anyway, that's the quick update on the new album. Remember that we're releasing the live album – Public Service Announcement – THIS SATURDAY as a pay-what-you-wish donate-to-download fundraiser for our upcoming tour season. Check it!
More soon –
BONES
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July 30, 2008
Thirty-seven minutes until the Baton Rouge takeover and I’m in the Red Roof Inn.
Now it’s twenty-six minutes until the baton Rouge takeover and I’m still at the Red Roof Inn but have written nothing because first Chito came in and asked about the keys. Then Hoagie started asking what time the after-show we are playing starts, and then Morgan (film guy) inquired about what my plan is for location of the takeover tonight. And that’s just how it goes on tour with seven other guys crammed into one 12-passenger van and/or two hotel rooms. Many interruptions and not much privacy. But ya know what, surprisingly I haven’t minded at all. I’m used to rolling with my band mates only and maybe one other guy (TourSaw veterans include SamBeaux and Lopedizzle with brief stints from Whit and Judge and Pont and a few others) but this has been a whole different story. As the one who pretty much in charge of everything from making sure that we . have bread, cereal, peanut butter, milk and all other foodstuffs to booking the hotels and getting the oil changed, it’s been pretty exhausting. It’s also hands down been my favorite tour of all time so far.
For one, there are the new personalities on this ride. There’s Frankie “Chito Bambino” Ruiz and Steven “Pukey” Hernandez who are best friends and roommates and now part of the FS crew for life. Both fresh out of college at UT, they’re at that awesome moment in life where freedom and opportunity and possibility are at their maximum. For them I know that this 3+ week trip is just the first of hopefully many post-college adventures and I’m glad they decided to see the country while road-tripping with us. My favorite moment by far on tour so far happened in Charlotte, NC towards the end of our takeover. As the sun was setting, I noticed Chito hatching a plan out in the crowd. He rushed over to the Whale, grabbed the home-made “YOU CAN’T STOP THE TAKEOVER” flag Hoagman made, clambered up to the roof of the Whale, and triumphantly waved the flag back and forth in huge, long swoops for everyone to see. To me, there has been no greater symbol for what the TAKEOVER TOUR has been like than that. I wish I had had a camera. Pukey is on the ‘blue’ team with Hoag and Smell PLUS he’s a Dallas Cowboys fan (the obnoxious kind), he doesn’t like to run, and he doesn’t like to swim and yet somehow we have become awesome friends. Ha! He’s got a radar-like ability to spot the Bo Ding in the crowd and the balls to go get their email addresses. His skills are undeniable. Bottom line, this tour wouldn’t be successful or even a smart idea if those two weren’t here doing all the leg work and collecting all the fans.
Morgan – perhaps my oldest friend in the world from back in pre kindergarten – has also been riding with us on this tour, making his movie about the road trip and the run-up to super rock stardom (we hope, anyway). Despite living in philadelphia, he’s been increasingly involved in the FS crew, mixing a few songs on our recent albums and recording an as-yet-unreleased acoustic album. We drifted apart during our college years but what a trip it’s been getting so closely acquainted again. He had his ‘wild’ years in the end of high school and in college whereas one might say that these are my version of the ‘wild years.’ It’s funny to be hanging with him as a true adult and it makes me reflect on the fact that I’m right in the middle of adulthood too. I’m so used to being around my band mates who are mostly quite a bit younger than me and so on this tour there has been the natural gravitation along age lines. Huge props to him for totally breaking out of his comfort zone and going on this road trip – I think he mentions how much he misses his wife and also her cooking about every ten minutes. It’s also been funny to see him struggle through the challenges of low-budget touring, particularly since he’s one picky dude! But just wait until you see his movie. . .
And we can't forget Brett, Morgan's side-kick former film student who hesitated about 2 seconds when Morgan invited him to come on this trip to shoot footage. he's just that kinda guy. Tweny-one years old with crazy dreadlocks and Nike hi-tops that put mine to shame. He eats bread-on-bread sandwiches and hates veggies. He tagged along with me on a morning run and despite not having run for months, kept up and busted it out. He also bartered with Hoagman for a switch in sleeping partners: a 6-pack of beer for Hoag to sleep with Morgan and Bret to sleep with me. he punched me in his sleep all night that first night but we worked it out afterwards. rumor is he's getting a FS tattoo when we get to Austin. that is bad ass.
Otherwise, it’s a fun, somewhat odd time to be me. I’ve been living outside of my comfort zone to the MAX on this tour as well, talking to and meeting so many people, intentionally putting myself on the somewhat wrong side of the law, dealing with police on a daily basis, and trying to stay healthy on the road. Smelly and I have had some trouble relating well on this tour but I think we worked it out after the takeover last night, just a result of the proximity and length of this tour I think. Hoagman is a freakin’ rock on the road these days, and Twink too. I’ve got a feeling that after this trip ends in a few days, there will be a similar let-down as after I ran the last marathon. Ya train so much for it, think about it and plan it and DO it and then it’s a success, it’s done, and inevitably it’s on to the next project that’ll hopefully be bigger and better. But for a while at least, I know I’ll be missing the TAKEOVER TOUR 2008.
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July 8, 2008
I'm on the plane heading to Philadelphia for the start of the TAKEOVER TOUR. Though you may be thinking “holy crap, FS is so huge now that they fly to gig!” unfortunately that is not the truth. I’m just going up a bit early to visit with the parents and some friends in ‘illadelph before the tour begins in NYC on Saturday. I’m more than a little wary of leaving all the packing and driving to those other hooligans in the band, including our friends Pukey and Frankle Dankle D (aka the Scorpion of Love). Will they leave all the demos at home? Will Hoag run the Whale outta gas again? Will Smellman show up for the departure?! All fair questions. . .
Anyhow, every time I get set to write an update I’m distracted by a game of soccer, an unexpected guest, or general fatigue and spending so much time at my laptop emailing media types trying to get them to write about FS and the TAKEOVER. So i have a whole bunch of random things on my mind, in no particular order.
Strange things have been happening on my runs recently, two in particular. Yesterday I was cruising through a wooded trail when a real live armadillo darted out right in front of me, slowed to my pace, and trotted along just next to my right foot for at least 40 yards. Now, I’m a Philly boy by birth and have never seen a live armadillo before, so it was quite shocking, though for some reason he seemed totally oblivious to me as any kind of danger (and I felt the same about him). It was also depressing to realize that even as I pride myself as being a pretty swift runner, this little armor-plated dude with the surprisingly hairy legs was effortlessly breezing along with me. amazing. If ‘dillos are so fast, why are they always getting whalloped on the highway? Anyway, he casually looked up at me finally and, as if realizing the oddness of our little workout partnership, promptly leapt off the trail and into the undergrowth. Crazy.
The morning run before that featured a much less enjoyable experience, though equally perplexing. Just about six minutes into the run I’m cruising through one of the neighborhoods near my house with THE BRONX playing in my headphones when I hear somebody yelling behind me. It’s 7am, mind you. I turn around while still running forward to find a dude, probably in his late 20’s, bent over mooning me HARDCORE, then turning around and flashing double middle fingers and cackling like the freakin’ Joker. It was maniacal! The encounter begs so many questions, I don’t even know where to begin, but seeing some dude’s white ass and balls is not a way I EVER want to start my day or run ever again. South Austin is loco. . .
Anyhow, on to other thing. Many of y’all have already heard that though the prospect of making this FULL SERVICE TAKEOVER TOUR MOVIE seemed extremely bleak as I struggled to raise $25k to make it happen, somehow good fortune found me and the crew in the form of my OLD buddy from Philly named Morgan aka Gtori aka Professor Anderson. A professor of audio and video engineering and an uber-talented music and film maker to boot, he has mixed some of our best FS recordings (the entire “Good Question” EP, as well as “Aimee in Arizona” “Legs” and “Alpine” from our “Recess” album). With all of the access to the equipment we would need to make the film, the creative flair to make an amazing documentary, and the balls to jump in the Whale with the band for three weeks, my boy Morgan is on BOARD. He flew down to Austin last weekend to document the Flamingo Cantina show, conduct in-depth interview with each band member, and catch some ‘around Austin’ footage. Our TX heat was his enemy all weekend (well, that and the thought of running into a cockroach - you southerners can’t quite appreciate the fear those little cocks instill in us cold-weather and cockroach-less yankees), but it was a great start to the filming project. Our friend and music-producer CCGrady conducted the band interviews and really knew how to push our buttons. Apparently Smellman said some pretty deep stuff, prompting Grady to celebrate his answers as ‘best,’ which of course was immediately refuted by Hoagman. (silly Grady – everybody knows that Hoagman is the best at EVERYTHING. . . at least according to him!).
Working title of the movie: “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Platinum!”
Hoagie came up with the title. Whenever something happens or becomes clear as a reason Full Service hasn’t broke big yet, we’ll make special note in the film. For example:
“We’re not big because Hoagman’s drum gear breaks in the middle of ever set”
or
“We’re not platinum because all the close-minded labels think we need a frontman.”
Or
“Full Service isn’t huge yet because we don’t wear skinny ties and tight Euro jeans and play dance pop.”
You get the idea. Feel free to submit your own reasons Full Service ain’t platinum by emailing me and I’ll start a little thread on the website. See, if I was smart I would just put a comment or message board right here into this blog where you can add the comment instantly, but I’m sucky at writing HTML. So I have another one to add:
“Full Service isn’t platinum because Bonesaw sucks at HTML.”
Now ya get the idea.
More soon. . .
BONESAW
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May 19 , 2008
I need to raise $25,000.
By July 1st.
That’s only something like 41 days.
Crap!
Ya see, we’ve got this whole ‘TAKEOVER TOUR” thing planned for all of July. Not sure what I mean? Well bump over to the “shows” page after you read this and check it out. But anyway, we’re doing this crazy tour and we have two great friends – Frankle Dankle D and Lil’ Pukey – coming with us to help. Its almost 4 weeks long and it’s guaranteed to be an adventure, a great story, a potential disaster, and a possible breakthrough for the band. We’ve toured before, but there’s never been such risk involved.
Anyway, we were kicking around ideas about how to best maximize the effectiveness of the tour and exposure for the band and somebody said, “why don’t we talk to Curtis (the film maker who also happened to produce our “Blueberry Farm” video) and see if he wants to make a MOVIE about the tour?!” Obviously that’s an awesome idea! Having a camera following our every move, every successful show, every awkward encounter with the cops, all of the surprised reactions from the new fans we’ll meet, and all the super late nights and then making it into a full length documentary movie. . . well who else has done THAT (without any label or manager or agent)? So we called up Curtis and, no surprise, he’s all about it because he’s just that bad ass. So we scheduled a business meeting at Maria’s Taco Express last weekend. He would crunch some numbers, make a plan, and we’d see if it was feasible.
Going into the meeting, I anticipated the biggest expense would be the need to rent and use a trailer, maybe $1,000. Boy was I wrong!
Curtis came super prepared and made his case. “It’s gotta be all shot in HD if we want to have it on the big screen,” was his first argument, “and we’ll need at least three cameras, so a crew of three, and a support vehicle.” Woah. So much for the trailer! Apparently HD tapes are more valuable than gold as Curtis mapped out his ‘low’ budget projections: $3,000 just for the tapes! Total estimated cost of making the movie? $25,000. yikes!
But the thing is, I can’t put the idea to rest, can’t quite close it outta my mind. There’s no QUESTION that the movie, should it be made, would be amazing. I don’t know what it will be, but I can guarantee that a great story is going to emerge outta this TAKEOVER TOUR and if the end goal is to advance the band’s popularity and reach, well I think releasing a freakin MOVIE would help that along. What if it got into some film festivals? Maybe the first time we ‘officially’ get into the SXSW festival it would be for the FILM festival? The possibilities are endless.
I just need to raise $25,000 in a month and a half.
Got any ideas?
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May 7, 2008
I got a really funny and insightful email from one fansaw / friend that i just had to post up here, in response to my entry yesterday. i thought it was hilarious!
"Hey Bonesaw,
I just read your “blog” on FSMUSIC.com (by the way I love that you are now calling it a blog rather than a diary, although it is a bit cuter as a diary, haha.) and it immediately made me think if this cool analogy. By the way this analogy pertains to your quandary with having too much material. Well, let me relate it to the wine business, wine making to be precise. When a winemaker wants to have the best bottling he possibly can he becomes very very choosy in which fruit he wants in his wine. We will have the fruit in wine be your “material.” He will grow plenty of grapes in his vineyard, but when it comes down to picking the grapes he wants to use in his wine, he will choose the best and either sell off or discard the rest. When it comes down to the final product, in your case an album or a performance, he will use only his best fruit. The rest he will discard and maybe make some less expensive bottlings or sell to other wineries (this might be a “b-sides” album for later or some stuff you post on the site for fansaw enjoyment). The point is this: he doesn’t worry that he has too much fruit, but he just takes the best stuff and makes his premier bottling. The rest he still puts to use either by selling off or making secondary bottlings. A ton of material is never a bad thing. You guys had a ton of material for the dig and you made a pretty sweet album although I would have definitely left the solo in Do it Again. Just keep putting it all together and writing albums. David Bowie has done like 40 albums and that dude rocks even if he is a bit of a fag. I don’t know if that analogy helped at all. I think the most creative times should be taken advantage of because you are guaranteed to have sometimes where you cant write a damn thing.
I want you to know that I have written this while sitting on the john. My left leg has fallen asleep. Peace!"
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May 6, 2008
Every time I sit down to write a new BONESAW diary entry I get distracted by something else. A show that need to be booked, a jam starting, friends coming by for a soccer game (not that I mind any of these things. . . of course). But I’ve had lots to update on and much of it has come and gone, unfortunately.
One thing that has been on my mind recently revolves around ‘access.’ More specifically, I wonder how much of FS our fans wanna see and hear. We make recordings every week of new songs, new ideas, jam room videos, silly stories, custom t-shirts Hoagman makes, takeover plans, etc etc etc and I often wonder how much y’all want to see and hear? And what is the best way to get it out to you? do fans mind if we put up a rough rough recording from the jam room (does the lower quality matter)? Should we just feature our studio recordings and professional videos and pictures? How much is too much? Hopefully there can never be enough! I guess y’all just gotta let me know what ya want to see. Lyrics from our albums? Jam room recordings? Email me and let me know.
Another big theme recently for me has been the problem of ‘too much material.’ It’s a frustrating situation. The band is on the way there, but hasn’t nearly achieved the size or reach or amount of exposure that I’m dreaming of. Because of that, so much of my time and energy and mind is focused on how to make that happen. Couple that with the insanely prolific volume of song writing that Hoagman and I do, and it creates quite a problem. SO MANY NEW SONGS! How will we ever get them out there? should I be focusing on writing and writing and writing more or on managing, promoting, booking, all that? It actually happens frequently where I don’t let myself go into the jam room to just riff and record because then I get overwhelmed with a bummed-out feeling or worry that it’ll never get recorded. Hoagman has the same problem, I know (though he’s a lot better about ignoring it and just writing and recording. He has some bad ASS new songs, by the way). Nevertheless, there is a lot of new material coming out, as well as songs that we wrote while doing THE DIG that haven’t been heard yet. Maybe we’ll just post them up here as is anyway. Hoagie made a fun little video yesterday from me just jamming.
There’s a girl at this coffee shop I’m typing in who has not stopped talking for at least 90 minutes. STRAIGHT. About nothing. It’s an amazing display.
I also wanted to call attention to a troubling development: two of our longest, most hardcore fans – AshSaw and MandySaw – who have been best friends for a LONG time, are in a rather large feud. I’m not sure why it is, but from messages from both of them, not even FS has been able to bring them to peace again. So I wanted to make a quick plea to them – the FS universe cannot be in harmony while y’all are in this battle. Make peace! Life is too fleeting, and rockin’ is too much fun. . .
I gotta go. A quick list before:
READING: “Rise to Rebellion” by Jeff Shaara (loving it)
WRITING: lots and lots of emails all day, reconnecting with old friends with written words.
(she’s still talking)
LISTENING: some local talent Three Fantastic and Paris Green, also Incubus “S.C.I.E.N.C.E” on loan from Twinky-P and as always, MASTODON.
PLAYING: workin on making any note – ANY note – sound good in context.
Love
BONESAW
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March 2, 2008
Ninety more miles to go to get home to Austin. It’s Sunday afternoon and my three mates and I have been cruising in this White Whale so much these past three weeks that there is a (seemingly) permanent ache in my left hip. It must have something to do with the way I sit here with the computer on my lap. We’ve all got that giddy anticipation now that we’re so close to home, ready to see our friends and pets and able to eat our favorite foods and all that. and though this has been our most challenging tour in many ways since our big west coast adventure in Jan of 2006, I already miss being out on the road. If you know me it’s not hard to see that I’ve always thrived on being part of a team, and when it’s just Hoagman, Smelly, Twink and I out on our own, there’s a great feeling of camaraderie and ‘us against the world’ that I love. Adventure abounds every day, while at the same time we’re faced with the most mundane challenges (where to get spoons at 3am so that we can have post-show cereal chow down). My favorite parts, I think, are the takeovers on college campuses where we all just roll up with posters, guitars, percussion, demos, and our banner and just see what happens. We get to meet SO many new people, and it’s really good for getting me out of my comfort zone. Luckily Hoagman and Smellman have no fear at all of talking to new people (last night they walked into a crowded restaurant and handed out flyers to people at every table, barely escaping a forced exit) cause they always push me.
One somewhat confusing and distressing development this tour was that Twink announced that he doesn’t enjoy playing sports with us and that he, more often than not, would rather hang out alone in the van or in the hotel room than do stuff with the rest of us three. It’s a complicated matter, and one that reveals a lot about Twinkman’s personality. We noticed that he really wasn’t participating in any of our activities – movies, sports games, etc – and finally we all had it out yesterday. He explained that he is just not used to or comfortable spending so much time with other people (esp. the same people) and has always been that way. In one way, it showed me how much he’s put himself out there by going against his nature these past three years in doing stuff with us all the time, but Smell and Hoag and I all feel a little bummed out about it. But it’s weird, before he met us he didn’t exercise, hadn’t played soccer since early high school, and we got him back into it. Now he’s on a local team and is all about soccer. But he said he won’t play with us anymore (he only enjoys playing against strangers). So yes, we’re all bummed, nobody more than me as now I have no teammate for our daily sporting matches and backyard soccer. So now I need a new teammate. Luckily, though, there ain’t no better teammate on stage and we remain as solid as can be on there.
In
other matters, it was cool to see fans (who are now friends) on this tour in all these different places. I really feel like we’ve got little pockets of people looking out for us, spreading the word, and most importantly just making us feel welcome whenever we’re out so far from home. Our man Alan Schwartz hooked us UP with a last minute show in Mobile, AL. that was the highlight. Mobile, AL in general is just bad ass.
The roof of the Whale is really the coolest thing to come out of all our tours. It’s probably been signed by 200 people by now, maybe more. Funny messages, phone numbers, pictures, stickers, all that.
I ran almost every morning on this tour and the best memory from all the runs was a shockingly colorful bluebird I saw in Goodwater, Alabama. Swooped right onto a branch in front of me. Unfortunately I was being chased by two akida dogs at the time (they don’t have electric fences in Alabama, apparently) so I only got a quick glimpse.
I was pretty down about our show in Gainesville, FL getting cancelled, but as we headed West instead of east to try to find a show in Mobile, AL to make it up, I got a call from a fan who found my number on our website. She was at UF in Gainesville and was even more bummed than me that it got cancelled. She had a roomful of people who were planning on coming and she even put me on speaker phone so I could explain to everyone. I was really sorry to disappoint them, but I felt a lot better after that call.
I really hope John Pont does a Full Service internship this summer as he’s planning.
I only slept on the floor one night this whole tour. I was freezing and uncomfortable.
Spending my birthday at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, even for only a few hours, was awesome. It’s nice to have a brother like Hoagman who will suggest we play a game even though I know he didn’t particularly want to play just because it was my birthday and he knows that nothing makes me happier than playing games. He also kicked my ass.
Playing a show where there are zero people in the crowd (except the bar staff) is incredibly humbling. It has only happened twice (Albuquerque, NM in 2006 and Atlanta on Feb 24th).
The Gluten Free Tour DietSaw:
Corn Flakes
Banana
Raisins
Almonds
Eggs
Milk
Peanut Butter
Apple
Lara bar
Tortilla Chips
Chocolate
Uncle Ben’s microwave-in-bag brown rice
Pre-cooked chicken
Hotel coffee
Two oranges
And a microwave-able Snapware container
Cover bands suck. We were on with a band in Alabama. We were playing first. When we met them they all had cool Irish accents and said that they were from Dublin and moved to the USA to do a band full time. I was really excited to hear them jam. Until the started their set and didn’t play one original tune the whole night. L-A-M-E.
Full Service rules.
weapons: guitars / vocals
birth: February 24, 36BC signature
moves: skull flag, 'high knees,' being the boss, the les paul, plays with no pedals.
FS superpower: packing the van
when not playing: running, sports, bike commuting, listening to Mastodon, landlord of FS-HQ, cirque de sporte.
Email: bone@fullservicemusic.com