More Gnus.

It's cold.
Why is it always so cold.
You spend all summer waiting for things to cool down and then you spend all "winter" craving the sunshine. I put the word winter into quotations marks simply because our winter here in Florida is the wussiest winter of them all. It's under 60 degrees here and I'm freezing to the bone. Meaningwhile, my parents in Ohio are combating minus 13 degree temperatures just hoping that the power or furnace don't give out. I'm so spoiled that I can complain about temperatures below 60.

On Friday we jetted up to Ocala, FL to play at a brand new venue called The Capitol. We'd only played at the K&K Concert Hall in that town before, so this was a nice change. We had a little trouble finding the place. Our GPS got us right where we needed to be, but since the building was unmarked we ended up just going circles around the place until the promoter Ben wandered out to the street to flag us down. No wonder we didn't see the place, it was actually located inside of a former Bank building. It was cool though to play inside of an old bank and seeing bands storing their gear inside of a huge vault. I was honestly too scared to go in them since I figured I would get stuck inside with my bad luck.

We got to open the show to a room packed full of kids. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We played through seven jams, only dropping in two songs from Sarcasm and instead focused on newer material which will hopefully be available sooner or later. After the set, our merch table was mobbed so we cleaned up as quickly as we could and went over to greet some new and old fans. Throughout the evening I ended up signing CD's, writstbands, drum sticks, napkins, and even our own shirts (which I still don't feel right defacing). Everyone was friendly and everytime I turned around there was someone waiting to have a quick chat.

Having shared a bunch of gear with the second band, Hey Nice Guy, it was quick changeover and they were up and rocking before too long. We hadn't seen the Hey Nice Guys in a few years so it was good to see them back. They played all new material which sounded great.
I spent a lot of time hanging out with them and Jimmie from A Denver Mile who played third. I didn't get to see their entire set since we were loading out as they played, but what I heard sounded great and I picked up their CD at some point.

Upper Class Trash was up after that but we were across the street at the Reno Grille which had food that we could barely afford. And not good food either.
We made it back just as the final band Glendale was setting up. That band actually had a bunch of members that we knew from other bands, as well as a fellow who actually took promotional photos for us at one point, so it was a little reunion all over the place. Glendale was really solid and had great energy. I grabbed one of their CDs as well to enjoy later.

After a long night, we headed back to Orlando. Big thanks to everyone who took home a shirt or a copy of our record. We hope to return to that venue again in the near future.

The rest of my weekend was spent being generally lazy and not watching the Superbowl. I'm really hoping to get another song finished in the next day or two and add yet another to the list of songs we're hoping to include on our next record.

Speaking of that blasted record... It looks at this point like we're going to begin Pre-Production sometime in mid-February and then begin tracking come March. Exciting. I talked to our Producer last night and everything still looks like a go at this time.

Here are a few CDs that I've been enjoying lately that I urge you to check out:

Dustin Kensrue - Please Come Home
I was never a Thrice fan, but I'm a huge fan of heart-on-your-sleeve Americana Rock N' Roll. That's just what this CD delivers - a very raw and stripped down romp through true feeling and emotion. JoAnna got me going on this CD by talking it up since she's the biggest Thrice fan....ever. After listening to some demos on MySpace, I knew that I'd give it a listen once it was out. So when I walked into the house one day and saw a copy of the record sitting on the kitchen counter, I knew I was in for an experience. I listened to almost the whole CD in one sitting and loved every second of it. If you dig Limbeck, you'll dig this guys style too.

Cobra Starship - When the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets
Ah yes.... the Starship. This record is just fun. I'm normally not into dancy rock that has more beats than lyrical meaning, but I'd enjoyed Midtown back in the day and was eager to see what Gabe Saporta had been cooking up since the bands demise. I like this dude a lot. Based on the things I'd read about this record, he approaches music very much like I do and knows how to write a fantastic hook. This record just blazes by with track after catchy track. It is over relatively quickly, but just keep it on repeat and enjoy your day. Lots of great guest stars and some uber-infectious tracks make this album one that's staying in regular rotation on the iPod lately. I am looking for good records with substance though, so if you know of any.... toss some names my way.

We have the next two weeks to rest up and tie up some loose ends, finish a couple songs if possible, and then it's SPRING MUSIC FEST!!

We'll see you there!