West Indian Girl

q and i went to the demand media party at the trendy roosevelt hotel last night. as far as grip n grins go it was a pretty cool event. the tropicana poolside bar is a pretty nice place to have drinks. .tv (dot tv) is the next big wave for social networking sites. i like to describe it as myspace meets youtube but better. we even met carson daly who, by the way, is going to have us play his show this fall….right carson?

west indian girl is one of the first bands to have a .tv page. this page will serve as our official video archive. we will be posting EVERY single piece of video concerning the band on this page. anything and everything from ping pong games at the studio to official videos will be posted here first.   so check out westindiangirl.tv now. sign up and be our friend.

 q and carson

normally a drive down the 110S at 3pm on a friday afternoon in los angeles is not a good idea. on this particular instance though it had to be done. you see my friend jade howe was having a little house warming party at his company’s new digs. i recruited my best friend sascha linn to make the trip with me for a few reasons. 1. hes got a nice benz and on a hot day like today this trip in my landcruiser wouldnt have been pleasant (read sticky). 2. hes into clothes and 3. we needed a good reason to catch up. the party at howe was perfect way to kick off my weekend – it was intimate, good drinks, good music, and we got a guided tour. the office space is dialed and the new lines look amazing. you can check them out here www.HauseofHowe.com below is some video from the party.

i owe a lot to this man…specifically the 3 pair of jeans that i have been wearing for the past couple years. it’s never a problem endorsing someone whose product you love and someone who’s always so cool. jade was actually the subject of one of my first 10 with ten interviews haha check it out. he was the first non band member to be interviewed. i have to do more of those this year. special thanx to elsie for making sure i was there. elsie you are the best!

lewscious outside spaceland 3.24

Fran’s Flashback
almost a year later and we’re back at spaceland playing to a sell out crowd. on the bill – roman numerals and slow signal fade. this show and bill was a strong one. hands down probably our best and most inspired performance in los angeles to date! lots of love in the air for this show. we played a bunch of new songs like “rise from the dead”, “running back” and “blue wave”. we even got the crowd to sing along on blue wave. yes you read that right…a crowd at spaceland was actually singing along. after the show i also saw the image of jesus appear in the dew covering my car’s windshield. it truly was a miraculous night in so many ways. the pic below of is of scott sterling and joe puleio – 2 of my very good friends. after the show i ended up hanging out at joes house until 5 in the morning. want another person’s thoughts on the show – click here for a csun review.

dressing room and rider wrap up: there is only one spaceland. it’s in our backyard and it’s considered a mini indie mecca by musicians far and wide.

the facilities 17 points. at least there is a little backstage area at spaceland that is, literally, back stage. it’s cool because you can enter the stage from a door right next to the drum kit. that room serves as each band’s dressing room but usually by the time you play the other bands are out of there cos it’s so small. i like that little area cos it’s a good place to have the obligatory pre show band huddle/mini pep rally/pow wow. no private bathroom, not sure about wi-fi, parking was right out front and load in was an easy roll. their merch set up is decent and there’s a big room for all the smokers.

rider/amenities 10 points. beer, water and towels. the rock n roll basics. for that the basics gets you 10 points. good restaurants right around the corner though.

stage, sound, lights 15 points. for a small club the stage is great. it can fit all of us so that’s a plus right there. the sound is also fine. carlos was mixing the show and he always gets the most out of that place. more basszzzzzzzz carlos. lights…i dont remember but i think they were ok.

promoter 20 points. jennifer teft – my michigan sweetheart. she’s become a great supporter of the band. who do i call when i want to bitch about my booking agent?…jennifer is always there for me. she must have done a great job because the place was sold out. they had us listed online and seemed to be on top of their game with the promotion. posters were prominantly on display in the club. good to see.

staff 20 points. the phrase out of sight out of mind seems apropos here. didnt have any problems with them so that’s always good. if staff become a non issue and let you do what you want it usually insures a high score from me.

intangibles 10 points. the fact that jennifer said it was one of the most fun times she’s had at a show means a lot. plus she loved my boys from kc and partied with them all night. that’s hospitality.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 92. spaceland you get the most improved award as you totally buried your old score from last year. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). there’s something really special about playing spaceland. it’s intimate, its indie, its indiemate. something tells me a residency is right around the corner.

Tony’s Take
you see that elizabethan collar around my neck. you think i like this shit? it’s bullshit that’s what it is. im not sure if this was fran’s sick idea of a joke but he kept this thing on me while i was in his fucking truck. unbelievable. i’ve been licking my paws raw but that’s only because he hasnt been taking me running lately. doesnt he get it? he’s too self absorbed sometimes to notice who his real friends are. im that asswipes best friend. at least he checked on me a dozen times during the evening. it’s all good. i will be his monkey for a while just to lull him into a false sense of security. the show….who cares, get this fucking thing off me.

billy from roman numerals doing the load out dance

lewscious during sound check

lillian and ian talking about how much they miss josh

kampy’s everywhere – the new waldo of my blog

  “heathers” v.2.0 – the mariqueens and jess is christian slater

Fran’s Flashback
we played at winston’s in ocean beach with roman numerals last night. i thought our set was pretty good. i’m glad devan thought it was awesome. it was exhilarating to play a few new songs (that we have been working on in the studio) for the first time. we also extended a couple songs into some pretty long jams. im glad san diego let’s us experiment like this. it’s nice to feel like someone’s got your back when you walk out on a musical precipice. before the show we dined and partied at sean simpson’s (pic) house. i posted it before and it wasnt a lie, this guy cooks like a master chef. dinner was thai inspired and it was the perfect pick me up before the show. thanx for all the hospitality sean. i was able to watch all of roman numeral’s set from the merch booth and thought they were great. q even jumped on stage with them (below).

dressing room and rider wrap up:

the facilities 15 points. there isnt a backstage area at winston’s and that’s too bad cos it’s the one main thing that this club lacks. parking was close by and load in was an easy roll to the stage. the merch set up is a refreshing change from most clubs as of late – nice area to sell your wares. there was also wi-fi.

rider/amenities 8 points. winston’s isnt really the kind of bar that has a a nice spread waiting for you. it’s just one of those things. yeah, it would be nice to have something in the way of food but i guess that’s why sean’s house is just around the corner. alcohol is never a problem at winston’s. neither are the party favor passin fans that seem to show up at our shows down there.

stage, sound, lights 17 points. the stage and sound is great there. the stage is one of the main reasons we like winston’s because it can easily fit the six of us on it. k-rud, who is one of our road soundmen does front of house there. he knows both us and the room very well so it sounded great. we always get a great sound check there too. the lights are so so – minimal – at least they have some.

promoter 20 points. tough not to give ted wigler 30 pooints for this. ted is a great guy to deal with. he helps us load in and load out. that’s a rarity people. show me a club promoter that does that and i’ll show you a dog with 3 testicles … it’s rare. there were posters inside the club and on the street – as far as i could tell promotion was great cos the place was packed.

staff 20 points. the entire staff at winston’s treat us well. no probs here. .

intangibles 10 points. here is where i can give ted the 30 points he deserves. did i mention he pays well?

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 90. high fives winston’s, you grade out with an A and made our visit a blast. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). it was good to be back in ocean beach. tonight was just as, if not better than the last time. ob has quickly become one of our favorite cities. the crowds there are arguably some of the best.

Tony’s Take

one would think i would enjoy ocean beach as much as the next dawg but that’s really not the case. remember, im a dog and i when fran drags me along for these one off shows i end up spending more time in the van than usual. my only real respite from the van seat was after load in when q and fran took me down to the beach. it’s only a couple block’s away. as far as everything else goes you should probably ask nathan or q to write something. i can tell you everything you ever needed to know about the van and that’s getting old. thanx for the prison time you a-hole fran.

bob doing what any good manager should be doing

post show bliss with roman numerals

the axis of mccevily now includes milan records

happy fan…wonder why

Fran’s Flashback we played the jambase showcase at opal divine’s for our one and only show at sxsw this year. we opened the show at 8pm and played right before les claypool’s band. did i mention it was st patrick’s day AND it was amy’s 26th birthday. Oddly enough i have no pictures from the show. all i have is some video footage below (from an interview) that shows a bit of our performance.

dressing room and rider wrap up: i think festivals are tough to grade out but music conferences are even tougher because their very nature is more of the plug and play variety.

the facilities 10 points. problem here was that opal divine’s isnt really a music venue and at sxsw they tent off their parking lot and set up shop there. so, as far as the typical facilities we are used to its kinda difficult to compare because its not a place meant for bands. load in and load out was easy. there was a back stage area behind the tent for all the bands. the bar wouldnt let artists use the bathrooms in the club so we were relegated to port o potties. there was a merch area though.

rider/amenities 0 points. maybe i missed this but there was nothing as far as i know. i think the beer tickets arrived after we were done playing and i dont think there was even water back stage. i was expecting at least a little bit of the green brew but got none. im not sure who to blame on this one. maybe if ian was there this travesty wouldnt have occurred. he should have been there….ian mcevily…c’mon, how could a guy with a name like that miss our st patrick’s day show? stage, sound, lights 10 points. sound men at sxsw seem like they’re riding on their very last nerve…and then they have to deal with a band like ours. stage sound was pretty bad but i dont think it mattered too much. we back-lined a bunch of gear so that probably added to the weirdness. the lights were decent. hey it was a tent show in a parking lot, what can you expect? promoter 20 points. jambase is awesome. their promotion for the party was excellent as the place was jammed for our set. jambase is a great site and one that i actually use. im really happy to have been able to play their party cos they’re gonna blow up soon. staff 10 points. to be honest with you i didnt really deal with anyone that worked there except some sxsw loaders.intangibles 20 points. andrew warren from jambase has become part of our family. he saw our third ever show if you can believe that and we have been friends ever since. this guy is excellent and deserves more points but i only give 20 max.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 70. a C is not an A but it’s not an F for that matter …. c is for satisfactory. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). hopefully the next jambase party at sxsw will be at a proper rock venue. im sure it will cos jambase keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Tony’s Take

personally i would have rather had a tour set up than just a one off show in texas. hopefully this gig landed them a better agent because im not down for these killer van rides. those crazy fuckers drove straight from la to austin. they slept at truck stops once on the way there and once on the way back. q slept on the bench and fran spooned me on the floor behind the front seats. it was tighter than penquin’s poononnie. in the daytime it was hot as hell and at night cold as shit. look at my tongue…can you tell how hot i was?
im flyin next time – fuck this ride. the hotel i got to stay in was a level above motel 6. the austin inn and suites i think it was called. not too suite if ya know what i mean. it was chill though so i cant bitch that much. fran left the tv on for me when he wasnt there. it was a decent place and had plenty of grass areas for me to take care of business.

waddayaknow..a giant teepee in the middle of nowhere

Fran’s Flashback q and i drove out all the gear to austin for our sxsw show. even though q’s a girl she can be one tough ass bitch when she puts her mind to it. that said, we didnt stop driving except to eat and sleep – no hotels – we slept at truck stops and powered it out in 2 days. there’s really not much else to say about this drive except that it sucks balls. it’s it’s an easy drive but that gets old after the first 50 miles. texas is, in my humble opinion, one of thee most boring places to drive. el paso made me think of driving by a giant toilet bowl. below is my pictoral homage to the drive. as usual tony dominates my photographic landscape…at one point during the trip he actually starting talking to me. i wasnt delerious, it was just one white line after another after another after another…(c’mon, that’s a highway reference people!)

q started the trip by doing the la to tucson leg

it’s true

he spoke to me just outside of el paso

feeding the shaman

waking up at truckstop in texas

scouting in the arizona hills

doin’ what he does best at the rest stop

“ian, i wish you were here…miss you, xoxo josh”

the first thing we did when we got to austin was head straight for the hell that is 6th st. while there we ate some sushi (yup sushi in texas – it sounds so wrong). josh was there for dinner, unfortunately for ian he got snowed in while trying to leave nyc. in one of the craziest twists of the past year i saw my cousin dean’s band, foreign islands (from brooklyn) play a show. that’s him in the pic with me. i havent seen dean in years so it was great to reconnect – he’s an awesome guitar player. while there we hooked up with mark from flycell. we rounded out the night by catching our friends bump play. those bump guys jammed, i swear they have gotten so much better since the last time i saw them. after that i went to bed while everyone else went out to party with a bunch of la people.

interview #1

click here for the interview with pics.

nathan, mariqueen and i started off the next day with 2 interviews. the first for a great radio station in austin called 101X. ray’s chillville show has been huge for us. thank you ray (in pic next to me) and thank you monty (in longhorns shirt) for taking the time to interview us, rather than some flavor of the month from the uk that was in the lobby…. appreciate that one. keep in mind we were all starving while we did this interview because we hadnt had anything to eat yet. we could have mailed this one in but, like true pros, we handled our business.

interview #2

click here for intervew with video!

the second interview was with zach and brendan (pictured above) from george washington university. we first met these 2 a year ago when we played at gw. it was good to see they’re still doing what they do (interviewing music celebrities). they’re good guys and it’s always fun seeing them.

q with bump’s joey choma

q with flycell’s mark reynolds

q with that 70’s show danny masterson

q with clint (bump’s wicked drummer)

backstage with kirk cameron and teen wolf

Fran’s Flashback we played the middle slot as direct support for the long winters. this gig came out of nowhere but im extremely glad it did cos we kicked fucking ass. [the nice photos are courtesy of misha – thanx man].

dressing room and rider wrap up: the independent doesnt mess around. just walking into the place calls to mind a mini fillmore….a room dominated by a beautifully massive stage.

the facilities 15 points. the backstage area was pretty cool. each band had its own dressing room. there was one nice big clean bathroom for all the bands. the bands also had access to an outside grassy area behind the club as well as the back kitchen. security was posted at the backstage entrance so not just anyone could get back there. this was a pretty solid set up. parking was right out front and load in was an easy roll. the only neg i can think of is where they have their merch set up – on the same wall as the stage? huh…i dont understand that one ) i always like it near the exit away from the stage).

rider/amenities 11 points. beer, fruit, chips, hot water, ginger, tea. yeah it wasnt a full on spread but considering this wasnt our show it was fresh. for dinner there was a great restaurant right across the street.

stage,sound,lights 20 points. by far the independent’s strong suit. the stage was the perfect size for the room not to mention one of the better ones we have played on. john their front of house man was one of the best, if not the best, that i have come across. considering we arrived late he could have copped a real attitude but not only did he hook us up with a great sound check he rocked it live. he inherently understood what we were doing and was right there with us – totally engaged and jamming. this guy rules and i cant wait to play there again just so he can mix us. props to the monitor man too as the stage sound was also awesome and thus helped us all perform better. who ever ran lights also deserves a high five.

promoter 15 points. tough one to grade out on because it wasnt our show but they must have done a great job because the place was filled to just under capacity. they had us listed online and seemed to be on top of their game with the promotion.

staff 20 points. the entire staff was awesome. starting off with tony the production manager all the way down to the crew and security. everyone was easy to work with. i cant tell you how nice it is when you get to work with a cool in house crew. its just one more reason you want to come back to the club. great people.

intangibles 10 points. the fact they suggested i bring tony inside to run around in the backyard was all i needed. dog friendly and mellow.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 91. congrats independent you grade out with an A as you excelled in truly the most important areas. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). i feel like we have finally found our “room” in san fran. i’m already looking forward to headlining there when the record comes out. it seems like ever since i started letter grading out clubs we have played great ones…coincidence…i think not. regardless, i hope this trend continues.

Tony’s Take
this was definitely not tons of fun. stuck in a van for over 6 hours sucks. fran and andrew (from jambase) took me for a long walk before the show but then it was back in the van again. after the show i got to hang out on the street and got tons of attention….what else is new. the club’s photographer misha took some pics of me….of course. then we drove back…to la…that same night. these guys are idiots. good job driving though rob. way to keep it smooth. — F10

q, amy and andrew

tone in the backyard

tone and the midnight rambler

robert james taken us home

there’s a nice feature and spread about us in the march issue of the online magazine galrilla. the site is painful to navigate – we are on page 23 of the second issue. very special thanx to lilian kha for making this happen.

Check it out – our next show will be on 3.10 in San Francisco, CA at The
Independent. email me if you want to go and i will see what strings i can pull. ya never know. F10

well, its not really a tour – it started out as a mini tour but ended up as 3 shows. unfortunately the phoenix and tucson show have been cancelled due to technical difficulties. bummer cos i really love tucson. check this sgarbossa poster out – rad.

adding to the strangeness of my so called life comes this. finding myself on the cover of a magazine called contexts….with a busty blonde, a baby, and a red head with pins in her neck no less. i’m on there because there is a story about why people get tattoos – seems like they should have interviewed me for it so nothing would be taken out of context….but they didnt. i’m happy to be there though…thanx people at context. F10

yesterday we did a really cool photoshoot for a new webzine called galrilla. galrilla is described as the world’s first creative female online network. it’s a pretty impressive art and fashion site if you ask me. there will be a west indian girl interview and article in one of the next few issues. i will let you know when its out. thanks to lilian kha for hooking it all up. she had a great shoot set up at a studio on wilshire in la. you can check out the first issue here.

an old friend of mine, Ted Lott, from grand rapids michigan sent me an email today…it read “Heard West Indian Girl used on a music transition for Morning Edition on NPR yesterday. You guys are everywhere! I hope LA’s warm. It’s really fucking cold here. When do I get to hear the new stuff?” after a bit of research (emailing ian and asking him about it) i was sent this “Yup, I heard this as well…it was the intro from Trip”. then i got an email from a friend i went to college with (rob bass) that just had this link in it. good stuff. it’s the gift that keeps on giving. and to answer your question ted – you get to hear the new stuff this summer when our record comes out. F10

See them walking hand in hand across the bridge at midnight

we had our first publicity photoshoot for the second record last week. tyler parker was the man behind the camera. we did the shoot at the orthodox clothing house in la. it was tight – a few locations – quick and easy. tyler’s crew was solid. im sure nathan is thrilled at the thought of never having to see chris carter’s face on a poster when we pull up to clubs in the near future.

Heads turning as the lights flashing out it’s so bright

our last show at sundance 1.26

Fran’s Flashback
we were back at the star bar for a quadruple header. this show was interesting an many levels, the biggest of which was playing through rob’s mystery illness which rendered him voiceless for a few songs. it was indeed a testament to the good team we have because we held it together and stepped up when the chips were down. quite the fitting end to a great week of shows. again, zrike was there – in the snow, camera in hand. click here to view his slide show. zrike took most of the pics you see here.

dressing room and rider wrap up:
the facilities 12 points. as mentioned a few show reports ago the star bar’s lay out is great. the bar never feels too big or too small as there were plenty of different places to go to within the venue. great vip areas, big green room, nice bar. the only negs are the parking, bitch of a load-in, lack of a private bathroom, and did i mention the bitch of a load in?

rider/amenities 18 points. excellent backstage area with a full spread. 4 bottles of champagne and plenty of booze for the 4 bands that were there. all the bands we shared the area with were real nice too. that’s always a huge plus. playing shows with bands that act like douche bags can easily sour a good time.

stage, sound, lights 14 points. again, as described earlier i thought the stage was great. it wasnt big but it worked. the system was adequate. the lighting was better this time around. i thought the stage sound was fantastic…my bass likes that room. rob and greg the soundmen were just as awesome as before. even though we didnt get a sound check they were still able to dial us in. they also worked well with k-rud who was there tweaking our knobs. these guys are all great to work with.

promoter 20 points. morrill media was on the prowl again. maxwell (pic) knows how to throw a party. the posters he made for the show were fucking awesome. he enlisted design aid from our man in san diego the one and only mark sgarbossa. flycell and mark reynolds also deserve big thanks for helping promote and sponsor the evening. it was indeed fly.

staff 20 points. i said it before and i will say it again, the star bar staff is top notch.

intangibles 6 points. the first bottle of heidsieck and co has to get points. plus its always nice to have a dude from getty images there taking pics.

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 90. yet another A…par for the course at sundance. i hope other promoters dont think im getting soft in my grading, maybe it’s a mormon thing, but utah knows how to treat their bands. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). the A was brought to you by bill keaggy at keaggy.com

Nathan’s Nonsense
dear band blog, i can’t believe winter vacation is almost over. woke up earlier than usual this morning after miraculously surviving the previous night and went for a little run. then i took in a ride on the gondolas and basked in the surrounding beauty of the landscape. then i came back to the condo and pooped again. metabolism has really been in overdrive the past week! still no sign of my beloved sustain pedal which went missing in action after vegas, but i’m sure it will turn up somehow. meanwhile, i can only cry about it for so long. time to move on. tonight was our last show back at the ol’ star bar. rob got sick and was reportedly puking on stage thereby providing that extra theatrical kick we so needed. calico, calhoun, and the good listeners shared the bill with us, none of which i had ever heard of before. amazingly, i loved all three of them. their mellow sounds were the perfect backdrop for our closing night after such a frantic, frenzied week. wrote a happy little diddy in my head while hanging out backstage. might try to unleash it on the band if i get the chance. good crowd tonight, but what was up with that entourage guy slagging our merch? and the drummer from the cult? was that really him or was i hallucinating? and did i really swap out the ipod at the after-party with my own, pissing off the host dude in the process? well slap my nuts and call me jimmy. what a fucking blast.

Tony’s Take
seriously, how fucking long does it take an normal band to drive home from park city….well, usually about 10 1/2 hours. 18 hours later when i was home safe n sound in my bed i could only look back at laugh at those schmucks. outside of provo utah those bitches got suckered into getting both front tires changed along with buying new shocks. yeah sure the belts were gone on one tire but they got hoodwinked into buying shocks with the pro mechanic upsell. for what it’s worth, nathan claimed it drove nicer after they had it done. the real kicker came about 130 miles outside vegas when a spark plug literally blew out of the engine. im not kidding – seriously the thing shot out of the engine. we ended up limping into to vegas one cylinder down. the van sounded like an old vw bus ready to die. in vegas we were able to find possibly the funniest mobile auto mechanic in the world. his name was raff (pic below) but fran called him aziz. this guy was the man. service with a smile. dont ask me how but he did it but he did fix the van. it was a bizarre ride home. salvation can in the form of finally sharing a bench (with fran of course) thus putting an end to my banishment on the floor.

footnote to story about raff the mobile mechanic. raff ended up double billing our amex card after he claimed it wouldnt go through and that we pay him cash as well. funny, how that works…in the end raff rafed us. hmmm, at least he didnt rafe us in the end.

star at star bar (besides us)= adriene grenier

star at star bar (besides us)= matt sorum

star at star bar (besides us) = bob, roman numeral’s manager

check it out – we made the cover of the daily insider today….awesome stuff. the insider is the official sundance newspaper. its an honor. thank you guys. to see a bigger more readable version of the daily insider click here -it’s a big pdf file so it might take a minute to load. quick little update….our last show is tonight. it’s going to be brought to you by flycell and morrill media. what’s flycell you ask….that my friends will soon become clear. lets put it this way…flycell and west indian girl are about to launch into a partnership that is going to be the new model for bands in years to come. F.10

sundance – music on main st 1.25

Fran’s Flashback
this show was quite possibly my favorite show to date. i love playing outside festivals…nothing else like it. experiences like this make me feel very thankful that this band exists and that i get to live a dream with a bunch of great musicians and friends that i have in this band. once again, andrew (pictured lounging in our green room) was there documenting everything. the pics i post in my blog pale in comparison to those of mr zrikes’. click here to view his slide show….it’s awesome cos you can get a feel for the whole evening. thanx andy. our set was 45 minutes of power – vision, trip, hollywood, indian ocean, solar eyes, get up and what are you afraid of (long version).
dressing room and rider wrap up:
the facilities 15 points. for an outside show this was awesome. the stage was smack in the middle of main st with a view “to die for”. our green room was a block away but it was plush with white couches, there was also a little room behind the stage that we were able to hang out in before the show. it was warm and private. the load in was smooth – we got to drive our van right up to stage. overall the facilities were great – the only neg was the cold weather but that’s the nature of this beast.

rider/amenities 15 points. our green room was big, private and much better than expected. there was a nice spread with plenty of alcohol. it was a legit dinner…great food with a great staff. not everything was on the rider but it was still beyond respectable.

stage,sound,lights 20 points. stage, lighting and the system was fantastic. they even had heat blowing in from 3 different stage spots. the sound guys and stage managers were all pro. this was a real pleasure. they gave us a great sound check. top notch people. i love playing big stages with good crews.

promoter 20 points. maxwell morrill again was the man with the walki talki. all this dude does is get 20’s. he’s the reason why we’re here. the promotion for music on main was great….as far as shows at the festival go…it was the creme de la creme.

staff 20 points. all the people working the event were great. they ran a tight ship. everyone, i mean everyone working this show was cool…the catering staff, the loaders, the stage hands, and security were all great to work with. not a single problem or hassle.

intangibles 9 points. a big round table with 6 laptops and wifi in our green room deserves points.
TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 99. this is my second A+ at sundance. shit, other festivals are gonna hate these guys now.(click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories).

Mariqueen’s Mind
The City: despite reports that park city was going to be the warmest it has been all month, my brown behind was fuh ree zing. why? because im gullible and i had a big show and decided to wear a dress with no tights and no gloves with no real scarf. despite my discomfort, there was electricity and excitement in the air… it was a good day to be at sundance. oh yes.
The Venue: i suppose i’ll have to count in three different compartments that made up the venue. 1) our holding area – tea / two computers to pass the time / couches / stuffed bears = fantastic. 2) our green room – fettucine alfredo / vodka [which shiny toy guns totally ganked while we were on stage] / wine / fruit / five laptops / comfy couches / art = bellisima 3) stage – huge / heated / beautiful monitor system / stellar lights / great staff / maxwell running everything = perfection.

The Show: i thought the set was tight and perfect. not necessarily our playing, but the sequence of the songs and the energy of the crowd. playing for such a big, beautiful and excited crowd made me feel so warm and at home, i actually took my jacket off towards the end of the set. this show is up there as one of my most favorites.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: why cant we play shows like this all the time?

Interesting Things After The Show: after our set i hung out at our green room with various band mates and various band members from of montreal. then we watched their set and at one point, kevin and i decided to trade coats and he let me borrow his bracelet, which i forgot to give back to him. sorry! im not sure how, but a bunch of us ended up at of montreal’s apartment and ate their popcorn and then moved on to a bar where they were so mormon, they wouldnt let mark lewis back in. that’s how amazing he is. after the bar we went to a party, where i stuffed my face with crepes and had nathan call the cavalry to come pick me up because i was falling asleep standing up. too much food + too much wine + cold weather = zzzzzzzzzz… zzz… zzzz

Nathan’s Nonsense
playing keyboards in below-freezing temperatures is never fun, not to mention damn near impossible. unless, of course, you happen to be doing it at the sundance film festival on main stage in front of several hundred screaming fans. then it’s ok. any other time though, forget it. this show was fucking amazing. the band never before felt so locked in together, or sounded so perfectly balanced. if we keep this up, we’re a shoe-in for the playoffs. shiny toy guns were great, and they dusted off all our vodka. of montreal was brilliant. it was a real honor to be sharing a stage with them. sometime afterward in the wee hours of the night i decided to attempt walking home from whatever after-hours party i was at. turned out to be about a 4 mile jaunt. at the time, it just felt like something i had to do, but it damn near killed me. half-way home, an approaching SUV pulled over and some guy rolled down his window to ask if i could direct him to the canyons, which happened to be exactly where i was heading myself. i informed him that he was heading in the opposite direction, to which he replied by inviting me in for a ride the rest of the way there. i was instantly relieved at the invitation, but before i could utter my grateful acceptance, a girls voiced screamed from the back seat “are you fucking crazy? go!!” the dude in front balked, shrugged, saying “sorry dude” as the vehicle peeled out and sped off. so much for my good samaritans.

big ups to rhett from slc for bringing the good vibes
q and i with the best fans in town

our time at sundance has been pretty incredible. we have a great condo in the canyons which has served well as a home base. the shows and publicity surrounding this trip has far exceeded my expectations…3 gigs with a tv and radio appearance. when you’re a band at a film festival you tend to stick out in a different way more so than when you’re at a music festival. as far as the band goes – amy was sick for a day, i thought i was gonna get sick but didnt, and rob is puking his guts out. im proud of everyone hanging in there. its tough sharing a living space for a week with a bunch of other people but everyone has been mellow about it. ian and josh (while he was here) have been kicking ass. great to have them here as well. ya know, its too bad im not a skier cos nows the time to go, the slopes are empty. if i lived here im sure i would become a cross country skier. it kind of reminds me of jogging.

at night everyone has been going out to parties. sometimes the big parties remind me too much of all the lame stuff that i try to get away from in hollywood but thats when you find other cool stuff to do…like going to house parties. our friends from kc (roman numerals) shawn and bob threw one the other night. it was great…bbq at 2am cant be beat. seems like everywhere i go, the minute im about to drink my first beer, bob and shawn magically appear. we’ve had a few random house guests at the condo – k-rud from sd also joined us the other day, its been good to see him. he cooked a great salmon dinner the other night. andy also stayed a few nights, even a cab driver named ryan that we met one night stayed over.

how’s tony you ask, the kid’s been doing well, he likes the cold and snow much more than i expected. i brought along a coat for him but he hates it. aside from his couple walks a day in the cold tony has been chillin on everyone’s bed continuing his reign as coolest tour dog on the planet. F.10

j rock at the stella tent
with shawn from roman numerals
ooon the bus…thats’ where we ride

Fran’s Flashback
we had the privilege of doing a little acoustic set/interview on kpcw today. as far as radio shows go, it was smooth. rob and q kicked off the show with a nice version of monterey then followed it up with a new song that im not sure has a title yet. amy joined them on that song. then everyone sang along to our new song called get up. i think rob and q are getting more and more comfortable doing these acoustic gigs. from my perspective it seems like these little shows sometimes put you on the spot a bit more than oh, say, playing in front of a thousand people. weird how that is….i actually become more relaxed the larger the crowd is. on the other hand im also equally relaxed during any small interview. the only times i find myself not being as relaxed as i would like to be are the smaller packed intermediate size club gigs…mostly in la and ny though. maybe its cos there are too many people i know at these shows. or maybe its just me…its probably just me. i need to get over myself. anyway, the host at kpcw (randy) was very personable and had a friendly interviewing style. he did make me realize that we need a new bio or at least a new press blurb though. im not happy with the run-on thousand adjective one that we now have. i also realized that its becoming increasingly difficult to describe our music. nothing seems to fit and thats a good thing actually. one of ian’s friends, andrew zrike, was at this show documenting it in pictures. he did a great job. they are posted on his site here.