Can anyone else believe this crap about Miley Cyrus?

I mean, if you're Hannah Montana my list of embarrassments would probably top off with "My dad had a hit with Achy Breaky Heart" and "Did you see the fucking mullet on that guy?!" as opposed to "Photographed by Annie Leibovitz". Honestly, is there anyone who's really upset by this? Was the news day that slow that a preemptive apology from the Cyrus camp dominated the news? For a second, I thought the whole terrible economy/Iraq/Z0MG Obama doesn't wear a flag lapel! thing was fixed. But won't someone think of the children? Ha. Well, if we're to assume just for a second that she did something terrible and ruined your child's precious psyche (...forever!), then you got what you deserved. Please let this be the last time you're suckered in by Disney or anyone that tells you a fictitious persona and/or actress is someone to look up to. If you're looking for role models for your kids, you should start at home.

Now that I've gotten my diatribe du jour out of the way, anyone else hear the new Coldplay song? (If you haven't you can download it for free here or listen below). I've only listened to it a handful of times, but I'm still not entirely sure how I feel. I certainly don't hate it, and it sounds fairly interesting. It's currently in the stuck-in-my-head phase, and is the only thing that was able to flush Achy Breaky Heart out of my system.

Brian Eno produced the album, so I'm really curious to hear the rest.

Cheers,
Henry

You wake up sore as the alarm rings, and you cringe. Because it's 6:15 AM. Because you have to go to work on less than 4 hours of sleep. Because you've sworn off coffee— or trying to, at any rate.

It's been awhile since that old, familiar feeling has crept up on me, but that's exactly what happened this morning.

Being back home since the tour has been strange, like being in both a familiar and unfamiliar world at the same time. I'm restless, incredibly antsy, and (for today at least) have broken my morning-coffee sabbatical. Which isn't to suggest things are static, either. They're not. There's actually a lot going on, many things we've been talking about to keeping moving forward, creatively and professionally (does that word make anyone else gag?), and I even felt the need to record a couple of quick little demos, something I have not done since we started working on Fan The Fury last year. Things are still good and things are still fun. It's just been a little difficult slowing down, having gone from practically playing every single day to waiting a month between shows while we regroup and work on booking some more dates.

So it was no small feat that last night made me forget about all that sad-sackery. Brendan (surname: Boogie Band) kept mentioning last night that between them, us, Harris, and all our friends in attendance it was a lot like a family reunion (we can call Jen Murdza a distant cousin... she was quite awesome too). I can get behind that. Even the staff was great. It was a good homecoming, anyway. Everyone played ridiculously well.

All it needed at the end was a side order at Denny's to top me off and about 7-8 hours of sleep in a hotel room. But we can't get everything, I suppose.

Cheers,
Henry

P.S. Some other business to tend to while I've got your attention:

- Updated our Flickr page. We stopped being cheap bastards and started paying for a pro account, so we can update without the fear of our photo sets being lost now. We're still organizing things there, but we've got a bunch of photos up from the tour. Check them out, and if you have any send them our way... www.flickr.com/aloud

- Don't be the only kid on your block without this. And tell us what you think, too. Leave reviews! You can leave bad ones too, but I can't promise I won't sue you for hurting my feelings like these women did.

We've put up pics from our recent tour! Check 'em out and drop us love!

Mainly though, if YOU have photos caught of us on tour (and I know you do. I remember those lights flashing!) send them to us here: aloud@allthingsaloud.com.

We wanna put them up!

Cheers,

Jen

I know it's been a while since the Philly gig. But we've been adjusting to life back home and really just sleeping. I had an amazing time in Philadelphia though, so I have to write about it. By the way Philly truly is the City of Brotherly Love. I have never been helped out or warmly recepted by so many strangers!

On the 8th we awoke from our hotel room in Somewhere, PA. We had to wake up an hour earlier than usual to make it to our radio interview that day. No showers this morning for Aloud. The interview was at Camden College in Camden, NJ (a suburb of Philly really). We arrive around 2:30pm and meet Greg, the station manager, and Jamie our DJ interviewer.We get along with Jamie right away and she's up to date on the latest Aloud news. After the interview we make plans to meet up in Philly.

We drop off the gear at the Fire and decide to explore the city. Obama and Hillary signs hang in all the windows. (The club is covered with Barack's face). Down on South St. we check out shoe shops and clothes and dig in the brick roads of the city. Betsy Ross' house is somewhere nearby. People are friendly. We sit down for a meal at Jon's. The building Jon's is at is where Larry from the Three Stooges was born. Philly Cheese Steaks called "3rd St" fill our mouths. Delicious.

Back at the club we chill in the green room till manager extraordinaire, Annie Burns, and Jamie arrive. We chat, walk around the area, and at 10:30 it's show time. We play, rush into each on stage, dance, talk to the audience, and at the end pull Annie on stage to thank her for everything she does. Perfect send off for the last date on this leg of the tour.

After the show we take off into the Philadelphia night, through New Jersey, New York, CT, and finally back to Boston. Home around 5:30am. It's very odd being back. It's odd not being in the van or a hotel room or a club right now. I guess right now about this time of day we'd be driving.

Thanks so much to all the friends we made in NYC, Raleigh, Columbia, Gainesville, Columbus, Murfreesboro, Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, and Philadelphia. You guys made things so much easier for us. Thanks for buying cds and t-shirts. Thanks for the clubs and bands for having us. And big thanks to the folks and family who put us up in their houses for the night.

Next show is a hometown return. April 24th for the last night of the Harris residency @ O'Brien's in Allston. Just a stone's throw from our rehearsal space.

See you then,

Jen

Labels: tourdiary

Last couple of days have been really cool. St. Louis and Chicago have been two of my favorite cities on the tour thus far. St. Louis reminds me of Boston a hell of a lot and Chicago is all sorts of New York.

We played a place on Olive St. in St. Louis called Two Cents Plain. The guys running it were dead cool and dead nice! We hung out and watched South Park with them. Turns out they know the dude from the "What, What In The Butt" video. No lie. That happened to be the South Park episode on at the moment. The place is also 16+ which scores big points with a band that still remembers being underage and wanting to desperately to see live music.

Chicago... the minute we drove in I felt good about the show. Ross and I spent a while talking to the guys in Overhang. Great, nice fellows and their bass player even lived in Boston for a while. After that, Ross, Roy and I went exploring the area. The Note is in a place called Wicker Park. Right across from us was another club called the Double Door and further down the way was the Subterrenean. Very cool, hip area including a tequila bar called Salud which we all that quite appropriate. Also, might I say how cool the sound guy at the Note was. Excellent sound all night.

Both shows were a lot of fun and I can’t believe checking out of hotels, driving 5 hours, checking into new hotels and playing gigs will end in a couple of days. I won’t know what to do with myself when I get back. But I know when I see that Citgo sign in the distance it’ll be all right.

But now... a message from Ross...

-- Jen

============================
Wow. My first blog ever!! And they won’t even give me a full one, I have to split it. This is bogus.

Actually, I don’t think I’m quite ready to be the exclusive writer of a blog. I spend all my energy writing the mailing list, anyway.

In any case, I just wanted to send some love to all the great people helping us along the way on tour. I’m having a great time. Every night is a new adventure (after the five hours of driving...), and we’ve met a lot of great people along the way.

I’m exhausted, I’m filthy (I brought 4 t-shirts for the whole trip), and I’m loving every second of it. The best part about playing in cities that are so far apart every night is that you get to wear the same clothes at every show and no one will ever know. I’m sticking by that.

Here’s to not looking forward to coming home (except to play with Harris on the 24th at O’Briens!!).

Off to Phili!!

Ross

======

Actually, this is Ross’ second blog. What a loser.

-- Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Sitting in a hotel in St. Louis typing on a phone right now.

St. Louis is a very cool city. I like it a lot. Reminds me of Boston quite a bit. The Arch was impressive.

Celebrated Ross’ birthday at a Denny’s at midnight. Send him some birthday love when you can... It’s not every day a boy celebrates his 12th birthday.

It’s like beating a dead horse at this point, but when you’re subjected to as much tv as I am on tour this must be said: MTV has completely gone down the shitter. Just play some goddamn videos.

So much more to write about but typing on this phone is very tedious.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Gotta check out in five minutes, so this one’s gonna be a little short. Many thanks to Ben Sturgell and Element 7 for bringing us out here, and Allison for showing us a good time at Club 527.

I finally broke a string last night, but it was at the very end of the set. Count it!

I’ll write about our adventure with the state lines and time zones later. It really wasn’t so much of an adventure as much as a "what the fuck just happened?"

Okay kids... see you tonight in Memphis!

Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Driving through Georgia was striking. When I think of "The South", these are the pictures I think of. I drove through Georgia a lot when I was younger, and it was nice to get a refresher in wet greens and bright red Georgia clay. There was a lot of road, and a lot to see. Seemingly abandoned factories, gun/pawn shops as far as the eye can see, farms, large houses next to run-down shanties... like I said, it was all very striking and there was loads to take in.

Suffice to say, I think the drive through Georgia has been my favorite so far.

We arrived in Columbus with plenty of time to spare. It really is no wonder the devil went down to Georgia, because it was fucking hot. The downtown area reminds me of Salem, Mass actually, sans the ocean. To say The Loft was nice would be the understatement of the year. Everyone there was very accommodating, the green room was HUGE (there was a studio and a couple of showers upstairs!) and the stage was particularly nice. Very pro, and everyone was very sweet. They even got us food.

One thing that’s been so great about the tour is meeting all sorts of awesome people. Samantha, Charlie, Diane, Brad, Chris, Cecil, Katrine, and people I’m probably forgetting-- you’re the best.

Met up with a buddy from high school, Robert, who I hadn;t seen since we graduated. Him and his friend Dan run an awesome studio in Atlanta, and you can check it out here: http://www.wizkidsound.com.

Anyway, they were telling me about this one time they were playing a show and were heckled and commanded by an unruly crowd to play Dave Matthews covers-- lest physical violence be inflicted upon them. Which is funny, cos you think it’d be the other way around.

Stayed in Fayettesville with Jen’s family friend. Sorta got lost along the way, which was upsetting. But it’s bound to happen on a trip this long. Got to bed around 4:30am. (Thanks to Iliana, Anabella, and Vaughn for letting us crash at their house).

In Murfreesboro right now, which according to Ross’ dad will mark the halfway point in terms of mileage on this tour.

Okay kids, till tomorrow...

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Rushing around a bit before we have to check out. I’m not even wearing pants right now.

Apparently, not a single ice cream machine in South Carolina works. Had to settle for a milkshake again when we got into Georgia. Oh so good. Lest everyone think I’m a little piggie piggie here, my throat’s been hurting for days and ice cream is the only salve that has really worked so far. Before we hit the Georgia border, Roy bought a crap ton of fireworks and one of those giant fireworks stores. It was hard not to, the damn things were everywhere, even in the gas station mini mart. You’d think that’s the last place they’d sell fireworks, eh?

We also found these giant Zippo lighters for $20. The thing was literally the size of my head.

You could tell we got into Florida when the spate of Gun & Jewelry shops started appearing (as a former citizen of the Sunshine State, I can write about it with impunity... those are the rules). The sex toy stores made up for the decrease in fireworks shops. I think.

Got to the hotel around 5 and met up with my dad and my sister, had dinner/lunch at the Cracker Barrell next door. I was stuffed by the time we got to the show.

New point of reference: this was the first time we were told to show up at a certain time to "load in", and then told to keep our gear in the car till 15 minutes before we were supposed to go on. Despite this snafu, we had a really fun time (and I got the high score on Duck Hunt for the evening, bitches!). A bunch of my family drove up from Miami to see us play, including my mom who had never seen us before. We were kinda rushed to get all our gear on stage, which resulted in a very manic show. Fucking fun as hell, though. I was sweating before we started. Of course, it was kinda hot and I do tend to sweat a lot.

After the show I hung out with my sister and our cousins at one of her friends’ house. Ross pwned at beer pong, Jen pwn3d at pool (I think), Roy was rocking the white Max Headroom/Kanye shades the whole night, and I rocked the projection TV. Finally got to see the South Park episode with the cat pee. Unbelievable. I love that show.

The four of us got back to the hotel around 5 or so and got some food at the gas station (everything else was closed). Clocked out at 6am.

And now here we are.

Gonna go get some grub with my folks before we take off.. shit, we gotta check out in 20 minutes and I’m still not wearing any pants.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Very rainy drive yesterday. My throat was a bit sore yesterday, and for whatever reason the soft-serve machine at every place we went to was busted. Still, I settled for a milkshake (which provided the same service to Mr. Throat, and was scrum-diddly-umptious). I noticed two things on the drive through SC: the greens are really green and the reds are really red, and there are lots of places to buy fireworks (culminating with this huge fireworks emporium-type warehouse).

Another thing I noticed about the South is the interesting way some of these clubs are set up. The Pour House in Raleigh has a convertable stage, and 5 Points Pub here in Columbia has a garage door built behind the stage for easy loading in and out. Kinda cool.

When we pulled up to the hotel, I witnessed a heated argument between the hotel staff and some people who really wanted to get a room with their pet (they don’t allow pets here). It was probably terrible on both parties, but I found it hilarious. There are so many hotels around here.

Anyway, 5 Points Pub is a really, really nice club. Stage was great and the sound was awesome. There was enough room on the drum riser to throw the keyboard up on, so for at least a song I got to lord over all of Aloud... in my mind. We made a very enthusiastic new friend named Terrence who called up all his friends to come to the show, and Josh, the security guy, is actually from Providence. Greg the sound guy was awesome too. I have to say last night was one of the better stages I’ve ever played on. They even had a green room downstairs with all the amenities (i.e., TV). Saw half of Lean On Me. Never saw that movie before.

Actually, one thing I’ve noticed about touring so far is the amount of movies and TV you wind up watching. When we got back to the hotel, we saw Dave Chappelle on that Actor’s Studio show. Right now we’re watching the Ninth Gate before we have to check out.

Ross spent half the night talking to these two blonde girls (Ray and Megan, I believe?) who went to go party after the show and invited him. He called them afterwards, but they did not pick up and he was forced to return to the hotel with us. I point this out because I like to poke fun at Mr. Ross at any opportunity.

Ross and Roy hit up the Waffle House next door twice. I was so hungry last night that I broke my personal rule of never eating at Waffle House. But what else can you do when it’s the only thing open at 1am? As long as we don’t go there ever again.

Waffle House three times, you die.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary