Just posted up some of our newer press quotes form the last year, including this one from Bruce MacGregor of BBC Radio Scotland and the great group Blazing Fiddles: “Absolutely superb – stunning musicians. If you get a chance to see them, take it. Very highly recommended.”
Check out the rest on our Press Page!
8/5/2011 – In the van; facing forward; fairly well rested; heading . . . West?
OK, PF Hot Seats, back again. We’re hurtling away from Dundee at the moment, making our way to Portree on The Isle of Skye for a 4:15pm radio performance, followed by a show at the Aros Centre (that’s right, “re,” not “er.” It’s a more dignified spelling, shows our connection to Ye Olde Worlde . . . you colonials just wouldn’t understand.).
If you have a knowledge of Scottish geography, and you care to follow our travails, you probably realize that we’re doing a little zig-zag thing here. Isle of Mull to St. Andrews to Isle of Skye, and then back to Banchory on the east coast. Some folks over here have shaken their heads and chuckled at this folly. Let’s not forget, however, we’re Ahhhmurrrricans! We don’t even blink at any drive under 10 hours (see our previous tour logs, specifically the 27 hour drive from Austin TX to Richmond VA; or our last weekend in the US: 3 days, 24 hours of it spent in the van). Ten hours is nearly the length of the UK, so we’re all good.
We almost relish time in the van. Sleeping; smoking cigarettes; staring; listening to music through earphones so as to avoid the inane chatter of BBC2; eating; arguing; writing; occasional laptop movie watching (oh Harry Potter, will you be ok?); sometimes we even talk about music (“That’s bullshit!” “You’re bullshit” “Blah blah blah added 11th” “Stop speeding up” “Stop slowing down!”). This trip has the added bonus of the edu-tainment of constant cursing and commentary that emerges from Gerry “Wrong Turn” Roche (“No, go ahead and don’t use an indicator, I’m a mind reader.” “Speed up, you tosser!” “Get out of the f***ing van!” “Get into the f***ing van!”). For all of our funny stories, Gerald is actually a bank of knowledge in the history of England/Music realm, something that Ed especially relishes. Lord knows that boy LOVES to know things.
So let’s see, we can catch up a bit, ok? How are things going with you? Oh, no she didn’t! No she didn’t! She did? OK, well . . . good to know. Can I talk now?
Monday, August 1st, 2011:
After I left you, we slummed around Fochabers for the day, walking along the lovely Spey(??? Check this) River, drinking coffee, generally recovering from Speyfest. Recovering from Speyfest is, apparently, an annual event in Fochabers, as we found out from our host Janet and our pal Bob Sharp, who brought us there in the first place. We ended up landing an impromptu gig at a local watering hole – The Grant Arms. It was a pretty low key gig, just playing old time and bluegrass in the corner. We were cajoled into playing “Dueling Banjos,” by the proprietor. About halfway through, we realized, “Hey, we don’t actually know how to play this song.” Though Ben did do a great impression of the albino kid from Deliverance. He, he’s doing it right now! Oh . . . sorry Benny.
Tuesday, August 2nd:
We left out of Fochabers early in order to make it to the Isle of Mull in a timely fashion. The drive involved two ferries, and a long stretch of a single track road that was . . . hairy, to say the least. You have to understand that we’re basically traveling in the back of a box van over here. It’s hard to see out of the front window, and one or two of us are sitting backwards. Basically, every hill or curve is a surprise, especially given Gerald’s . . . economical use of the brakes (as hard as possible for as short a time as possible). It was a very pretty drive. The highlands and western coast are wild to look at: jutting crags, rushing streams, fogbanks that appear from nowhere. On a sunny day it’s pretty, on a cloudy day, foreboding (and still pretty).
We arrived in Tobermory on the Isle of Mull and first went to An Tobar, the venue for the evening. Yet another beautiful stone arts centre (there it is again!). Government granted, both fully modern and also classic in appearance. You know, just like all those ones that don’t exist in the US. We did a quick sound check with our soundman/local host, Gordon, and then proceeded to walk around town. Tobermory reminded me of the town in Popeye The Movie. A picturesque harbor full of sailboats and workboats, a small multi-tiered downtown area of pubs, restaurants and shops, tons of birds everywhere, very hilly, huge forearms everywhere! After a while, Gordon took us to eat at a restaurant high on a crag that overlooked the water. So much good food to eat over here! We ended up answering questions about what exactly is going on in the U.S. in re: politics and the difference between our guys and the guys over here (note: “Guys” in this case is gender neutral. We realize there’s lady politicians too. Ok?). Basically it came down to this: The USAs is infected by morality politics that has NOTHING to do with what’s important about government, but totally paralyzing for the opportunists in charge. More on this later, I can feel my ears getting hot just thinking about it.
Our show at An Tobar was sold out, and the crowd was extremely excited. No need to harp on the details of the show – just another typically excellent reception. Amazing how a supportive promoter, great sound man, and am appreciative crowd all leads to better music. How does that work exactly?
After the gig, we walked down to a pub with two of the audience members and new friends, Mark and Francesca. We talked about music, politics, and other pleasantries. At one point, two very drunk young Irishmen came up and injected themselves into our scene. They were getting a big kick out of our beards (one of them licked my beard, yech . . . ), and insisted on calling my “Al Qaeda.” Charming. Eventually they left, after downing many shots of Sambuca (again, yech). Later, on my walk back to the B&B I found them discussing whether to try and go head first through a pub’s window in order to gain entry. I assured them it was a solid idea. Not sure if they followed through or not.
Wednesday, August 3rd:
Gerry dropped us in Glasgow for a day off. The drive from Mull to Glasgow was described as “pretty to gritty.” We in this band like Glasgow. Perhaps some of the affection is due to the many good times we’ve had here – Celtic Connections, busking, Tall Ship gigs, etc – but I think that part of it is that Glasgow feels like a real city, and we like cities. There’s tons of history, lovely parks, interesting art and architecture, and some of the most ridiculous fashion statements walking around everywhere you look. Seriously youth of Scotland, what’s up with the hair? Who told you that’s a good idea?
We checked into our hotel and then all of us us but Eddie went busking (Eddie, as you may know, is not a fan of busking, as is his right. He frequently does it anyway, so we like to give him a pass). Not sure if it’s because people don’t get to hear much old time and ragtime around here, but we got a great reception and were able to make enough ££ (that’s function-control-3 on yer keyboards, Americans) for dinner and then some. Part of that might be the convenience of having more coin currency. In the States, for someone to give us a dollar involves dipping into a wallet, whereas a pound coin is just a simple pocket grab away. We enjoyed a tasty Indian meal (lots if good Indian food here), and spent the night watching “Red Heat” in our hotel rooms. Oh Arnold, how glorious you once were. Come back to the world of action/comedy. Perhaps “Red Heat II”? I think James Belushi is available.
Sidenote on movies: Ever notice how movies in the 1980′s always had some kind of class struggle/political agenda? In Red Heat, Arnold’s character goes to a jail to interrogate the blind African American drug kingpin, who informs him that it’s his goal to “sell drugs to every white person in the world.” due to his knowledge of the imbalance of power that is inherent in the American race-class system. Love it! Just like the constant rich vs poor battles in all brat pack movies. Nowadays we glorify the rich ponces and douchebags. Anyway . . .
Thursday, August 4th:
Yesterday we traveled to St. Andrews for our second appearance at the super nice Byre Theatre (whoop! ANOTHER “re” so fancy!). St. Andrews is, apparently, the home of golf. I know that a few of our FB fans have suggested that we go hit the links. Now, not to offend anyone or seem glib (lord knows we wouldn’t want to seem glib), but, and I mean this seriously, golf is possible the biggest waste of space in this world. I realize I’m glossing over the intense skill it takes to send a tiny ball hundreds of yards in a particular direction, and then follow that up by lightly tapping that same small ball into an equally small hole. Nonetheless, and again, I’m serious, screw golf. Perhaps it comes from my own middle-middle class upbringing and the ultra schmancy golf club in my home town where polo’d and khaki’d dudes would spend time being rich and engaged in this boring “sport,” but I think it more than likely comes from the exclusivity inherent in everything about golf. I’m, of course, not talking about any golf that involves windmills, animatronic dinosaurs, or waterfalls. Just to be clear. OK, how many of you did I lose. And remember, I’m not talking about golfers, just golf. Phew!
Easy sound check, followed by a quick tour of our dressing room, green room, and exclusive cigarette smoking area. Yes Virginia, we are rock stars. We have a mirror with lights on it, and our own bathroom! We then went searching for food before the show. After a quick walk, we stumbled onto a clutch of chippies and kabob shops. Now, personally, I’m still not over my doner aversion (see this blog entry HERE (bottom of the page)), so got myself some noodles. The rest of the fellers were more than willing, however, to dive into the world of shaved meat and chili sauce. It turned out to be perhaps a poor decision for at least one band member, but I’m not one to name names. Let’s just say that we were a little worried in the first set that we may have to be a quartet for at least a 3 song period of time. Luckily, it was all sound and fury, signifying nothing.
A great show at the Byre, with a crowd of around 160 happy folks (I realize we’re no Brothers Avett or Brothers Van Halen, for that matter, ok? 160 feels pretty damned good to us). Two great sets of music, and we got to catch up with our pals from Kircaldy, Davey and Mary. Back to the hotel and to sleep, and now here we are. Perhaps I’ll post this, or perhaps I’ll wait a few more days. Don’t wanna inundate you folks with my inanities.
August 6th, 2011:
OK, back for one more entry before I send this missive into the internet ether, or is that the ethernet inter? Hah, wordplay!
Last night was a great success, if we do say so ourselves. First of all, I didn’t mention yesterday the jaw dropping drive. Not sure how often I can reiterate this point, but the north of Scotland is a rugged and verdant place, and though we’re seeing much of the landscape at 50 miles an hour, it is appreciated nonetheless. The drive onto the Isle of Skye, which even sounds pretty, was especially nice. As a band that takes a certain interest in things morphologic and scientific (and I may just be speaking for myself here, though I think not), all of the u-shaped valleys and glacially carved cliffs were rewarding to see. One can almost imagine a mile of ice on top of us, just grinding away. That is, of course, if you believe such hogwash, as opposed to the facts of, you know, it just being that way because that’s the way the man upstairs wants it to be. Hmm, maybe I’ll just leave this one alone, eh? Probably almost as offensive as my thoughts on golf . . .
Nothing new to report on the gig, really. We rolled into Portree in time to make a stop by Cuillin FM for a little on air performance. Thanks to Bruce for having us! I love the idea of a radio station dedicated to broadcasting throughout the Hebrides. Besides the physical sciences, you know of course that this band is dedicated to the publicly owned and controlled airwaves. I also love that we were bookended on one end by a Katie Perry song and on the other end by a Coldplay song. Ah to be surrounded by ones peers!
The gig at the Aros Centre (!) was a lot of fun. We’ve been using this small mic set-up a lot over here, which really allows us to move around and interact with one another, something we enjoy doing. Hopefully it comes off well from a visual perspective also. Right before we went on stage, a tall red headed woman approached us to let us know that she was the town’s librarian and that this night represented her one night off, and the it had better be good! Especially as how she had seen Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three recently and they were so well dressed and generally excellent, and they recommended us highly. She gave Ed grief because he was wearing a fleece and that it would never do on stage. Eddie, of course, knows better than that! Anyone who knows the man knows he’s a short shorts and flannel kind of guy, or occasionally a plaid on plaid person. Anyway, she also warned us that the crowd might be a bit reserved (“It’s dry on Skye”), though she and her friends in the front row more than made up for any lack of enthusiasm. The theater in the Aros Centre is a really charming spot with wood trim and comfy seats.
We ended the night at a local shitty pub, listening to a guitar shredder backed by pre-recorded band tracks running through all kinds of hits: Money for Nothing, Boys are Back in Town, etc. As camp as this might have seemed, it provided a nice counterpoint to our gigs of the last week, and, more than anything else, brought back the realization of how much we now dislike playing in loud bars to disaffected patrons.
Now we’re on a ferry, headed to the Outer Hebrides, the Isle of Lewis, for a gig in Stornaway. This represents the furthest north we’ve ever gone. The sky is light until around 10:30pm here, and dawn happens pretty early as well. Let’s hope we don’t fall off the edge of the earth here, as Graham is constantly predicting.
Coming up on future blogs: Crybaby Stuck in the Land of Withholding: Ruminations on Pay WiFi and No Rice with My Chinese or Indian Food; 6,000 Pounds of Carrots Grown in Inverness: How is It that All My Food Comes from Honduras? And other topics!
August 1, 2011 – Fochabers
Greetings from Speyside! Here we are, in the heart of Scotch Whiskey country (well, at least in one of its hearts. Not unlike a cow has many stomachs in order to process cellulose into protein, Scotland’s whiskey country has many hearts with which to process sobriety into drunk-itude). We’ve just finished our two day run at Speyfest, a fabulously run festival here in the north of Scotland, and are enjoying a day off before heading out again. I’m sitting at an ice cream parlor, sucking a cappuccino (they still have almost zero respect for coffee in this country) and contemplating spending money on wireless internet (again, really Scotland?), so let’s catch up.
Wednesday, July 27th – Thursday July 28th: The Flights.
Nothing terribly exciting to report here, we made it through security and onto our planes without much difficulty, and crammed our, for the most part, lanky and jumbled frames into the . . . tightly packed seats on our British Airways flights. It’s a hilarious farce that the airlines provide you with exercises that you can do in your seat – ankle rolls, knee bends, etc – as though there’s even enough room for a 6”1′ man to do an ankle roll. Instead, we all worked on strengthening our Kegels. Ladies, I think you know what I mean. And release!
The only thing really worth mentioning is that, upon arrival in Edinburgh, my (PF, that is, who else?) bag was nowhere to be seen (and only showed up yesterday, so perhaps you can imagine the state of my . . . undergarments). Besides that, we were overjoyed to once again see Gerry, our loyal and consistently irascible road manager. He eyed Graham like a fresh piece of beef, just ready for grilling. And, if you know Graham, you know his seemingly pristine person is, as with all of us, just full of opportune quirks that a insult-minded Scotsman might exploit for his own personal amusement.
We jumped in the van and headed straight for Gartly and the Tin Hut Sessions. For an indepth description of our host, Fraser, please see this blog entry right here. But, as a quick reminder, the Tin Hut is just that: a metal building in the midst of the countryside. Fraser is our heirloom potato-growing, cask Scotch-drinking, Geordie-speaking promoter/host. The show was a great success. It’s been 2 years since last we were here, and we have, as many of you know, a heap of new songs and a somewhat different sound than in 2009, and it went over like gangbusters amongst the sold out (!!) crowd. It was a great beginning to this tour, and hopefully a sign of shows to come.
As is the custom with the Tin Hut Sessions, we didn’t eat dinner until after the show (and, you can imagine our level of ravenous-ness by that point). We cruised back to the lovely house, almost estate, of our erudite and gracious hosts for the night – Richard and Lynn. Richard is a deer stalker (which sounds infinitely cooler than “hunter,” doesn’t it?) and so we were treated to a venison stew, plus cauliflowers, potatoes, and then blueberries and strawberries. Plus, of course, ample wine, beer, and Scotch at the end of the evening. Hey American promoters. Notice there are almost ZERO descriptions of this sort in my explanation of our US touring. Wonder why that is? That’s funny, I also wonder that same thing. We stayed up chatting about politics and history (lots more of it here. Did you know that Macbeth was a real guy? Well, you’re smarter than me I guess, congrats!). Lynn works for Oxfam and has some interesting/terrifying stories of her travels in some of the more dangerous and indisposed parts of the world. No, not Detroit or Birmingham . . . Eventually we got to sleep, sleeping the sleep of dead angels (“sleep of the dead” + “slept like an angel” What do you think? Does it work?).
Friday, July 29th:
We awoke to the smells of sumptuous salty breakfast meat. I know I have talked at length on the topic of the full Scottish/English/Irish breakfast (AKA the Sodium Protein Power Punch). I myself try to greatly limit my intake of back bacon, sausage, eggs, beans (!), and Haggis (do I capitalize that?). In comparison, our very own Edward, never one to turn down anything more than three times, has been on a personal mission to eat three whole pigs on his stay here. And he’s off to a good start I’d say. We’ve been here 4 mornings, and eaten the equivalent of 6 full Scottish’s (he ate mine and Gerry’s on Saturday morning in addition to his own). Someday, Eddie is going to make his cardiologist the happiest woman in the world! After being jammed full of salty meats, we headed for Inverness and our next gig – The Wild West Fest at Bogbain Farm!
Bogbain Farm is run by Bruce MacGregor, a great guy and also a fairly well known Scottish fiddler. He plays in many group, most notably Blazin’ Fiddles. While the thought of five fiddles and not one banjo might seem like an atrocity to those of us of a more plunky persuasion, clearly it’s very high energy music that goes over like gangbusters. Anyway, the theme of the weekend was wild west, and basically everyone in attendance was dressed in plaid shirts, denim cutoffs (amongst the ladies), boots and hats. There were also a couple of faux Native Americans, which was . . . incongruous, to say the least. I always love seeing what impression people have of “American.” Well yeeha y’all!
It was a small but appreciative crowd in the stone barn where we were playing (as perfect a venue for our music as there is), and we were able to play the first set fully acoustic. The rowdier young folks,who made the mistake of sitting in the back during the first set, were shooting off cap guns and hooting and generally acting much like an audience might be expected to act in such a setting. The more staid members of the crowd weren’t having it, however, and I watched a gentlemen stand up, turn to them, and give them the universal “hand across the neck” sign of “shut the eff up!” So for the second set they moved frontward, and were able to dance and hoot and do all the rowdy things they wanted. After the show we were talking with the most gregarious of the dancers, who claimed that she “didn’t know how to dance, just how to bend her knees.” Amen.
Saturday/Sunday July 30-31: Speyfest
We arrived in Fochabers (say it like you want to, it’s right and rude), checked into our hotel, and headed for the festival site. Like many of the fests we’ve experienced over here, there is a smaller festival club stage and then the larger main marquee. It is our tendency to assume we’ll be on the side stage (many years of soul crushing touring will squeeze you expectations into a tight ball of pessimism! Not a bad way to ensure that your expectations are either met or exceeded, by the way. Just set them very low. Anyway, we, as the resident Americans, were on the main stage, jammed between a wonderfully pretty Celtic trio (guitar, fiddle, accordion) called Tyde, and a crazy Finnish megaband called Tsuumi Sound System. We broke up the melodious music with a typical set of our style (anyone got a suggestion for a description?) which went over quite well. It;’s funny, at a festival like this, nearly entirely populated by “diddly dee” music, I personally always fear that we’ll just confuse the audience, or that the simplistic and intentionally non-beautiful melodies that we play will be met with hostile indifference; but, there’s something about this music, be it oldtime, stringband, or honky tonk. We get a lot of folks over here just staring in amazement/amusement, and even more who are just bopping like crazy and cheering to boot!
We did three sets over two days, including a last minute, all “traditional” set on the festival club stage, and feel like we did quite well in communicating our mission statement (“Give us more bacon”). The banjos were definitely the highlight for many of the listeners out there. They and Jake were both hits! Actual interaction:
Red headed kid: “Yous were great! I really liked yer sound”
Me: “Thanks”
Redhead: “But yer man on drums was outplaying the lot of you. I basically watched him the whole time”
Me: “ . . .”
What are you gonna do? Now only is he stunning to look at, but he’s a rhythm octopus. There is no way to escape the black hole of admiration that surrounds Jake Sellers.
I’m glossing over the after parties for these nights. Suffice to say, they know how to keep artists happy at these festivals. Canapes are set out to form a bed onto which one can pour large quantities of beer, wine, cider, and, of course, Scotch. There was actually a whiskey tasting bar in the Green room. Is that a good idea? Your head says “yes” on the night of, and shouts “NO!” the morning after. We made a lot of great friends at Speyfest, Many of whom we hope we’ll see again. Dr Mango and The Chick Peas, Rura, Tyde, also our pal Bob Sharp (usually the sound man at the Tin Hut) and Katie, a new pal from the Isle of Mann (a Manxwoman?) who’s a fabulous fiddler and also fairly funny. Another highlight was “The Fochaber Fiddlers,” 27 young, mostly female, fiddlers, all with identical bowstrokes. Enough to make a banjo player’s head explode, just thinking about the difficulty of dealing with that many fiddlers all at once.
Last night, Katie and I ended up back at the festival tent where the committee was engaged on the, apparently annual, rite of “let’s finish all the booze from the bar.” It was a serve yourself affair, so imagine the volume and veracity of conversation! There was a 10 fiddle, 1 guitar, 1 accordion, 1 piano jam afoot, and I decided I’d try to inject some clawhammer banjo into this Diddly Dee madness. I managed to get past the initial timing issues (it’s not built for jig-time so much, at least not my style) and the constant key changes (a new tune in a new key every three times through? What ever happened to “jamming?”), but there were also two Cajon’s present. Do you know what a Cajon is? It’s a box, and you sit on it and hit it with yer hands. Our pal Summer Gentry from A Good Natured Riot plays one. Now, I want to tread lightly here, so ‘ll put it this way: If you can’t quite hear the rhythm of the melody from across the circle, don’t just start beating on yer box! With two loud barrages of beats at different tempos, finding a groove was nearly impossible. Of course, it may have been my fault (you may never hear me say that again).
And now it’s Monday. Tomorrow we’re off to the Isle of Mull, and then onward from there! More to come. Please send suggestions/complaints/ideas for topics on which I may rant/perform exposition. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this “Hot Seats Who Said It?”
“Fucking deep toilets! …It’s like a cannonball competition every time.”
OK, Love you!
PF Hotseats, signing out.
We recently (finally) had some new press shots taken. We managed to be in beeyootiful downtown Ashland, VA right at the “magic hour” (that’s fancy photographers’ talk, mind you. Or wizards’ talk. Photographers or wizards). The pics were taken by the fabulously talented and patient Kaitlin Vaughan, to whom we are very grateful. Check out the PRESS SHOTS page to see some more legitimate (at least in the eyes of publicists, bookers, and those afraid of the truth) pics. However, if you want to see what we’re really all about (and you knew this), simply look below . . .
Who’s back pocket is Ed putting HIS hand into? The World’s!
Check out this great video from the Music City Roots that we played last night! We’re on around the one hour mark, in case you need to see us RIGHT NOW!.
Check out these sweet reviews for our new EP!
First there’s this one in Magazine 33,
and then our pals at Red Eyed Rooster call it “one of the most unique old time albums of 2010.”
And then there’s this great review from independent reviewer and music lover Lanny Fields:
“The Hot Seats EP 2010
We’re now about a generation removed from the stringband revival of the 70′s and 80′s, led, in part by the Chicken Chokers and Highwoods String Band. Who the hell remembers that anyway? But now, circa 2010, the Hot Seats have taken this sound a step farther in intensity, without losing any sincerity along the way. Only 7 tracks long (if you order it online) and clocking in at just 22 minutes, this isn’t technically a full-length but it deserves mention because of the solid musicianship and overall impact it has on one when listening to it. You can search far and wide and you will not find anyone playing old-time music with this level of sincerity and drive. Other young stringbands either play it too safe, or so haphazard and punkish that it comes off as hokey and contrived. The Hot Seats know how to honor the tradition while bringing it into the modern era with rare intensity. It is the tradition for traditional music to evolve. This is the best old-time recording put out by anybody this year. And it covers a wide breadth – from straight up old-time tunes (Betsy Likens, Sugar Hill, Rocky Pallet) to rags (Plowboy Hop and Pig Ankle Rag) to stringband blues (Polecat Blues) to a dark traditional Irish reel (Evite Gabriel). This is authentic, no holds barred, stringband music. For your health.”
The party so nice, we’re throwing it THRICE!
Friday, December 31st
8pm
$20 in advance – http://www.agoodnaturedriot.com/
The Hot Seats – http://www.thehotseats.net/
Jackass Flats – http://www.jackass-flats.com/
Come ring in the New Year with banjos, fiddles, and an all around hootin’ good time!
Hot Seats, Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, and The Two Man Gentlemen Band – Nazareth PA, October 2010
November 6th 2010
Hey check it out!
It’s me, PF Hotseat, reporting in from, where else, the van! As usual, I’m in the passenger seat. Tried dictating a blog entry to Benny from the driver seat once, but all that resulted was 113 pages of “ben lik computr, computr lik ben.” It’s a tactile and fabulous world in which our Ben “Heironymous Volcano” Belcher resides, but it’s not one that’s made for the field of administrative assistant or stenographer. It’s also been pointed out to us recently that he bears a striking similarity to World Series winning pitcher Tim Lincecum. You decide for yourself: Ben. Tim Linsicum. What do YOU say? Nevertheless, he’s a fab driver (as is Tim Linsicum, we’re sure). He’s doing it right now!
We’re on a scenic jaunt from Wilkes Barre, PA to Rockton PA to play at Over the Mountain tonight. Another of the clutch of great places where we’ve been fortunate enough to perform over the last almost 9 years. A good and rowdy crowd, a hospitable bar staff and owner, and an openness to whatever happens to be amusing us at that particular instant. Pennsylvania is a very lovely state, ya know? Last month we had a great drive through the Eagle Valley, and yesterday we were all up in the Lehigh Valley; both are rolling and heavily forested, enough just to make the most jaded road guys exclaim, “isn’t that just PRETTY!” But, just so many of the states in the U.S. of m’fing A, along with the vistas come the small towns that, on a grey and cold day, look like the scene of any number of late 1970′s slasher/religious apocalypse films. But hey, like Jonny Couger sez, Ain’t That America?
So it’s been a number of months since last we sent out a missive. There’s far too much that’s happened in the last 90 days or so to even attempt a summary, but let’s hit the high spots, shall we?
Labor Day weekend in Cody Wyoming: Anyone who’s been to Wyoming knows that it’s basically like traveling to the moon (or so I’ve heard). There are massive stretches of highway with nothing to look at but hulking ridge lines, rocky canyons, prairie dogs (so unbelievably cute), and the very occasional other driver. We had a blast at this gig: saw grizzly bears and big horned rams, got to eat unholy-sized steaks and mountain oysters (they taste just like you expect) at an old brothel called Cassie’s, and we got to play music in a band shell, just like John Philips Sousa! All in all, a very positive experience.
Bristol Rhythm and Roots and Watermelon Park Festival: What more can we really say than whenever we get the opportunity to play for appreciative crowds and hang out with old road friends, there’s no room for complaints. We only hope that we fulfill everyone’s expectations in being both herky AND jerky.
Brand new EP 2010: As you all know, we had some transitions over the last year that made recording and marketing a little challenging. Certainly it’s not our great distaste for the studio or in the completion of projects. Anyway, whatever the hold up, we put out our brand new vinyl 33rpm EP this last month. We’re pretty proud of it, as it represents one of the directions we’ve been headed recently, which is towards being a kickass stringband. The EP has tunes from Virginia, Kentucky, French Canadia, and elsewhere. It’s mostly oldtime and ragtime, and features our favorite thing at the moment – double banjo fury! Clawhammer meets three-finger, feels so wrong, sounds so right!
Elwood Thompsons commercial: That’s right! One of the tracks, Jack Wilson/Sugar Hill (we call it “Little Jackie Sugar,” from the EP is featured in a new TV commercial airing on CBS in Richmond and globally on the world wide web! Elwood Thompsons is Richmond’s only locally owned organic and local food market, and we’re very happy to have our music associated with their product. You can see the ad HERE.
Ambassadors from the Land of Man 2010: The main highlight of October, besides all the brain-eating and gnashing of teeth, was the shows we got to play with two of our best bandy friends in all the world – The Two Man Gentlemen Band and Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three. If you were at these shows, you know what you saw, but if you weren’t, all I’ll say is that you missed one of the finest nights in hillbilly/ragtime/novelty music that’s ever toured this fine land. Not since the famed Camp Creek Boys, Blind Boy Fuller, George Formby tour of 1955 has such an ensemble graced the stages of this land, and that tour never even happened! We also had a fun gig with Pokey and also JP Harris & the Tough Choices in Richmond that certainly quenched some of our thirst for honkytonk and straight ahead country music. It’s nice to have talented friends, no?
Halloween 2010: Admittedly, it’s been a few years since last we went all out for Halloween. No plays in the recent years, a little too much road time to successfully write or rehearse such a thing. Nonetheless, it’s well established at this point that Oct 31st is one of this band’s favorite days/weeks of the year. We unleashed our inner Zombies and marched in the 6th Annual Oregon Hill Halloween Parade, organized and masterminded by our dear compatriot Lily Lamberta of the All The Saints Theater Company. Very few people work as hard as she, and the City of Richmond should be very grateful for her presence and impact.
And now here we are.
This has been an enjoyable little weekend thus far. Thursday we drove to NYC for a gig at the Jalopy Theater in Red Hook. If you live in or near Brooklyn and you enjoy music at all, and especially the kind of music that we play (I’m making some assumptions here, given you’re reading this blog right now), you should get yer ass to the Jalopy. Besides having a clutch of sweet old instruments for sale, they offer classes on many instruments, and have great live music nearly every night of the week. It’s also very comfortable and homey in it’s décor and is a great place to play and hear music. Ok, enough gushing.
It was a shitty weather day on Thursday, and given Red Hook’s relative inconvenience from other parts of the city (so I’m told; I drove from Richmond, so Manhattan to Red Hook doesn’t seem so unreasonable), it was a low but appreciative turnout. We’ve learned to enjoy the relatively strange relationship that develops between a band and a small crowd in an intimate venue. We’re simultaneously elated and apologetic at their presence, and we hope that the feelings are mutual. Is that sensical? Not sure, the sun is piercing into the back of my eyeballs right now, muddling my thoughts.
We spent the night in Nazareth, PA; back again at the Christians Spring Hotel and Tavern. Without reservation, Lin and Fred make the hall of fame of band hospitality. Anyone who answers a call for last minute lodging at 11pm and provides beds and welcome will, as I’ve said before, be serenaded by only the finest bands for eternity.
Funtimes in Forty Fort, PA last night (anyone know the origin of that name? I guess the internet does, but that’s so impersonal. We played it pretty straight for the majority of the show, only getting a little weird at the end of the night. We are what we are, you know? We can only subdue it for so long before something slightly discordant or awkward is going to bust onto the scene with a hidey-ho and a hows-yer-father! Umm . . . ok.
And tonight we are in Rockton PA at Over the Mountain. We’re expecting some hoots and hollers, maybe some enthusiastic dancing, and possibly some heckling. Too many quiet and contained audiences can soften a band; we like to maintain a diamond hard exterior, both psychically and physically, as you well know! Tonight’s show will also basically serve as our fiddler Graham “Grand Design” DeZarn’s one year anniversary with the band. Seems so long ago that he was led from the path of job-having and healthy eating into our world, and he’s embraced the music and ethos very well. Happy Dirty Birthday, Grahammy!
Finally, just want to let everyone know about our current 1-3 year plan. Seems a good time as any, given we had our annual stockholders meeting yesterday. We’ve been hitting fairly hard for the last 4-5 years, and it has been a vast majority of positive experiences and has given us the opportunity to meet and play for, well, thousands of excellent people (cumulatively. You know that, you come to our shows). Even the . . . shittier times have made for good stories and helped to build the necessary humbleness required of 5 such Adonises. Anyway, we’ve decided to constrict our touring a bit, just to allow for other hobbies (butter sculpture, staring contests, butter macrame, posture). This is not a break up letter. We’re gonna play plenty.
The plan is to shore up the areas in our region (currently defined as a 10 hour radius around Richmond), basically playing a couple of weekends a month. We love to play and are hoping this’ll give us a little more stability and allow us to practice and record more. If you want us to come to yer town, and there’s nothing on the schedule, PLEASE be in touch – thehotseats@gmail.com. We’re just a little tired of the mid-week bar gigs where we’re the second act to TV (does that sound snotty? So paranoid today!).
All that being said, there’s some fun gigs on the horizon. In about a week we’ll be back in Frankfort Kentucky and down through Alabama and Mississippi and back to our other hall of famers’ (Mary and Steve) house in Denham Springs, Louisiana for a house show we’ve been looking forward to since about April. December’s pretty bare, though we did just start solidifying plans for the 3rd Annual Richmond Roots Extravaganza with Jackass Flats and another yet-to-be-named band.
2011 is also shaping up well with gigs in DC, Nashville (Music City Roots and a square dance/show with the Hog Slop Stringband!), and possible short jaunts to Belgium and beyond (some plots too uncooked to even whisper, for fear that it may slump like so many improperly baked souffles.
So that’s that!
Check the website, come to the shows, and be in touch!
PF Hotseats et al.
