The Ebb And The Flow » Favorite Gentlemen

prepro wrap up

Jeremiah Edmond — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:23:12 +0000

This last week has been a whirlwind. We have been doing pre production with Joe Chicarelli each day which has been awesome. Joe has had such great ideas and input and the songs are even better now than they were last week. This whole writing process has been interesting and different for all of us. With the last record we had been playing most of the songs for a while before recording them and knew exactly what we wanted them to sound like. With this record we wrote everything in a very short amount of time and left a lot of it open to work through in pre production. We are all extremely excited to see how they continue to progress once we get into the studio.
Today I am heading to Matt Malpass’ studio Marigolds & Monsters to work on a new project for Favorite Gentlemen. We are going to be recording video and audio of Right Away, Great Captain! performing a few songs for a new series we are starting. This is the test run so I am excited to see how it all turns out. J is helping out and taking care of all of the video duties. It is amazing having friends like Matt and J, that are so talented at what they do and who are willing to get involved and try new things like this. Hopefully all will go smoothly.

SLC>Denver>Kansas City

Jeremiah Edmond — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:21:01 +0000

We didn’t arrive in SLC until almost noon. Luckily I had been able to get some decent sleep in the van so I spent the day catching up on e-mails and phone calls and trying to finish the new photo blog page.
I was a little bummed at first when I realized we were playing the smaller room at the venue because it meant we had to share drum kits but it actually ended up being a really fun show. Somehow we have a pretty great fan base in SLC and they were an awesome crowd. Thank you SLC!
We stayed the night in town and woke up early yesterday morning to drive. I slept the first few hours and then woke up and watched the Sigur Ros DVD with Tim. It was incredibly well done and really inspiring. That band blows my mind.
The denver show was pretty cool. I liked the venue other than the dressing room being colder than it was outside. It was absolutely freezing!
We decided to take of after the show and drive through the night to save on hotel costs. I took the first shift riding shotgun while Joe drove. We listened to some Jay-Z, Saves The Day, Get Up Kids, and some further seems forever. I gave him a crash course of Wilco records. He had somehow missed out on Wilco all of this time. He then introduced me to Mew which I really liked. I decided to get some french vanilla cappuccino to help me stay awake. I don’t ever drink coffee because I have always hated the taste but this wasn’t too bad. I did burn my tongue though which is really annoying. We finally traded shifts a little after 5 AM and I got some sleep. I kept getting woken up but some asian women who had the wrong number and WOULD NOT stop calling.
We just checked into our hotel in KC and are hanging out here for a few hours until we have to load in to the venue. Last time we played here the club has a mechanical bull. I am hoping it is still there and we can ride it tonight.

Portland>Seattle

Jeremiah Edmond — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:13:03 +0000

We showed up in portland yesterday at 2pm after driving all night. Everyone was exhausted so joe dropped us off at the hotel to shower and relax for a couple hours. J, robert, chris and I used the time to watch the latest episode of LOST.
The area of portland the venue was in is a cool strip with lots of vintage clothibg stores and a record store and an amazing book store. We walked around a bit after we showed up to the venue. I found a new glen e friedman book that is a 20th aniversary on fugazi thing with all the pictures he has taken of them. I don’t know how I never thought of it before but I would love to try and get him to shoot us sometime. They also had a huge selection of small DIY books that were pretty cool. I guess there is a lot of that in portland.
Chris and I went to dinner with alex and his wife annie. We had a great time and stuffed outselves with sushi and saki until we were sick.
The show was filled with bad stage sound and technical issues but the crowd was suprisingly into it. We had never played to a very large crowd in portland and didn’t expect there to be many fans there but they went crazy when we came on stage to set up. Merch sales were great too. I caught a guy trying to steal a hoodie. Someone stole a weatherbox shirt too.
After the show a few of us went to alex and annies house and played wii and guitar hero for a while while parker and the weatherbox guys geeked out over parkers magic card collection.
We are now on our way to seattle. It is a pretty easy drive today, I think only 3 hours. Right now we are listening to bob marley and it is pretty overcast and cold.not your typical music selection for this type of drive but somehow it makes me feel a little warmer and relaxed just listening to it. Chris and I both have been in the mood for reggae so I tried to find a cd to get yesterday but couldn’t decide on which to get so bob marley is all we have for now. Maybe I’ll pick some up today.

Back On The Road

Jeremiah Edmond — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:32:13 +0000

My last week at home was great but went by way too quickly. I went back to Daufuskie with Erin and my parents to help them back up some stuff. I love going through junk and found some great stuff. I finally found my sports cards that had been lost forever and some old family photos.I spent some time working of Favorite Gentlemen stuff. The website is almost finished. We got the I Married My Highschool Sweetheart album mastered as well as a new track from Winston Audio that will be available on the FG/Gnome Records download card. The download card should bring some good attention to the bands.This evening we flew from Atlanta to LA. We flew Delta which is annoying becasue they charge for all the food and entertainment other than music. Luckily they have some good albums to listen to.My ATL to LA listening consisted of:Robert Plant/Allison Krauss – Raisin SandMadeleine Peyroux – Half The Perfect WorldBob Dylan – Modern TimesThe White Stripes – Icky ThumpKevin Devine – New DemosThe New Frontiers – Daytrotter SessionsI browsed through some other random stuff too.Our new tour manager Joe and merch guy Tim picked us up at the airport and we headed to the hotel. We are staying on Sunset right down the street from Vine so we aren’t far from the Avalon which is where we play tomorrow. We also aren’t far from In-N-Out, so we walked over and got some food that we are already regretting. Tomorrow is our first show which should be fun. I am looking forward to seeing the Say Anything guys again.Joy In Tomorrow is also in town tomorrow night so hopefully we will be able to hang out with them after the show. I am still on ATL time so I am going to head to bed.

Melbourne>Sydney

Jeremiah Edmond — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:51:40 +0000

It has been a few days since I have had decent internet and the time to write. We played a show with CYHSY in Melbourne the day after Laneway. We didn’t really do a whole lot that day other than hang out at the hotel and then play. The show went well. I was really tired afterwards and we had to wake up early the next morning for a flight so I didn’t hang out much after the show.

The next morning we woke up early and caught a flight to Sydney. It was an off day for us but we had to do a bunch of label and promo stuff. As we were going to pick up our luggage we ran into Lenny from My American Heart. We had met him at a party in L.A. a few months back. As we were talking to him we looked outside and saw Kevin Devine and Aaron and Mike from mewithoutYou! We had all been bummed knowing that Kevin was going to be in Melbourne the day we had to leave so it was awesome running into him. It was nice to see Aaron and Mike as well as Mike’s wife Sarah. It had been a good few months since seeing them. Pretty mind blowing running into friends and people we know halfway across the world.

The press stuff all went well. We got to go do an interview at JJJ which was really cool. It seems like an amazing station. We went out to dinner with a few people from the label here that night. They took us to a cool italian/pizza place and had an amazing time hanging out and eating and having some good conversation. Afterwards Mariam was kind enough to take us to the beach to hang out for a little while.

Once we made it back to the hotel we watched a bit of I’m Not Here. We didn’t make it all the through the movie though becasue we got distracted hanging out. The hotel was filled with other bands who were playing the Soundwave festival. It really seemed like there was nothing but bands at the hotel. I tried to watch the movie again once we got back to the room but was just too tired.

Chris, Robert and I all woke up early the next morning and got some breakfast and then caught a cab to go see the zoo. We caught a ferry that goes by the Sydney Opera house and then we took the sky bucket over the whole zoo. The ferry ride was beautiful and the sky bucket thing was pretty awesome too. We ended up making it to every exhibit I think. The zoo was absolutely amazing. The coolest zoo I have ever been to by far. Robert got to touch a kangaroo. I don’t think he was supposed to, but it came out on the sidewalk and he did. As soon as he touched it the kangaroo brushed his hand off of him. He didn’t like it much. You are able to get so close to all the the animals. I would recommend it to anyone going to Sydney.

The show that night was really great. We were exhausted from walking around the zoo all day but the crowd was really responsive which made it a bit easier to get into playing. A lot of the label came out to the show and we hung out afterwards. We are really excited about the label team over here and it has been really great getting to meet them all.

I was absolutely exhausted by the time we got to the hotel and passed out trying to upload pictures. We have to go to the venue now so hopefully I can upload a bunch tonight when we get back.

Manchester/Bristol

Jeremiah Edmond — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:42:19 +0000

Last night after the show Robert downloaded the latest episode of LOST so I really didn’t have time to write or update any photos. We all gathered around his computer on a mattress on the floor in he and Chris’ abnormally large and awkwardly shaped hotel room and watched the episode together. As always we were left spouting off random theories on what could be happening but really just being completely clueless. It was kind of nice watching One Tree Hill today after missing 6 or so episode and being able to catch on to what is going on within a few minutes. Those writers are pretty clever how they make you love and hate certain characters and then totally change you emotions towards them in an episode or two. WB shows are some deep and groundbreaking stuff. Last night’s show was fun. The monitor guy had the balls to fall asleep during our set with his feet up on the console and leaned back against the wall. I watched him for almost 2 songs and then threw my drumstick sleeve at him and hit him smack in the center on the chest. He woke up extremely confused fixed what I asked him to fix and then went back to sleep. After our last full band song I walked to his side of the stage and yelled at him a bit and made sure he was able to keep himself awake for the last song. It was really quite impressive actually. He must have either been very tired, or very talented at sleeping as we are a very loud band live and the light guy had strobes going every single song.I walked around a bit before the show and went into an old Catholic church that was across the street. There was an organist up in the balcony playing a HUGE organ. It was really pretty awesome.Today we drove to Bristol. One Tree Hill along the way as I mentioned earlier. Lucas has been making some bad decisions and Dan is somehow making me think he just MIGHT have a heart and some good in him. MAYBE. I’m just glad Lucas is alive actually. Today was a close call. Tomorrow is a long drive so hopefully I won’t get stuck in the front seat and cal watch more OTH.Tonight show was at this crazy venue that is actually the hull of a big boat that is docked in the harbor. There is a restaurant upstairs and a venue and bar downstairs. A large metal tank isn’t exactly the best place for a good sounding concert but it made for a really cool experience. We had never played in Bristol or really anywhere nearby and somehow had 200+ people come out. Anathallo even had some real fans tonight which was awesome. We ran into some guys from New Mexico that we had met at shows before. They were staying in Spain I think and were in London for a bit and saw we were playing so they took a train to bristol to see the show which was pretty awesome. It must be amazing being able to have that freedom and opportunity to just travel around for fun. Obviously I get to travel alot but always on a strict schedule for work without many chances to just wander around and do things like that on a whim. It would be pretty awesome.Everyone is pretty under the weather still. Bret is actually suffering through an awful cold/fever and I am sharing a bed with him tonight praying that I don’t catch it. I will have to double up on the vitamin that my wonderful wife so thoughtfully bought me so I would stop coming home sick from every trip.Here are a couple photos from the last 2 days

Recap!

Jeremiah Edmond — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:41:09 +0000

It has been too many days since I have really written here. The goal is to write every day on the road which has proven difficult. Once we get back to the hotels it is always late and I am exhausted and some of the time there is no internet. Very few of the venues have internet access and to use the internet on my phone costs a fortune over here. So here is a quick recap of the last few days.

Dublin – The first show day of the tour and the first day meeting up with Anathallo. The show was at a place called Crawdaddy. The rest of the band played there before when I was on my break for the wedding. It is a small but pretty cool room. The crowd was great and loved Anathallo. I know I have said this already but having them here with us is just amazing. It has made this trip so much better than any other time we have been here. The new songs are mind blowing.

Glasgow – We woke up early and took took a ferry to Scotland. Its a huge ferry with restaurants and an arcade and shop in it. Unfortunately it was a really nasty day so you could see out very far at all. On the rest of the drive we started watching the last few episodes of Gilmore Girls. We started it last UK tour and over the break the rest of the guys watched almost the whole series. I don’t remember the name of the venue we played at but it was in part of an old church or something. Our dressing room was the private dining room of the owner so there were leather couches ada huge banquette table and a mounted dear head and a piano and al sorts of fancy stuff. I wish every dressing room was like that. Andy’s monitor was really messed up and was feeding back at him all night killing his ears. Other than that it was a pretty good show.

Leeds – We finished Gilmore Girls. There were a few shocks. Over all an OK ending. Nothing amazing though.  We played at The Cockpit. The crowd was amazing It was packed all night. A good number of Anathallo fans were there which is awesome. We didn’t expect to have such a great turnout in Leeds. This was the first show we had any merchandise to sell and Jamie and Rachael who handle most all of our street team stuff in the UK have been coming along selling for us which has bee a huge help. They are great people.

Birmingham – We showed up at The Barfly pretty early for load in. The room was pretty cool but the backstage area used to be a morgue so it was freezing and there were barely any lights or seats which made for a very uncomfortable place to hang out. Luckily we were in a pretty cool are of town so we all spent a good bit of time wandering around. The were a great vintage clothing store right around the corner that we all went shopping at. If you walked a bit further down the road there was al old 16th century church and then right next to it was a huge mall that looked like a spaceship. It was such a strange visual. The show ended up being decent. The crowd wasn’t huge but they were responsive and merch sold well. Afterwards it turned into a club that was having 90’s night so a few of us stayed for a few hours and danced and made fools of ourselves. It is strange not knowing any of the songs that were obviously HUGE here.

London – We started watching One Tree Hill today. Yes, another WB show. WB DVD’s seem to be the only thing that work in the DVD player we have because of the region codes.  They also are very cheap DVD sets. The first few episodes have us hooked. Tonight’s show was at Scala which we played on our first London trip in March. We upgraded to the larger room which luckily was lower in the building. Last time we had to go up 6 flights of stairs with all of our gear. The turnout was pretty good and the crowd was great. Anathallo was amazing The crowd loved them also. We got to see Bex, who is our booking agent in the UK which is always nice. We also got to catch up with some other friends and people from the label and such. Tomorrow we drive to Manchester for an XFM radio performance. No show tomorrow night which will be nice. We all are ready for some downtime and a good night of sleep. We have a 4 hour drive so that means we will get in a good disc or two of One Tree Hill. I added Anathallo’s blog to my blog roll. It’s called You Happy Makes Me Go Oldies. Check it out.I will add a bunch of photos tomorrow. I need to get some sleep now. My throat is a little soar and I really don’t want to get sick.

rain or vampires?

Jeremiah Edmond — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:29:23 +0000

Andy and I flew from Orlando, FL to Columbus, OH today. We flew on Southwest so you have to take whatever seats are open when you get on the place so we ended up in the very last seat with a middle aged woman between us who had way to much perfume on and though she was way younger than she was. I took the window seat so I could take some pictures and have the wall to lean against. The flight went by quickly. I read the new Rolling Stone (congrats to the selmanaires for their nice review) and Spin ( congrats to Black Lips for their feature). Andy and I picked up the van once we landed and headed to the hotel which turned out to be attached to an indoor water park. YES! Close on Tuesday and Wednesday. NO! It’s OK, they have an arcade! YES! Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. NO! It’s OK. They have movies to rent. We just wached 30 Days Of Night. Wow. That was intense and AWESOME. I really am not into scare movies. Especially vampire movies, but this was so well done and awesome. Andy and I are drinking some Yellow Tail Shiraz-Cab and listening to the new Anathallo now. Having such talented friends really is inspiring and humbling. We are only 3 songs into the record and it is amazing so far. It is really an amazing thing listening to the new Colour Revolt and Anathallo records and appreciating it becasue they are friends and also because you know in a few months when everything one else hears it is it going to change lives. The rest of the band spent the whole day at the airport having flights delayed and canceled until they had to go to a hotel to wait for a flight in the morning. They will arrive around 10 tomorrow AM and then we will head to the radio station for a live full band radio performance. Andy and I are enjoying our evening together but miss the guys and look forward to their return. Somehow I know miss the fact that Chris would have loved the vampire movie and spent the next month daydreaming about what he would do in the same situation, J would have pointed out some weird facts or talked about a book he read and then made us all feel uncultured and Robert would have insulted us all as well as made us all laugh until we cried. (a couple hours pass by)OK. So I had to put the computer down for a while in the middle of posting so I could listen to some new Right Away, Great Captain! songs. We then got interrupted by a video chat from Max and Chris and now are listening to rehearsal demos of our new songs. It is times like these that I question how I got where I am and how. Having given up the idea of even being in a band 3 years ago to being where I am today. How quickly things change and how greatly I am blessed to be able to be involved musically and artistically with the people I am as well as to be friends and piers with the artists I have been blessed to know over the last three years. (30 minutes later)We just spent 30 minutes trying to find the snack machine, realizing we didn’t have out wallets and then getting lost trying to find the machine again. I am now going to enjoy my BBQ chips that are way too hot and go to bed. I have to pick the guys up from the airport at 10AM tomorrow. Sorry for the lengthy and extended post. Until tomorrow……

Day 1 and 2 Wrap Up

Jeremiah Edmond — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:48:37 +0000

Last night we played our first show of the year. Our first show in 5 or 6 weeks actually. The Loft was kind enough to ask us to headline the night which was part of a Georgia Music series that they were a part of . Joy In Tomorrow Opened the night with a great set. My first show with Manchester Orchestra was actually at Smiths Olde Bar with Joy In Tomorrow so it was cool that they were able to be part of some a big show for us. Winston Audio played after them and really impressed us all. They have always been good but they have really stepped it up recently with their songs and performance. Andy Lee was filling in on drums as their drummer Benji is out with an injured back. It felt really great to have so many people out to see us. Especially in Atlanta where it seemed to take so long for us to gain any sort of fan base. Unfortunately we didn’t feel like we played all that great but the crowd was very forgiving of our sloppiness. Having not played in 6 weeks took it toll and we were all pretty worn out and just feeling it bit off. We introduced two new songs that we wrote during out break that seemed to go over pretty well. It was our first time playing them live which was a little stressful doing in front of the sold crowd. We all got home pretty late and had to meet at 7 this morning to head to Tampa, FL to start a 3 day Florida run. We have unfortunately had to cancel 2 or 3 tours in Florida this year so we needed to make it up to our fans there with at least a couple shows before we leave the country again. It was a 7 or so hour drive but it went by pretty quickly. It felt good to be in the van again. It has been a while since we have done a normal tour in our van. We were surprised to find a few fans/street teamers already outside the venue when we arrived at 4. The venue wasn’t open yet when we got there so we wandered around the town for a few minutes and ended up going into a Scientology center to see what it was all about. We really were just curious what they were telling people and what kind of “free stress test” they were doing. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous and I still think they are all crazy.The show ended up selling out a little while into the night which was a great surprise. We really weren’t expecting it at all. All Get Out has joined us for these Florida shows and they killed it tonight. We are really excited to have them with us and to be able to watch them each night. John Ralston is with us for a couple of the shows as well and it is great seeing those guys again. We did a few shows together in Texas last year around ACL. They were great tonight as well. Our set felt much better than the set at The Loft. We all felt more comfortable and were able to really have fun. We changed up the set list which made a big difference and the new songs seemed to go a lot more smoothly. The crowd response the whole night was amazing. We headed to our hotel where we had a couple rooms booked afterwards with the hopes that All Get Out would be able to get a room there also, but it turned out that everywhere in the city was sold out due to some big event. We had two rooms so we invited them to just crash with us. Which bring us to now. Im in bed writing while the rest of the room is falling asleep while watching Final Destination. sex, drugs and rock and roll? Showers, pizza and sleep.

January 26, 2008 Picture Of The Day

Jeremiah Edmond — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 06:15:44 +0000

Gordon of All Get Out behind the merch table in Tampa, FL.