Good Land Records

Howdy Y’all!

Just got back from a lovely trip down south and I couldn’t have had a better time!  On the way down to Texas we got to stay with our friend Mike in Oklahoma City and meet his dogs.  Their names are Donut and Reeses.  After that in the Dallas/Fort Worth I got to trade a little paint Roberto.  We got to stop at the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco on the way to Austin and I helped the Shades discover their favorite drink…The Original Recipe. If you haven’t ever been to the D. Pepp museum I highly suggest going.

The next couple days we did a couple of classic show with Frank Turner in San Antonio and Corpus Christi.  Big ups to Frank and his crew for having us on those couple shows!  We got to go see the Gulf Of Mexico and hug the Selena statue.  In San Anton we got to go to the Alamo and pay respect to all the struggle that has happened at that particular spot.

Up next was 5 days of chaos in Austin which was super wild and fun!  Right when we got to the Convention center to check in we ran into Dave Grohl and got to chat a bit which was a moment I’ve been waiting for since I was a kid.  He is super down to earth and an all around cool guy.  After that we got to hop on a last minute show with Milwaukee’s own The Mighty Deer Lick at the Legendary White Swan.  What an honor.  Thanks to Travis, Franke, and Erin for putting all us boys up down there.  We played the Blurt party at The Gingerman and that show was out of control!  Got to meet a Shades super fan from Belgium and I got to run into my good buddy from Australia Nish.  It was amazing catching up with everybody there and getting brisket with MKE’s own Tom Vollman.

Our showcase was at this huge awkward airplane hangar that was super loud and way too big for us.  But all went well.  You just have to roll with the punches at SX all day everyday.

The last night we got to play our friend Jimmy’s bar slash BBQ joint named Freedmans.  It was a magical night filled with Milwaukee friends old and new.  But the kicker was Jacob Dylan, Rami Jaffee and Charlie Sexton coming up to play The Weight and One Headlight with us!!!!  I’ll post more pictures on here when I get the chance.

On the way home we hit up and In n Out Burger in Dallas as well as a Waffle House in Arkansas!  Most def the most awkward and horrible WH experience to date but what can you expect?  We stayed the night close to Memphis because at noon we had a hot date for Jody Stevens of Big Star to show us the famous Ardent Studios!  We got to meet everybody there including John Fry which was super sweet.  Jody showed us the whole studio for almost 2 hours with a few factoids and stories.  He is pretty much the nicest person alive.  The Shades are going to try our hardest to record our next record there.  Then on the way out of town Jody tipped us off to some amazing ribs that got us all the way home safely.  What a solid trip.

Howdy interweb land!  Seems like things always come full circle.  Over the last couple years now and maybe more, I’ve been listening to the old pop punk stuff I did in high school.  It’s funny to say but it’s refreshing because it seems like most of the new music out there I don’t like.

Ben and I jammed with Tim Schweiger the other day and it felt great to be playing with Benny after all these years having him on the business side of things.  We are going to play a show with Tim at Linnemans April 20th for the MUFF.  Please come and watch us act like we’re 18 again!

Mike from the All American Rejects stayed with me for a week and we recorded drums for the new Direct Hit album.  It went great and he couldn’t be more of a fun guy to work with.  He got me into all kinds of old punk stuff.  Can’t wait to see him again and hear how the record will turn out.

Also, played my first show with Joseph Huber a couple weekends ago.  It was fun because I love Joe’s songs so much and I tried something I’ve never done before.  Just used a suitcase as a kick drum and a washboard as a snare.  I’m excited to play more shows with him in the future.  We need to find a stand up bass player because Rick’s going back to Alaska to film another season of Gold Rush Alaska!  Be safe up there buddy.

We’ll see ya!

G’day world!  It’s been a minute since I’ve rambled on here, so cheers to you for joining me.  First off, I hope everybody had a very Merry Xmas last week.  Besides having the plague that’s been going around for the last two weeks, I had a great holiday season with my family and girlfriend.  Right after Xmas, the Shades had to head out east amidst a blizzard to catch 3 shows with the Wallflowers before the year ended.  We played 3 cities I’ve never even heard of.  Bethlehem, PA.  North Hampton, Mass.  Rahway, NJ.  The shows were great, and their fans are so sweet to us.  The guys in the band are some of the best around, and we really missed jamming with them.  After the shows, Graham, and I headed back to NYC with Wexler & Co.  I’ve been realizing since this passed summer, I have completely fell in love with that city.  On the flight out, we flew directly over the city at night and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.  Like Levon said about, “it kicks your ass at first, but eventually you fall right in love with it.”  Couldn’t agree more with that statement regarding NYC.  This New Years Eve was the first sober one I’ve had since my early high school days, and it was so great!  Benny, and I went out to dinner with my mother, and then Becky and I went out to see Django Unchained.  Super nice to be at a movie with the year changing over.  No amateur night shenanigans for us (except for our upstairs neighbors) so all was mellow and amazing.

All of us here at Good Land are excited for 2013 and what it has in store!  Stay tuned and get pumped for the future!

The Shades just finished our west coast leg of tour with the Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band. It was super fun and damn (no pun intended) can that guy play guitar!!!!  The shows took us through the desert and the mountains.  The elevation tends to not agree with me and I got pretty sick.  I’m a sea level guy.

It was good to be home in time for Thanksgiving!  Got to celebrate it with Becky, Izzi, My Mom, Sister, Dad, and Grandma!!!  The ladies knocked the food out of the park and there’s plenty of leftovers in the fridge still.

The rest of the year is exciting because we’re doing some shows with Cory Chisel, Valentiger, Limbeck, and The Wallflowers!  That doesn’t suck at all.  I feel fortunate and thankful for my family, Ruthie, The Shades, friends, over 6 months of sobriety and my apartment with heat:)

What’s everyone else thankful for?

Yesterday, the Shades played Michael Feldman’s Whad’ Ya Know radio show live at the Monona Terrace Theatre in Madison, WI.  For all of you who haven’t listened to the show before, it’s a hilarious WPR show!  He does a couple trivia rounds with contestants from the crowd, answers random questions off of cards that the audience fills out, has guest callers, says funny Lampoon style news headlines, etc…Every show is different and not rehearsed.  He’s a light hearted guy that really knows how to make a fun experience for the audience, no matter what age or back ground.  It was a huge honor to get the opportunity to do the show, and can’t wait to attend more in the future.  He’s not stopping anytime soon because he’s been doing it since 1985.  The show also travels all over to different cities, so keep your eyes open for his schedule.

The Shades leave Tuesday morning for New York to do the CMJ festival for 3 days and then a show at the infamous Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights, Ohio!