THURSDAY 5.20.2010
The Red and the Black – Washington D.C.

We woke up in the most beautiful, classic Maryland farm house on a sunny Thursday morning.  Brandi finally gave us the daylight tour, exposing a fantastic upper leverl porch that looked out over the property and a lot of original woodwork.  Our hosts then served us a hot breakfast and we did a lot of catching up before deciding to hit the road in a little bit.  The hospitality on this tour has been astounding.  We packed our things, gave the couple a pair of tee shirts and CD’s and then hit the road toward Washington D.C.

It’s been too long to remember much about the drive, but I do remember coming into the city and finding lots of construction, particularly the road of our venue being completely shut off.  This is is the luck of Valentiger.  We had arrived early and we needed to use a bathroom and Internet.  I think we parted ways for a little bit and decided to hand out free “Leaving Town” singles while we were on foot.  D.C. was pretty receptive in that respect and we were feeling pretty good in the most dangerous city in the nation.  Rider and I ended up using some Internet at a strange little coffee shop and then we eventually met up with the other two hoodlums.

I had been in contact with a blogger we now know as Megan from Les Enfants Terrible (now Fuzzy Logic).  We were trying to meet up with her during the day but it just didn’t work out.  However, she suggest we eat at the famous (and Cosby approved) Ben’s Chili Bowl and we did just that.  Sitting at the counter and stuffing our faces with chili dogs we ended up chatting with another patron, J.T. who happened to be the promoter for Flying Dog Brewery.  After exchanging cards he later contact us exclaiming he thoroughly enjoyed our music and wished for us to perform at their SXSW party in Austin, TX.  Of course, we said yes and history was made.  This encounter finally cemented the importance of human contact and simply talking to others and networking.  It’s a hard thing to do, especially when you’re on the road, tired and unkempt.  However, it paid off, as we now know in the future.  However, the band’s luck was not over for the day.  Down the road, the then relatively unknown act Mumford and Sons was playing a show and we decided to hand out singles to the ticket line.  This genious idea was only topped by Kehoe’s aggressive idea of sneaking in the loading door in the back of the building.  He went in and the three of us waited for nearly 20 minutes before he came back out.  Apparently, he had told someone who questioned him he was a roadie and made his way to meeting Mumford and Sons, who was sound checking.  He handed them a Valentiger CD and was on him way.  And if this weren’t enough for you, we also ran into Wheatus on the street in front of another venue.  Having no idea who they were, I handed them a Valentiger CD and asked if they were playing that night.

Wheatus Chick: “Yeah, we’re Wheatus.”
And I said, “Oh.”
Wheatus Chick: “Haven’t you heard of us?”
And I said, “No, I’m sorry.”
Wheatus Chick: “You know, ‘Teenage Dirtbag?”
I said, “Mmmm, nope, sorry.”

Then Kehoe came up and knew what they were talking about.  At any rate, it was a pretty comical encounter on our end.  Probably not so much for them.

We made our way to The Red and the Black where we’d be performing that eveing and everything seemed to be in line (other than the road being closed).  There was some extremely shady business going on at the Jiffy Lube across the street and some people just looked downright crazy.  We unloaded the van in a back alley and then had to search for a parking space that ended up being about 10 blocks away.  We were pretty much stranded at the bar and they boys were watching what I think was some sort of hockey.  We were surprised to see Founders beer on tap and ordered a few after we set up our equipment.

We shared the show with Jeremy Steinhaus and Somerset Frisby for what turned out to be a great and successful night.  Before the show began, we were able to meet up with Megan the blogger and chat about life on the road and music, of course.  I felt like I was talking her face off, so I definitely bought (and made her try) a Founders Dirty Bastard.  We found a common love of The Jam and, as far as the show goes, I’ll let her do the explaining:

“What does Michigan mean to you, friends? Perhaps you think of it as homeland to such important bands as the MC5 and The Stooges. Perhaps you think of it more for it’s Upper and Lowerness. Or perhaps you’re all about the Lions or Tigers or Red Wings. I tell you what, though. After seeing Valentiger at The Red & The Black, I’ve got another pretty fine band to attribute to the great state of Michigan (and it’s not just because they totally bowled me over with their cover choices).

MINI RECAP: Valentiger = Nice Guys Finishing First! Overall score: A.

So there I am, clutching a vodka cranberry in one hand and a Founder’s Dirty Bastard in the other (yes, dears, yours truly double fists every now and again). Founder’s is a perfect beverage to swill whilst seeing a Michiganian band, you see, because it also hails from Michigan. I was verily impressed with both the beer and the band (though obviously moreso by the band). I was hooked one song in, their sweetly adorable, rustic sound reeling me in. And bands, never underestimate the importance of entertaining banter. Guitarist/vocalist Eric Kehoe related a rather amusing tale about his visit earlier in the day to a barber shop on U St. where his beard was attended to, and received many a chuckle for his trouble.

Most of the set was pulled from the fantastic record Power Lines to Electric Times, including the perfect, twangy pop of “Bosses In Their Offices” and “The Girl That Everyone Forgot”. Not only was their own material played beautifully, but then they went and played a pair of covers that totally and utterly won my love and affection: “In The City” (The Jam) and “Picture Book” (The Kinks). Any band that’ll tackle two seminal British bands in one set is automatically awesome in my book. And they covered the songs in such a lighthearted, energetic way, as well, with just enough reverence. Bellissimo! “Thanks for being a nice audience,” they proclaimed, before commenting about the difference between a DC audience and a Boston audience (which wasn’t exactly complimentary), and launching into a most excellent rendition of the lively, bouncy “Leaving Town”. Come to think of it, we as an audience probably shoulda thanked them for being a nice band.

The bottom line here, my friends, is that Valentiger is a great, great little band. They’re not only good musicians but good people to boot. Brent, Eric, and Scott have decamped back to Michigan to work on more fantastic music, but next time they’re out and about on the road I highly, highly, highly recommend you check ‘em out. Their music is earnest, honest, and pretty much salt of the earth. It’s real, and it’s really lovely. I do believe I’ve found me another pet band.” – Megan Terrible, Fuzzy Logic

We simply had a great time and a lot of familiar faces had come out to see us including Jenn Hall, Stephanie Sargent and Pat Host.  We talked to a good number of people we did and didn’t previously know at the end of the night.  It felt good to find a genuine interest and have real conversations outside of our little camp.  But eventually we had to get the van, load it and make our way across the city to Pat’s place where we were crashing.  Kehoe parted ways in the name of partying and the three of us followed Pat to our eventual demise.  After he showed us where to go, he explained that he had to work in the morning and was crashing at his buddy’s place.  He gave us several directions amongst a slew of F-bombs and we were left along to drink whisky all night.  Joe sensed trouble and went to bed, but Rider and I were hell bound for “a morning.”  We chatted it up on Pat’s balcony all night and inevitably made the decision to try to throw things into the dumpster that was within pitching distance below.  Rider ended up successful but I’m not sure I ever even made one by the time the night came to a close.  We even filled our empty pop bottles with water in order to create more “ammo.”  Somewhere in the middle of the night Joe opened the slider to tell us we were “being really loud,” and once the neighbor yelled we called it quits.  Eric was stranded on the whole other end of D.C. and we went to bed only to wake up in just a few hours.