Lemonjello’s – August 13, 2010

April 28th, 2011

RETRO SERIES:
This week in Valentiger history found the boys recording Kehoe’s bass line for “Why I’m Not Great,” with one of the rarer appearances of Steve Holsinger on “Oh, to Know!” After Kehoe had to leave the boys decided to punch in some of Rider’s tambourine and cymbal work, leading them to mull and bitch about whether to hit the cymbal with the actual tambourine (as in live fashion) or with a stick. You can hear him creaking floorboards on the final album mix as he’s walking up to do so.

Two days later, the gentlemen found themselves performing at Lemonjello’s for “We’re Folkin’ Awesome Fest,” sharing the stage with Daniel and the Lion from Wisconsin. Upon, chatting with the band outside, Jimmy (singer/songwriter for DATL) realized he recognized Shirey and Rider and put together their likeness as Happy Hour. The two bands had played a show together years ago and Jimmy remembered the “past-life-Valentiger” to have been “very cool!”

Valentiger’s set was stuck in a state of soft, electric rock but, as always, the boys brought their ability to poke fun at themselves and make the best of the late-night crowd. They even played a few tunes for both Jimmy and Lemonjello’s owner, Matt from Happy Hour’s 2005 release, “Magnet Heart Conveyor,” including it’s title track and “Joke.” Glennard and the Bastard Few also rocked their unique blend of instruments all the way from Kalamazoo. Valentiger was most excited to play “Another Cool Move.”

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Billy’s Lounge – August 4, 2010

April 28th, 2011

RETRO SERIES:
Despite having boozed it up nicely the night before at their Holiday Bar Open Mic, Valentiger was still hitting it hard on a Wednesday. During the day, Shirey and Rider nailed down a take of “Why I’m Not Great” for their upcoming release, “Oh, to Know!” It was a sweltering day that found Shirey in an upstairs room, complete with view and cross-breeze, while Rider drummeth downstairs, in heat. From there, they continued into the evening to meet up with Kehoe and perform an abundance of new material at Billy’s Lounge in Eastown.

Valentiger was splitting the bill with Kalamazoo band, Hello Victor and took the stage first. The decision to perform songs from the yet-unreleased “Oh, to Know!” came from the realization of a “real Wednesday crowd.” But the gang had fun and seemed to be very energized by the breath of fresh air in their routine. Oscar Bittinger was in the crowd as well as the ever-infamous “Huckin” Schultz. Later in the night there were HJ conversations with Juliet Rylah and Valentiger even met a lawyer friend. I think Hello Victor was lost or missing a manager? Ah, Wednesdays. Later, that weekend, Shirey would go on to record the solo for “Another Cool Move” and attend a music retreat with grilled fresh salmon from Lake Michigan.

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Chupacabra Cantina (SXSW @ Austin, TX)

March 30th, 2011

Wednesday, March 15 – Chupacabra Cantina (SXSW @ Austin, TX)
Photos: Chris Ziebarth www.halfwayhousemusic.com

The alarm went off at 5:30AM and we were up, showered and out the door by 6. Phil tried to give us some extra money, but we only accepted his coffee before hitting the road. It was obviously still very dark and I don’t even think we ate breakfast. We were on a super-tight schedule to make the 12-hour drive to Austin for our load-in at 6PM. Rider and I trekked our way through the morning all the way into daylight and about 10AM before Eric took over a good chunk of the driving in the afternoon. I slept away most of the daylight, really trying to get my body and vocals back into shape before we played at 10PM that night. At some point, Rider took over the wheel again after Eric conquered Dallas. We hit a nasty bunch of traffic coming into Austin, but eventually landed a superb parking spot that was good until 7PM. A drum set and amps were provided at our gig, so we really only needed to lug a few guitars, cymbals and merchandise down 6th street while Chris stayed behind and watched the van.

SXSW was obviously chaos and it was only early evening on a Wednesday. About the first block we walked there was a folk, hippie band playing in the street with a guy in a dress and makeup. We kept walking down the giant and crowded, closed-off street, taking in the sights until we reached Chupacabra at 6th and Trinity. We loaded our things all the way into the back room and found that no one from Couch Professor, Barefoot Wine or Musebox were there. However, all our things were in and ready to go. We moved the van, finding an even better parking spot than before. And now all four of us were heading back to Chupacabra. The place was long and narrow and we found out it was one of the only bars you can smoke at in Austin. The room spilled out into a fenced in porch with a great view of the sea of people that is 6th street. As it grew darker, more and more people poured down into the mess while Rider and I ate taco plates. I was still going sober but Rider was enjoying a nice Dos Equis while we waited for anyone to show up and tell us what to do. Eventually, around 9:30 Barefoot Wine came and setup his banner, Couch Professor showed up and the first band (from Britain) finally showed up and played their set at 10PM on the nose. They were a very dancy garage rock band, keeping up a lot of energy for a straight 45 minutes. Chupacabra has amassed a large crowd at this point and they were definitely holding their interest. People were dancing everywhere and sincerely loving the music. As soon as they hit that first note it just clicked with the bar, but no one could understand the singer when he spoke, so I did not catch the name of their band.

Now, as with classic Valentiger luck, the next band slated to play didn’t even show up. This left us in the unfortunate position of playing an hour earlier than we had been promoted or waiting through an entire music-less hour before taking the stage. We didn’t want to play earlier, so we compromised with the sound guy to go on fifteen minutes before our midnight slot. Well, this still left about 45 minutes for people to finish up their drinks and find a new showcase before another band (Valentiger) would even go on. So we kicked around the stage, setting up the drums and our guitars. I had a choice between a VOX amp or a 4×10 DeVille, similar to the one I use. The DeVille was on the opposite side of the stage from where I was standing and the foot switch didn’t work but I used it anyway. It was by far the closest we’d come to “sounding like us.” Eric plugged into a blown out bass amp and the house kit wasn’t sounding too bad with Rider’s cymbals. And so when we took the stage at 11:45PM we ended up playing SXSW for a solid hour. We worked our way in with some classic tunes including “Have It All,” “Joke” and “The Girl That Everyone Forgot.” My voice still wasn’t strong, but I was giving it everything I had and coming pretty close to hitting all the notes. Eric was hanging in there as well even though his bass was cutting from the blown out amp. My amp was stuck on the clean channel, but I had turned it up loud enough to find a bit of a growl. I will say that Valentiger rocked the best they could with this equipment. There was no distortion for the “Oh, to Know!” or “Another Cool Move” solos, but our feets were moving. Somewhere after midnight people started to dribble in and experience Valentiger and we really didn’t stop bringing the rock until “Lament” and “Oh My God! This Weekend.” Eric started telling people to tweet “Fu#$ You” @Valentiger on Twitter. We found it to be pretty funny and one guy ended up tweeting at us, “I feel like I truly experienced SXSW, walking into Chupacabra and finding Valentiger!” Our friend Jess was out in the crowd, who we knew from Grand Rapids and it was especially nice to see a few familiar faces out there. We blasted the end of the set with “Frozen Dozing” and then made sure to drop the website, etc. I feel like everything was clipping, from the amps to the P.A., but I think SXSW is about really just rocking, balls out, from what I could tell.

It was considered a success, the first Valentiger show at SXSW. We packed our things and got them off the stage to make way for the next band, Zoobombs, from Japan. It felt good to have one under our belt and I finally needed to celebrate with a beer. I grabbed a Shiner Bock and then cheers-ed Rider before heading out to the porch for a bit of people watching. Eric came out and grabbed me saying, “Um, I guess Rider’s calling an emergency band meeting?” We went back inside to find he had four Southern Comfort and lime shots waiting (it’s the official band shot of Valentiger). So the four of us put ‘em down and were all a bit relieved to at least be at this point of the tour. We’d toured all the way down to Austin, but were really only thinking about when we’d actually get to SXSW. Just then a guy rushed in and put a backpack down next to us. He proceeded to take his pants off in the middle of the bar, pulled out a pair of shorts and put them on. It was a total “ah-ha” moment when we realized he was the drummer for the Japanese band. We talked to Nadine from Musebox for a while and she was very nice, seeming to enjoy our music. I also talked to the Couch Professor guy who suggested we rent some costumes and get out to play in the middle of 6th street, as it’s how a couple of his bands became overnight sensations. Just then, after the keyboard player sound-checked, Zoobombs exploded on the stage, throwing cymbal stands and soloing fuzz all over the place. They definitely rocked. Things were starting to appear very gimmicky to me, though, and I’m not sure how it made me feel. Rider was also noting how much “rawk” there was and how dance beats have infiltrated indie rock. Zoobombs singer was on his knees soloing at the wall and we left out the back door.

Back at the van, we found our driver side mirror smashed on the ground. Not cool, Austin. We called our friend Sean and he was just parting ways with our other friend Kevin Hockin. He said it was cool to crash at his place for the night so Eric escorted us outside the city and toward his pad.

In perfect fashion of “The Big Dog Tour,” Sean had a big Rottweiler running around when we met him out in the street. We then followed him down a dirt alley, into a fenced area and up a huge flight of wooden stairs to his second floor apartment. There was a big ‘ol porch and the inside of his place was cozy with a sectional couch, a few rooms, small kitchen and bathroom. He woke up his roommate, Jim, and then we all drank a few Lone Star beers outside while catching up on some Grand Rapids and Texas stories. Sean’s girlfriend also had a big dog, Ellington, who had just endured a major surgery after eating a box of tampons. He had one of those cones on his head to keep him from biting out the staples again. Somewhere around Sean’s story about shooting rats off the side of the house, we decided to hit the hay. It was really great to catch up with him. Rider made a half-ass attempt at blowing up an air mattress via mouth, but then ended up sleeping on it empty. Eric and I slept at the two ends of the sectional and Chris literally slept under the kitchen table. I’m not sure he had heard the story about the rats. Just when Eric was half asleep, he was slobbered on by the Rottweiler, sending Rider into a giggle-fit before bed. It seemed strange to have the windows wide open, but it was March in Texas. The weather outside was incredibly pleasant and the breeze felt great blowing in over my blanket. I was feeling better, I’d drank a beer and we played SXSW not only an hour or two ago. I slept happy. I slept well.

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Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (Kansas City, KS)

March 22nd, 2011

Tuesday, March 15 – Davey’s Uptown Rambler’s Club (Kansas City, KS)
Photos: Chris Ziebarth www.halfwayhousemusic.com

We got a great slow start to the morning in St. Louis, as we all showered and used the Internet at our leisure. However, I was actually feeling worse than the night before. The sickness had now officially moved deep down into my chest, which is about the worst possible spot for a singer, especially one who’s on the road. I was taking some antibiotics Valentiger doctor, Ravi, had given me, but we weren’t sure if it was bacterial or viral. Nothing could hurt at this point. We watched Jet Kaiser’s One Take Show featuring our performance of “All I” and it was really sharp. It was exciting to see progress from the road and it lifted our spirits a bit before heading out to Kansas City. We gave the van a good cleaning of what Rider deemed “the inside of Shirey’s body” and even got an oil change.

Again, I slept through the entire drive in a futile effort to combat the sickness. It was really a strange thing for me because I’m always the co-pilot, constantly awake in the passenger seat. But I was merely doing what I had to do and coughing up something awful into an empty bottle, wads of tissue everywhere. I really only remember making a few stops at gas stations and buying two beverages every time we stopped. I had chocolate milk, cranberry juice, Smart Water and several other items. I bought Cheetos, but couldn’t eat them. Chris was truly the king of snacks though, purchasing everything from popcorn to gummi bears. We stopped at some place that had a Smokey Pounders? Eventually arriving in Kansas City we found the weather to still be pretty cool, forcing Chris to wait another day for “short weather.”

I led the way into Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club and was immediately greeted at the door with, “Eight dollar cover.” It was about 4PM and, since I was in the band that was playing so much later at night, I just didn’t understand a few things. A) Why is the cover $8 and B) I’m in the band. Naturally, I responded with “What?” “Eight dollar cover!” she exclaimed in near anger. At this point I said, “Okay, well I’m in one of the bands that’s playing later tonight.” And this only triggered the bartender to then yell at me some more, screaming, “No! Nope! There’s to be no loading in while the other band’s show is going on!” Now I’m completely being attacked and only responding with “We’re not loading in!” “Okay. Let ‘em in. Make yourselves at home,” she finally says. It was perhaps the unfriendly start to a bar I’ve ever seen. Apparently, Darlingside from MA was playing an early show, of which we were not aware. They had completely packed the room, as I think the violin player was from Kansas City. After a good rest in the van, I heard a few of their songs from outside and enjoyed their vocal harmonies. So, I eventually made my way inside and into the crowd to watch their show by myself. It felt pretty weird and it made me realize that I hadn’t actually SEEN and BEEN to a show or concert in a long time. I just do it myself so often that it’s kind of slipped away as a part of my life. Usually, I just end up judging the band, sound etc. It’s kind of a hard thing for me to enjoy, now.

I was having yet another sober night and chugging water from a pitcher the bar kept filling up. I really just wanted to be well and it’s amazing how quickly you realize there’s about nothing to do in a bar when you’re not drinking. Finally, around 8:30 or 9PM, our friend Phil Scherer showed up. He lived in Kansas City and booked the show for us. Originally, we met him in Grand Rapids, as he lived there for a while and I even played bass on his first album, “Life in the Upright Position.” It was really good to see him, but I didn’t have a lot of energy to really chat it up. On the contrary, we met a couple of girls outside who wrote and took photos for a few music blogs and I ended up talking to them for a good while. The more people I talk to the more I find an excitement about SXSW. I think it’s rubbing off on the band as we get closer to Texas. Eventually, we got everything backlined on the stage and the show began around 10PM.

Phil’s old bass player opened up the show with some acoustic music, while I continued to chat with the bloggers and Phil. Rider had set up his drums in the other room and we were all ready to go on second, between the two local bands. However, Phil decided to take the middle spot and we were bumped back to the late slot on a Tuesday. I don’t know if it’s because his band mates didn’t want to stick around that long or what, but I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes. At any rate, Phil was wearing a very rare and classic, official “Magnet Heart Conveyor” tour shirt circa 2005. I’m not sure any of the band members even have one of these and it was definitely a trip to see the thing in action.   Honest Loot played a lot of his classic songs from “the day” as well as some new ones and covers. Of course, Doctor Jer B was the highlight of the set, wielding several folk instruments throughout the course of songs. I particularly enjoyed “Hard to Recognize” and it was good to hear Phil’s voice again, especially against an electric guitar, which I hadn’t seen yet. When we finally took the stage, the crowd was a bit sparse, but very interested in Valentiger. We plowed through the same “safe set” of songs I felt comfortable singing, but it was worse than yesterday. At the same time, Eric was beginning to come down with something and it was affecting him vocally as well. However, we pushed through it and gave it our professional best. “Courses” and “Lament” received the best response and it seemed to be a crowd for this lighter music. I think we realized this at the closing of our last song, “Frozen Dozing.” Everyone looked confused about the song and the set being over. In the end, though, we sold discs and shirts and we paid quite well. There can be no complaints when things end that way. One person told me they really enjoyed our band and went further saying, “I really enjoyed your sound. The things you do are really great and the melodies and harmonies are just nice. It makes me glad because I often wish bands were better. What I’m saying is you guys do a really good job as a three piece. I can’t wait to hear the CD.” I felt really satisfied with this compliment, thanked him and told him I wish we weren’t sick and could have played a little better for him. He said, “Don’t worry about it man. The main idea got through.” Sometimes it’s hard when you hear your band play night after night and you’ve seen and heard the music at it’s best to realize most people don’t know what it sounds like and are most likely forgiving of the sound. It was good advice and a great pick-me-up before heading sick into SXSW tomorrow night.

We packed up all our things and chatted with some people before heading back to Phil’s house. Shane from www.hilltoppots.com was there and I finally resolved my issue replacing the mug he’d given me years ago. It was a pretty quick drive to Phil’s place, but even the GPS had a rough time figuring some of these backwoods, Southern roads. He eventually rolled up after us, having to drop of some drums and then we hauled our things inside. It was about 1AM and we needed to be up at 5:30AM to make the 12-hour drive to Austin for our SXSW load-in. So, we caught up on old times with Phil as fast as we could and got a small tour of the house he’d bought and worked on. He had some photos of his adventure on the wall, including the snakes that were living in his walls when he got the place. It painted a terrible picture for bedtime, but it was overshadowed by the fact he had a GIANT black rabbit for an indoor pet. I didn’t really grasp the size of the thing until he held it in his arms. Generally, I don’t really like rabbits because I feel like they’re going to bite at me very quickly at any moment and then hang from my finger. I made sure to sleep downstairs with Chris and Eric, where the rabbit does not tread. Eric took the bed, for I had made a good run and Eric was now starting to feel a bit sick. I slept on the floor and Rider bravely took the couch upstairs with the Rabbit. He was awoken once by the things jumping on him and still stuck it out. However, the second time it tried to burrow under him, he thought it was biting him and it was all over from there. About 3AM he scared me silly coming down the stairs and standing over me in the pitch black. I said, “Hello?” in a scared voice and he explained before taking a floor spot. We were staring into a rough night before SXSW.

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Cicero’s (St. Louis, MO)

March 22nd, 2011

Monday, March 14 – Cicero’s (St. Louis, MO)
Photos: Chris Ziebarth www.halfwayhousemusic.com

I had to skip our spot with Fearless Radio in Chicago, IL for the good of the general tour.  Instead, I gained extra sleep and strength at our friends, Sarah and Ravi’s apartment.  Rider, Eric and Chris did the spot, playing a few tracks and chatting with the DJ’s.  From what I gathered it was more “morning show tom-foolery” than really having much to do with Valentiger.  Publicity good.  It sounds like we didn’t lose much by not playing live on the air.  I think the boys were coming off a rough night of staying at a “rock n’ roll house,” including rap music until 6AM, close quarters and cardboard boxes being ripped up early in the morning.  However, I would still take that any day over the way I was feeling.  A big thanks goes out to the Shams Band – so sorry I couldn’t stick it out for the end of the show!  Though it was good to have gotten some solid rest, the sickness had now been given 12 unguarded hours to take over my body.  The shower hurt, my hair hurt and I was hacking up rainbows.  I thoroughly thanked Sarah and Ravi, while the boys came to take me away to St. Louis.  Upon first site I merely responded, “Man down, gentlemen.  Man down.”  I was having a hard time doing anything and I thank Rider for carrying my bag to the van – I honestly don’t think I could have done it.  Once in that van, I collapsed under my blanket and crashed into my pillow.  I was out for the whole drive.

We arrived in St. Louis to find a mix of rain and snow, which seemed to be exactly the conditions I didn’t need to be under.  The other three took off for a while and I stayed in the van, half asleep and half staring off into the rain.  I just didn’t have the energy to move even though I had to use the bathroom.  I was still angry about not even being able to sing last night in Chicago and I was trying to save enough energy and spit up enough stuff to be able push out some vocals tonight.  I watched one of the bar backs write up a whole chalkboard that was a part of the building outside.  “God is punishing us for not drinking enough beer,” it read.  Maybe he was right, but I was going on my third consecutive sober night in an attempt to give my body the best and quickest chance of beating this thing.  Normally, this would be difficult to get through so many bands and be traveling through so many bars, but I really felt bad enough to the point where not even one beer sounded good.  Although, Cicero’s had 200+ beers and we have been hitting places with open tabs for bands.

When I finally made my way inside I found it to be a pretty sweet establishment.  The bulk of it was a regular bar with restaurant, but a great selection of beers.  Toward the back there was a door having a separate cover charge, leading into the venue half of the building.  This room had it’s own bar, was a great size and contained a nice stage with great sound.  I was just in time to catch the guys and help load things in.  It was difficult to be carrying the heavy items and bending over to set up all the cords and pedals, but I was feeling like I could sing tonight.  Of course, the first and largest band for the night was late, but no one seemed to be in too much of a hurry on a Monday.  There was a $7 cover, which seemed a little hefty for the situation and the bill.  Eventually, Skies Over Airplanes got started, playing a shorter set of really intense emo rock.  They were all super nice guys and I think we added them to the bill late, as they were passing through from Chicago.  Next, Foxy and the Lady took the stage, playing piano and acoustic guitar, singing quiet little covers and ditties.  Most memorable was probably their cover of “Fuck You” by Cee Lo Green in which the guy sang the funky, soul backing parts.

We finally played between the two local bands we’d booked, making our way through pretty tight set.  I had handpicked the songs to fit what I felt I could sing and it worked out pretty perfectly.  It took me most of “Oh, to Know!” to get warmed up, but it was pretty smooth sailing through “All I,” “Another Cool Move” and “Oh My God! This Weekend.”  Rider was pretty good with the crowd, which was very attentive and easy going.  “Aint that some shit!” he kept saying in a back up singer voice, referring to Foxy and the Lady’s cover.  We made our way through “Courses” and then into a seemingly forgotten “Lament” and then closed with “Frozen Dozing.”  The latter two felt really good to all of us.  It was especially fun blowing the dust off “Lament” and really singing the closing line, “’Cause that’s how you do it!” and then busting into a harmonica solo.  It also occurred to me that I don’t currently play a lot of harmonica on the newest songs.  I’ve missed it a bit.  And lastly, on “Frozen Dozing”, it felt really good to be back and rocking well after not even being able to sing at all the night before.  I could really feel us putting everything into it on that last song.  When that happens you truly remember the reason you play.  Matt Nichols closed out the night with an interesting blend of many rock styles.  At one point there was a wah pedal jam, at one point he only rocked the mic and at one point he came down into the crowd and sang an acoustic song without the P.A.  I think I felt his sex.  I was feeling okay, but still very sick.  I did get pity applause from the crowd after Rider had mentioned the fact.  I think we all had some pretty good conversations with people after the show and sold a good number of CD’s after dropping the price down to $5, accommodating their expense at the door.

The rain/snow had stopped by the time we loaded all our equipment back into the van.  I had finally eaten for the first time in days.  Cicero’s gave us a pizza on the house and it was very spicy, in the way of just a lot of spices in the sauce.  Nevertheless, it was good and I ate several pieces.  I was famished.  We made our way about 20 minutes outside the city to stay at Chris’ friend’s house, who was also at the show.  He was a very nice guy and even hooked Rider up with some vitamins, for he was claiming to come down with a bit of the sickness as well – and Kehoe didn’t seem far off.  I took the couch, as it was number one priority to get me well enough for SXSW on Wednesday.  I snagged a tall glass of water, took the last of my NyQuill to ensure some solid sleep and laid down to rest.  It felt good to not have an alarm set.

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