Thursday, September 30, 2010

Day Four: Totes Emosh

Today we woke up (late) at the Opal Hotel in San Fransisco. I LOVE the Opal! Love it. I (Chrissy) tend to be the one booking the hotels and this one is always a pleasure to interact with. The people who work there are amazing. Super friendly, down to earth and hilarious. They have really helped us out twice now. Love them, can't recommend that place enough.

San Fransisco was fantastic. The band parted ways for half of the day and Talia and I had a BOMB brunch in the mission at a place called Boogaloos. We walked over to Delores Park and posted up under the shade of some palm trees. We were fortunate enough to see a buxom lady's breast fall out of her shirt AND run into our tour mates at the park.

The rest of the day involved ice cream cones and our favorite Oakland resident Mr. Jason Thomas Romero taking us up to twin peaks. We chugged the van up those San Fran hills and were rewarded with TOTES EMOSH views of the city and the Pacific ocean.

We piled back in the van and headed across the bay bridge into Oakland to reassemble the band and get set up for our show at Kermit the House. As we took the stage that night it was very apparent that out normal band vibe was NOT there. On every tour there seems to be a night where reality sets in and you realize that you are not invincible, that drinking whiskey, staying up late and sweating all day in a van is not what your body wants. Last tour this happened in Vegas. This time it was Oakland. I'll just say that the Oakland show was not our best. Memorable, but not our best.

BUT! All was not lost. The aforementioned Mr. Jason Thomas Romero saved the (my) night by giving me a glorious tandem bike tour of his neighborhood. So fun. Big thanks to Jason for his hospitality and general awesomeness. Thanks to Kermit the house for having us. Thanks Bay area for being rad.

And the van rolls on.

Hearts and Sparkles,

Chrissy

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Welcome to the Jungle. Caspar -> SFO

Descending into Caspar by van last night, the road had everyone in the band clutching their seats, wide eyed, preparing to shuffle the mortal coil. The road out of Caspar was no less dramatic, but after a truly jubilant night at the Caspar Inn, the gang seems less concerned about the realistic possibility of the van, the gear, and the Monarques themselves descending unwillingly into the Pacific. Lee sits on the swaying van’s floor with his headphones on, staring off, an actual living saint. Feet with their newly painted toenails are out in the breeze. We pass through Mendocino as a silly, zany, disheveled breeze and refuel ourselves in this little town set up above the sea. As we follow 101 south into a California heat wave, the folks in the sweltering back seat are reduced to wearing far more skin than clothes, and we sleepily roll through the Golden Gate’s sunny arches thanks to Rich’s unfailing skills behind the van’s giant wheel.

Photobucket lee wakes up

Photobucket Talia

Photobucket Mendocino

We’ve got a downtown hotel and rush from check in to the venue (Hemlock). After a few days and nights on the road, this is usually the point where you lug everything in, set it up, and just get it over with, but Jared & the Children prove that they are completely bigger than anything and bring a super energetic set that gets the night going on the right foot. They’ve got pro gear, they’ve got gigging experience, and dammit, they’ve got a pro ‘tude. These nights are becoming a spending mess of tambourines and microphones as Monarques and the Grown Children share the stage, and it’s simply good clean fun. (The author has to confess that he missed Social Studies’ closing set in order to trade his drink tickets for something from the top shelf, but regrets this choice after hearing from everyone else that they were great and completely sounded like angels.)

Photobucket Jared Mees Feets

Photobucket Hard Cor Cor

Photobucket Josh looks like Costello

In a maneuver that you shouldn’t try at home, after packing the gear out of the Hemlock, Rich backed the van, with trailer, down a one way alley into a four lane San Francisco avenue. If you’ve ever driven with a trailer, you might know that this is totally impossible and that I’m a liar, and that’s just fine if that’s what you want to think. Both touring bands pile into the incredible Tender Loving Empire ultra yellow airport shuttle bus machine thing, and after a sloppy but splendid rendition of The Lion Sleeps tonight, head to Beauty Bar to mingle with Portland musical comrades Y La Bamba and Typhoon, who also had shows in San Fran tonight. The bar is full, the energy is huge, everyone is struggling with mixed success against the fatigue, and San Franciscans doing things in the photo booth that I will not honor with the written word. By the time that last call forces everyone into the streets, a very patient police officer is needed to get everyone going on various their paths home. Javier of the Grown Children has the good sense and willpower to return to the bus using only cartwheels and proves that he lives his life just like he plays on stage.

There’s almost enough beds to sleep on. Most members of the band are accountable for. We made it here and made it through the night alive in one big, messy piece. This is fun.

- James

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Day 2-- Birthdays and Whorehouses

Today is the second day of tour, and more importantly—you know what? It’s my Golden Birthday. The big 2-5. I was initially skeptical about spending it on the road, but it has turned out to be pretty amazing. Everyone has made it that way by giving me champagne and whiskey and a tiny crown and-- best of all-- A GOLD SPARKLETOWN TAMBOURINE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. Jared Mees and the Grown Children even sang me a birthday song. It went like this: “Biiiirthdays, birthdays! Everybody’s got a birthday. Birthdays, birthdays… TALIA CAME OUT OF A VAGINA!” Needless to say, I have a pretty big crush on all of them.

So. Last night. We slept 6 people in a room about the size of a bathroom. We’re getting pretty good at these situations. We have to, with 8 people traveling around in a 6 passenger Dodge Ram and all. Everyone woke up in a great mood today. We can probably attribute it to James (Luce), our roadie/photog/bestie/sanity coming trotting up from the van in a Monarques shirt and the tiniest shorts imaginable to wake us up. The good mood lasted all the way up until we hit HW 1 and had to navigate a 40 mile downhill, hairpin-turn-filled nightmare. Our van is old. Our brakes are questionable. Our trailer, “The Last Resort,” tends to act a little sketchy. Chrissy and Rich did a gret job driving, but we basically collectively held our breaths for about 2 hours.

Our destination was the Caspar Inn, a former whorehouse-turned-bar-and-hotel outfit that was straight out of a David Lynch movie. It could be decribed as “eclectic” or “charmingly kitschy” on a charitable day and “nightmarishly tacky” on any other day. That’s where I’m writing from currently, nestled in leopard print sheets. To give you an idea of how schizophrenic this place is, I should note that the two other beds in the room have Spongebob Squarepants and sheep-printed sheets, respectively, and that the vintage Art Deco print above my bed faces a framed Superbowl ‘87/Amstell Lite ad on the opposite wall.

There’s this thing about people in small towns. It’s as if the people who live in them make up for the low population by having the biggest and most bizarre personalities possible. Or maybe characters just blend in better in the city. In any case, they came out strong for our show. I could describe them, but you might not believe me. Truth is stranger than fiction. We managed to play and get upstairs into our beds without incident, and we’re now on our way to SAN FRANCISCO!!!! Stay tuned.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

TOUR DIARY DAY 1

Okay. So, I am writing this early on day 2 of our tour. We left yesterday at about 1 PM and headed for Ashland, Oregon. The vibe in the van was SO posi the second we got in. We are all super excited to be on the road together again. We are also really, really stoked that our good friend James Luce is with us. He is our number one, favorite photographer EVER, and a real sweet guy to be around. Our vibe was almost funny... Every hour or so someone would yell out something like, "It's so rad to be here together again." or "Fuck yeah! We're on tour again!" Ha, I guess sometimes we really like each other... At one point, I looked up from my sewing project and saw Lee and James adorably sharing one pair of headphones and rocking out to Mineral, Talia was reading a book version of the 1970's gang movie "Warriors", Mike was sleeping with his mouth open, Josh was taking care of something "important" on his computer, Chrissy was sprawled across the floor, and Richard was driving. I realized how different we all are. Maybe that's why we don't ever get bored with each other.
Next, James took pictures of us being insane. We immediately started making jokes and calling each other "princess". That passed the time nicely... When we arrived in Ashland we were ready to party. Alex's, the bar we were playing, was kind enough to put us up in a decent motel. So, we settled in, met up with our pals Jared Mees and the Grown Children (our touring buddies) and headed to the bar. We were greeted with huge bowls of salad and gourmet pasta! They even took care of the vegans! Free food is awesome... We all looked at one another and thought, "How could this get any better?" Both bands shared in the community dinner, and whenever someone stood up, everyone would yell, "Speech, speech!" It really wasn't THAT funny... but on a side note, let me tell you something that WAS funny..
- Wait. let me explain...
We were having a conversation about different ways to use corn, which led to different ways to use porn, which naturally led to talking about eating Playboys and discovering bits of naked women in your poo. This is a situation that Lee referred to as "Poo Hefner."
So anyway, the show was pretty cool. There were a decent amount of people there and both of our bands played well in the small venue. But man, did we get DRUNK. At midnight, Talia turned 25, so you could imagine that we got good and smashed. James even bought everyone a shot. That's like, um, $60 or something. (editors note - who cares about $60??) At the end of our night we carried Talia to the van and headed to the motel.. That's about the point where my memory draws a blank... I do know that James, Mike and I woke up in the van with my keys in the ignition with the van's battery dead. Also, half of my body was inside a pillow case... Anyway, we all agreed that it was a pretty great first day of tour!
We are currently driving over the boarder into California. We hid our three boxes of exotic bananas and braved through the fruit inspection point. Mendocino, here we come!
P.S. - Josh claims that he is going to write a new song on everyday of the tour. That's about as realistic as me actually updating this blog everyday of the tour... totes loves everyones forevs. -- Corey Ciresi

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

WE ARE COMING TO YOU!!


Our second West Coast tour starts on Friday! We've been super busy all month recording our new record, playing and hanging out at MFNW and now we are ready to hit the road!! We will be travelling with our good friends Jared Mees and The Grown Children from Portland and we will be in your town SOON.

Sep 24 Alex’s - Ashland, Oregon
Sep 25 Caspar Inn - Caspar, CA
Sep 26 Hemlock Tavern w/Social Studies - San Francisco, California
Sep 27 Kermit the House - Oakland, California
Sep 28 Muddy Waters Cafe - Santa Barbara, California
Sep 29 UC Fullerton (day show) - Fullerton, CA
Sep 29 Ace Hotel and Swim Club - Palm Springs, CA
Sep 30 San Diego - TBA - San Diego, California
Oct 1 El Dorado - Long Beach, CA
Oct 2 House Party w/ Olin and The Moon - Laurel Canyon, CA
Oct 3 Cafe Flo - Chico, California
Oct 5 Rotture with The Like (LA) - PORTLAND, Oregon
Oct 7 Baby Bar - Spokane, WA
Oct 8 Red Room - Kennewick, WA
Oct 9 Neurolux Lounge - Promenade Festival - TLE Showcase Boise, ID

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Progress


MFNW starts today!! This means we have been a band for one year... officially. We played our very first show all together for last years' Bladen County Records Showcase at rontoms and we'll be playing the BCR showcase again this year, this time at the newly christened BUNK BAR on Water Ave and Taylor. It's going to be a great show so come by and see all the great bands playing this Saturday. Here's the lineup:



7pm Sean Flinn and the Royal We
8pm The Parson Red Heads
9pm The Glib
10pm Ages and Ages
11pm Anders Parker
12am Monarques

The show is only $10 if you don't have a wristband so come down, eat Bunk sandwiches and watch awesome music!


Recording is going well. We start the second half of the album today. Paul was outta town for about a week and we had a nice break, but now it's time to dig in. We've got a couple of brand new songs that are shaping up really well and I cant wait for everyone to have a chance to hear what we are working on! The newest song, "All Night Long" is gonna have a full mini orchestra on the recording it's gonna be nothing less than epic.

We shot a live music video with our friends at Into The Woods last week and you can see the video HERE We perform "I Wont Cry" and "No Good" on the MAX train (Portland's light rail train). It's part of a MFNW series the guys are doing and it's great! The Y La Bamba video in the series amazing.... check it out while you're there!!

We have a show coming up at Doug Fir next week on Thursday September 16th with And And And & The Shivas. We are bringing the mini orchestra and it's going to be awesome!!! Cant wait!!

Lastly... we are broke!! We will gladly accept any help anyone is willing to offer us in recording this album we are working on. There are several "rewards" you can get from us for contributing... including dinner and a sunset watching session!! Check out the project HERE

Hey California, see you soon!!

XOXO