House-ton (As the New Yorkers Do)

Another day off, but not by choice! Unfortunately the show at the Verizon Theatre was cancelled, which left us with nothing but a hotel room and more free hours than we knew what to do with. Luckily the guys had a friend in the Houston area, and they did a quick on air interview with him on his station before he began showing us around.

First stop of significance. Well, less of a stop than a slow drive by. We were on the campus where Rushmore was filmed, which also happens to be the nanotechnology capitol of the world. If you haven’t seen that movie get the hell on it! We drove past the walk that Max and Rosemary (I think) take whilst holding hands. See picture!

First was a really good taco place where I discovered Matt, the guys’ friend, lived in Philadelphia for a while! That’s always cool, to relate to someone who knows the city like you do but through an entirely different experience.

The first stop was Matt’s house where we dropped off our stuff and immediately left again. He knew exactly where I wanted to spend my time, and hopefully the guys agree. First was a music store that was probably the best one I’ve ever been to. It had tons of used equipment, rare finds and a great staff and just everything a music store should be. This was my first opportunity to actually sit down and play guitar on this whole tour. It felt so good. I can’t wait to get back to Philadelphia to grow my project more… lbss. Rob picked up a brand new cymbal to replace his recently cracked one, and Andrew snagged a pretty hard to find pedal called the Micro Amp that he’d been looking at for quite some time. I don’t think anyone else made any purchases, but I’ll tell you places like that put ideas in my head.

Nextly (not a word but it’s what came out) we went to this crazy thrift store full of cowboy boots and a ridiculous amount of other STUFF whose origins are lost in the dust. Mirrors, cassettes, jackets, typewriters, light bulbs, picture frames, suitcases and lastly what I was looking for, a nice sturdy box. Simple eh? Well I need some sort of travel case for the future, so it was an amazing find. I really had to dig for it too.

After that we headed back to Matt’s place, he headed out to a mustache meeting. Andrew, Justin and I sat down and relaxed to a couple movies before it was time to turn in, and that is just what we did.


WHAT!


Shhhhhh... we're on the air!


Rushmore.


The Texas Junk Co. (cr. Matt)


It eats your brain. Rocko's Modern Life anyone? (cr. Matt)


That would take a lot of feet! (cr. Matt)



Analogan. (cr. Matt) Haha.


It's a long trip... (cr. Matt)


Me! And the junkmaster. (cr. Matt)

Big Day Out.

What a looooooong day. There are a lot of “o’s” there to emphasize how long it actually was. We woke up early in Dallas to hit the road to Austin so we could make all our scheduled appearances on time. It was a fairly short drive in comparison to some of the others we’ve taken. So I guess I’ll divide these up like shows, because that’s technically what we did that day… play three shows.

RADIO PERFORMANCE

The guys had an interview and performance with this public station first, and we made it in and out right on the dot of the clock. The interviewer had some pretty decent questions, such as the “where did you get your name” question, who’s answer still eludes many of us.

They played four songs, including Game of Love and They Are Among Us, two of my personal favorites, and the sound was impeccable! See if you can scout this out online somewhere, it’s a great performance.

Onward!

WATERLOO RECORDS INSTORE

This was a cool record store! I’m going to have to remember it for the next time I’m in Austin. I succeeded in purchasing two DVD’s, one a Zappa session that was unreleased, and another television program called All My Loving that looked pretty cool. I haven’t watched them yet, but I’ll let you know how they go. They also gave me a free t-shirt. I like clothing.

This place sported the tiniest actual stage (as in it’s meant to be a stage) that I’ve ever seen. The boys really did have to squeeze in there, but pulled it off with finesse. There was a sizeable crowd to counter the teeny stage, and some uninhibited fans there as well. One girl took to the floor in her cowboy boots to show us a thing or two about strutting, and singing The Redwalls’ songs. The rest nodded their heads in approval.

This was another in and out, and we did it in record time! Wonderful are we at beating the tick tock to flee.

Forthward!

We went to this really good little pizza place for dinner called Rosalie’s or something similar. It reminded me of a shop in Montreal too, or maybe I did eat at that place once before? Oh it all melts together…

EMO’S
November 7, 2007
Austin, TX

This venue has quite the busy buzz around it; apparently it’s the bee’s knees. Get it? Lots of bee humor? You’re lucky I’m kidding around and not sending stingers your way.

I’ll stop now.

Emo’s was awesome! It’s the type of venue that I would want to play coming through Austin. Everyone was hospitable, people spent money on merch, and it was generally a good time. The only downside is that it’s half outside, and it got quite chilly. I don’t move very much, so I’m left to curling up in a fetal position. Gets old quick.

The crowd was large for The Redwalls. I think that had to do with the show being a late one, not starting until 10PM actually gives people time to show up. This resulted in a nice quantity of CD’s sold, and apparently the hot buy was the small blue gun shirt. I personally like that one myself. Maybe I’ll pick one up before I peace out.


Arriving at the radio station.


Performing LIVE.


Waterloo itself.


Rob hanging out.


There was a big crowd in there, and this girl started dancing. It was awesome.


This venue is awesome.


Everybody loves The Redwalls!

Wowboy

The last post included “palace” in the name because the hotel was really, REALLY nice.

Last night was the first House of Blues show that we’ve had so far. The venue was six months new, and was built very nicely. The place was like a freaking maze though, and I seriously couldn’t figure out how to get to where I wanted to go. I ended up just wandering the halls for a long while.

My table was outside of the main room unfortunately, so I was left unable to watch the show. I didn’t even have a chair to sit on, so I was stuck on top of one of the bins the whole night. It turned out to be not so bad.

This was the Spree’s hometown, and it was obvious. There were plenty of people there to see them, including friends and family. It’s always kind of strange seeing where these people come from and whom they relate with.

HOUSE OF BLUES
November 6, 2007
Dallas, TX

The show went well from what I could tell! Like I said I was outside the main room, so the best I can do is assume they did well. I have no doubt.


The view from the hotel.


The hotel.


Some cool building right near where we stayed.


Me and Justine, whom I met the night of the show.


The HOB.

The Dallas Palace

So a day off, what’s to do? One of the first things we did is head out to a little BBQ joint called Sonny’s. It was only Andrew, Rob and me, but it turned out great nonetheless. Pulled pork sandwich with this really tangy and awesome sauce. Yum.

Afterwards we spent some time digesting in the hotel room before Audrey from the Polyphonic Spree came and picked us up to take us out on the town. First we went to a restaurant where a very nice friend of hers was working, hung out for a bit, a couple people recognized The Redwalls and eventually decided to move on.

Next was the Dubliner, a little bar right next-door where we spent some time just discussing tour politics. Third was Cosmos, a hip little place that got pretty fuzzy towards the end of the night. There was a fireplace surrounded by plush couches and a coffee table, and it had more of a café feel than a typical bar.

When we left we headed over to the Polyphonic’s practice space, which is actually a house, and it was awesome to see how they had everything set up. I guess they fit all 25 or so members into those tiny rooms, the choir practices upstairs, rhythm in the main room and guitars all go together somewhere else. Goes to show that it’s not much different than your average band everywhere else, but they take it way more seriously. And talent maybe has something to do with it.


Manchovies.


The practice space.