Day Two - Sixthman

Today we had the chance to tie together a bunch of band history into a neat little package.  Visiting Sixthman was a huge step forward for the band as we continue on our path, wherever it may lead.  The trip was originally an idea by Will Byington to provide an avenue by which the band could introduce themselves, while satisfying all of Hazelnuts that we had met during our time with them.  Funny enough, but we first met Will Byington almost 4 years ago when he took photos at our Halloween party back when we were rocking cover tunes in a different band.

We drove last night after we left Nashville and arrived just outside Atlanta where we shacked up at a Kroger’s parking lot.  After a solid 4.5 hours of sleep for some of us, we woke up, got some coffee and breakfast and took off for Sixthman.

At Sixthman we were so warmly received by Chardy McEwan and the rest of the staff.  The office itself is so open and welcoming, like you would envision the Palo Alto floorplan for Google, except with an added island touch, appropriately enough.  We were given time to set up, get comfortable and chat with a few friends that showed up to greet us and watch us play. 

As for the set, we were asked to play three acoustic tunes and we played “California Road,” “Set You Free” and “Here to Stay.”  We don’t often do acoustic sets any more, so this was a good chance to hone skills and also a good test of how far we have come.  We felt really great about how we played and were really happy that the small crowd of Sixthman employees that gathered seemed to enjoy it as well.

You can find the video of our set here: www.ustream.tv/channel/sixthman-live-loud

After we played we chatted with everyone for a bit and then took off for our long haul to Ocean City, MD.  

Talk to you tomorrow!

VB

On Tour in Two

Who wouldn't want to travel in a confined space with 6 grown men for 5 days, 41 road hours and 2,344 miles?

As scary as this proposal may sound to your every day corporate executive, it is the opportunity of a lifetime for a group of guys that got our start a few years back playing Johnny Cash and Rolling Stones tunes to a handful of friends at a hole in the wall in Chicago. "Blue September," as we are calling this short-run tour, is the culmination of years of work on honing our craft, creating our sound, playing live, telling/forcing our friends to come and see us live, and continuing to grow as writers, musicians and friends. The tour planning has been much more condensed and without a booking agency, there have been many lessons learned about recruiting bands, negotiating contracts with venues and debating every last possible detail. Thinking about every detail that has gone into this trip, from the big things, like what cities to play ... all the way down to the smallest of details, like who is bringing the hand towels ... it is stunning that we are only two days away and that mostly everything is under control ... (where is some wood to knock on ...)

If this is the first you are hearing of our tour ... WAKE UP!!! The tour will begin on Wed, September 19th at the Hard Rock Cafe Nashville, where we will be playing with local bands Classic Addict and Adam James and the Firecrackers. This is a big event for us as Nashville is such a key city for musicians and we will be meeting several contacts to expand our network in the industry. We will move from there to Atlanta, where we will be giving a lunch-time performance (1PM EST) for the employees and staff of Sixthman LLC. They are the company that puts on many of the world's biggest and most awesome "concerts-at-sea" or Rock Cruises.

The tour will continue to Ocean City, Maryland where we will be performing in-studio at WOCM or www.irieradio.com at 8:30am EST. WOCM was the first station nation-wide to start spinning our record and this was an easy decision to come in for a visit. 

 

From Ocean City we will travel up to Philadelphia, where we will be playing a cool little bar called Rebel Rock Bar with local bands Music Box Dynamo and The Great Party. With a little side trip to meet the Zimmerman's at State College, we will then make our way to Cleveland, to play the World Famous Cleveland Agora. So many acts have come through that venue and we are proud to be playing such an amazing venue with SIX other bands!

We hope that you will keep up with us as we make our way across the country. We will attempt to keep you all posted on this blog daily, as well as Instagram (vintagebluechi), twitter @vintagebluechi, and Facebook (www.facebook.com/vintagebluemusic).

In addition, if you know anyone in these cities, please let them know we will be coming though!


THANKS!