Wednesday, April 8, 2009

from the road - Mountain Stage!!!

We got together last wed. with Andrew Weir and Scott Tipping to get ready for Mountain Stage and to just get an overall rehearsal in for the first time with either of them. Was good to get everybody in the same room. Thanks to Tony SanFilippo for lending us Oxide Lounge for the evening. With one practice under our belts, we took off as a five piece band the following afternoon for the first of 4 shows on the short run.

It was a rainy night in Indianapolis, but a good time was had by all. Our friends Steepwater Band sounded great opening the evening. Good trio for sure. Good players, good guys. There was this older couple that I thought maybe were the parents of one of those guys. Turns out they lived in the area and had passed that club many times, but finally went in to see what it was all about. They stuck around front and center for our entire set. This couple was in their 70’s and kicking ass. Awesome. Proof you don’t have to stop having fun when you’re older.

We headed to Cincinnati the next night to play the Southgate house. Cool venue, brutal load in. I’m still sore. Long haul with lots of stairs. We played this small parlor room that felt like an old living room. The house itself that the parlor was in was built in the early 1800’s. The fucking Tommy gun was invented on the premises. Anyway, we sold out the room and they turned away a bunch of folks as well. So we’ll headline the big room next time. Earlier that day we played a short live set on WNKU. This is a station that has actually been playing us on a daily basis. The staff over there voted Places as the best record of 2008! So they dig the Tire Fire and I think had a good bit to do with us selling that room out. The power of radio. Thanks NKU!

Knoxville, TN with our good friends Bloodkin. This is the second time we’ve played down there, the first time opening for Squirrel Nut Zippers about 5 or 6 months ago. A slow night at Barleys, but both bands brought it and we all had fun. We’ll be doing more shows with those guys in a couple of weeks. I’ve had a certain guitar melody of theirs in my head since this night. Can’t get it out. I dig Bloodkin. And you should too!


So we got up early in Knoxville and did the 5 hour drive to Charleston, WV to make our debut on the legendary nationally syndicated radio program Mountain Stage. It was everything we wanted it to be. I’ve been a fan of that show since living down in NC and was ecstatic when I found out we got the gig. You have be invited to Mountain Stage. First class operation from the second we showed up. The staff was helpful and extremely complimentary. The sound crew were pro. The Mountain Stage house band was on fire. In fact they do a finale song at the end of the program and Scott and I got to get out there and play with the house band and members of the Gourds and others on the song Six Days on the Road. I was a blast! Larry Groce himself sang the first verse. He’s the host and man behind 20+ years of Mountain Stage. Kevin from the gourds sang the second verse and did the third. Our set went well and we got a tremendous response from the audience. You can listen for yourself. I think it airs nationally during the second week of June.


After we loaded out we went to hear Michael’s band the Carpenter Ants at the Empty Glass down the street. Michael is the guitar player in the house band and a badass player/writer. Tim met a guy that had seen us before after the show who volunteered to cover all of our beers at the bar. Old Blue let him know that he didn’t realize what he was signing up for and our friend pulled a couple bills out of his wallet and assured tim it wasn’t a problem. So for the remainder of the evening we were double fisting Buds and listening to one of the best bands I have ever heard, especially in a small bar. This band was on fire! A good honky tonk band had the tough task of following those cats. They were called Wayword Drifters I think. They did a fine job as well. Stumbled to the hotel and after an 8 hour drive and Cub victory the following day, we were home. Fun little run. And by the end of it the 5 piece was starting to feel pretty damn good. Get out and see some of these upcoming shows. This is a nasty line up we’ve got going right now.

Cheers. And go CUBS!!!!!
Ed

Monday, March 23, 2009

stuck in NC w/ a sick transmission


got some time on my hands, so i figured i'd bring everybody up to speed with what's been happening in the world of the tire fire. currently we a dropping a bunch of cash into a sick transmission in Asheville, NC., but i'll get back to that bullshit. first i wanna fill you in on the new album. a few weeks ago matt and tim and i flew out to portland, OR with guitars and a snare drum and some cymbals to make a record with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.

we booked a couple of weeks at a saloon/venue/hotel called the White Eagle a few blocks from the studio. this i believe is the oldest bar in portland. the upstairs hotel used to be a brothel. 15 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 showers. matt and i on bunk beds and old blue on an air mattress. tiny room that had a foul smell by the time we left. the first night there the White Eagle had an open mic. Berlin came out, had some drinks, we talked about the record and what tune we'd start with and eventually we played the open mic. i assured steve we wouldn't get too sloppy as he departed, but that didn't really work out. we were all so excited to be there in the situation, the Rainer beers were flowing. needless to say matt and i weren't feeling very well the next morning heading into the studio. we worked about 12 hours and realized what we were in for.

joining steve behind the board engineering the record was Jeff Saltzman. he's worked with steven malkumus, death cab for cutie, the decemberists, etc. both steve and jeff have phenomenal ears and rode us hard. not many takes were acceptable on the first crack. or the second or the third. i left that studio exhausted and elated every evening. it was hard work, but worth every second. anything could be changed at any time. "tune the guitar a step lower and relearn it and let's roll again." "this song needs a bridge." "play with 5% more aggression." "how about a key change at the end?" "can you tune up again?" this went on for about two weeks and the result is fantastic. those guys really helped shape this record and it's the best thing we've ever done, easily. not sure when it comes out, but i can't wait for folks to hear it.


so every night after the session, we'd walk back to the white eagle and drink Rainer. in fact they ordered an additional 10 cases after our first night in town. then we'd get up and do it all over again. got into a real routine you know. knew every bartender at the eagle, the housekeeper, cooks. it was an ideal set up for us. shit, they'd even let us listen to the rough mixes at the bar late night to hear what we'd done all day. hung out with our friend justin a good bit, helped him move on our off day. thanks to him for all the rides and everything like that. matt and i got a chance to catch up with our cousin and her husband and baby and ate delicious indian food and homemade chocalate cake. charles is a hell of a cook.

worked real late the last night. berlin was hearing something and he wasn't gonna quit until he was satisfied with a certain guitar tone on something we had listened to hours before. pretty amazing really. all the gear is put away. we've loaded up his van. the studio has been cleaned. headsets put away. and late into the evening he's unloading amps and carrying them up two flights and setting stuff back up. one of the coolest cats i've come across. he cares a lot about the records he makes and that shines through in these sessions. so a big thanks to Steve Berlin and Jeff Saltzman for all of their hard work. and thanks to tim and matt for making adjustments on the fly and being so easy to work and live with. berlin picked us up in front of the white eaglethe next morning, drove us to the airport, saving us a $50 cab, we exchanged hugs and were on our way.


okay. back to the van bullshit. we've just finished a short tour through the southeast which included stops in macon, savannah & athens, ga, asheville, nc, and greenville, sc. the last three nights with our good friends Bloodkin. great to see and hear those guys. i first got hip to them when i was down in athens. i used to work with Eric Carter at the Georgia Bar. eric plays guitar (like keith richards). he was in bad shape when i was around. he's cleaned up and is a different person and is playing better than ever! unreal. night and day. so those guys are on it these days. they'll be playing before us at a number of shows coming up in the midwest. not to be missed.

anyway, while traveling between athens and asheville we noticed a smell and some "check engine" stuff had been happening for a day or so. pulled off and nick deducted it was transmission related. rented a mini van for the next show and played bloodkin's gear (thanks again guys) and headed back to asheville to pick up the beast. put Scott Tipping on a 20 hour bus trip so he wouldn't miss any gigs and here we sit. we're told we'll be moving by tomorrow afternoon. we'll see.


regular season baseball begins in 2 weeks and i couldn't be more excited. baseball is back. go cubs. see you all at a show...cheers,Ed

p.s. my email was down while we were in the studio, so if i didn't email you back, it wasn't on purpose :-)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Spark Screen Breaker.

The last ten weeks or so have been a blur to say the least. From the Midwest to the east coast back to the Midwest to the west coast back to the Midwest and to the southeast coast. a whirlwind. Been home a few days and it’s back to it tomorrow as we head to Columbus, oh. Laundry to do, deposits to make, a trailer axel to grease, etc. gonna try to recall some of what happened over the last several weeks…

Did some dates with Rose Hill Drive from boulder, co. good fucking rock and roll band and nice bunch of people. Hope to do some more shows with them for sure. As we headed back from the west coast (first we had to spend a night in Astoria, OR where they filmed the movie “the goonies.” went to that beach where one eyed Willie’s pirate ship sets sail at the end) we had a couple of stops before our show in Chicago. Thanks Jared and friends as always at Nutty’s in SD. We brought the rain again, but rock and roll prevailed that evening! Thanks to all in Decorah, IA for your hospitality and kindness; we’ll be back for sure.

Chicago. By the way, we have a new fucking president and he’s from the hippest city in America. And I couldn’t be happier. Anyway, the Double Door was rockin. Good to have our friend Scott Tipping join us for that one and for the next few weeks. We’ll be back DOING ANOTHER FREE SHOW AT DOUBLE DOOR ON NOV. 29TH. After Chicago, we got one night at home and it was memorable to say the least. We opened for one of our favorites LOS LOBOS. We joked about hoping that we’d meet them and not to “get our hopes up, etc.” well after our set at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts, I was tapped on the shoulder by the Lobos tour manager who asked me if I wanted to leave my gear on stage to sit in with the guys. No shit. Got to talk to some of them before their set to thank them for the invitation and before I knew it I was playing with Los Lobos to close out their set. Amazing. On their encore, Scott T. and Tim both sat in and killed it! Hung with those guys after and they are as nice and down to earth as you would’ve hoped they’d be.

The next day we drove to Asheville, nc to hook up with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. What a fantastic band! Great tunes and arrangements. Lots of soul. Didn’t really know much about them aside from that Jimbo Mathus (played with buddy guy on sweet tea) played guitar and sang. Well he also plays trombone and writes some great tunes as well. We had him close out our set with us at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta with one of his tunes off of a blues record. “if yall wanna play Boogie Music, I’ll play Boogie Music with yall.” late night after and one to remember. Did a couple more nights with the Zippers and it was back to the Midwest for a couple of days.
Headed out last week with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Thanks to them for having us, but please, no more Journey at the end of the night. Kidding. Not really. Anyway, good times in St. Lou, Davenport, and KC. Nice to be back in the middle of the country and to see some familiar faces for sure!

Leave early tomorrow for Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Always an adventure. Hit it as the trio the next few nights. Should be fun to play some old stuff and new. Thanks to Scott T. for rippin it the last few weeks, we’ll see you in J-town!

Yes We Did.

Ed

Friday, October 17, 2008

Been A Long Time..........

It's been two and a half months since the last "from the road", and boy have we logged in some miles...............August started off up in Wisconsin, two great nights both in Sheboygan, and Elkhart Lake, thanks to Jason Popp and Co. for everything up there. The end of the month kicked off The Places We Lived Tour, one night at the High Dive in Champaign, followed up by two kick ass nights at Paulie's(R.I.P) in B-town. Next up was Sept 5. at the Metro in Chicago, this was the start of a September run that included a string of dates with Ha Ha Tonka, if you didn't get to catch these guys on the tour, please check them out. The tour took us all around the midwest, thanks to all who attended these shows, always a blast to see everyone out. Also thanks to Ha Ha Tonka, John Henry and the Engine, Little Man, and all of the other acts we did shows with during the tour.

After we parted ways with the guys from HHT in Cincy, We rolled into the Big Apple, for a week of press......including Fearless TV a nationally syndicated music show(stay tuned for air date). We were also able to attend the Broadway show Hairspray, compliments of George Wendt, Thanks to George for having us, the show was amazing, never been to a Broadway show before....quite an experience, i reccommend it! Our week in the NYC ended up with two great shows, one at Piano's in Manhattan, and one at Union Hall in Brooklyn. Good to see everyone in NYC. Thanks to Jersey Jim, Steve, and Sarah for all of the NYC hospitality, see you all next time.

Long trip home from NY, were able to sleep in our own beds for three days! Then we were off to the Rockies. Great show last Sat at the Highland Pacific in Denver. Good to see everyone in Denver again, its been too long! For some reason, I think there were more people from IL at the show than people from CO.......weird.....anyway, We stayed up in the mountains with our good friend Amy after the show, and it snowed! Woke up to great views of the snow covered mountains and trees. Sunday night was Breckenridge, great show, hope to get back during ski season.

Which leads us up to the last two nights, Boise, ID and Seattle, WA with Rose Hill Drive, thanks to everyone who came out in Boise, and Seattle.......RHD is a great rock trio, looking forward to next couple nights with them in Bellingham, WA and Portland, OR

REMINDER: OCT 24th we will be back in Chicago for a FREE SHOW at the Double Door. It is a first come first serve kind of thing so i recommend getting there early to ensure you get in. Hope to see everyone there!

Nick

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Louisville, KY

Louisville, KY

We went down to Louisville last weekend. At first we were supposed to just do one slot at the Forecastle Festival but a couple days before we left our manager managed to get us a slot playing live at WFPK, Louisville’s great public radio station. I guess someone must have cancelled, but we’ll take it! Listen to what we did here: http://www.wfpk.org/CMS/?page_id=73 It’s a great big room for a radio station and they get 50-60 people in there to watch you play which makes the act of playing live music that much more rewarding.

We got down there the night before and set up camp at our friend Adam’s place. He’s the guitar tech and gear specialist for Nashville Pussy. Anybody like any lust with their rock & roll? Anyway, when we get there he’s drinking beer on the back porch of the house with his friend John. We join in until 3 or 4am and then sleep a few hours. We did the radio gig for an hour and then set out to find a hardware store. While purchasing Gorilla tape the clerk at the store lets Nick in on a little story. Some Louisville girl found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. She comes home to find him passed out drunk. She proceeds to put him in a chair and Gorilla tape him from the tips of his feet to his neck. Here’s the kicker… The hardware store guy said he lost a lot of skin while the paramedics undid him. No shit. Watch out for that G tape. Use with caution. Nick and Fish fixed amps while the rest of us watched the Cubs.

It was weird not having a show to do on a Friday night but we made up for it by cooking brats and drinking a ton of beer. Adam’s from Owensboro and he makes relish with his grandpa and he sent us home with a quart of it. Thanks again. We owe you a tee shirt if you’re reading this. Saturday we watched the great Chicago band, Tortoise. Crashed at a hotel because Adam had to get back to Owensboro. That brings us to Sunday. We saw a nice article about our good friend Pokey LaFarge in the local entertainment paper, The Leo. Not surprising since he’s been killing down there for quite some time now. Check out Pokey if you get the chance. We got to the Forecastle Fest, loaded in, and listened to this guy Otis Gibbs. He did a really nice job. Then we all got gift certificates for new Merrell shoes! And if anybody knows anything about the current state of footwear in Backyard Tire Fire you know that this was a real blessing. I’ve almost run out of sole. So we got our gift certificates and then set up to play. Had a great set of loud rockers and started back to Bloomington, IL. I almost forgot that we got to see Joe from Production Simple down there too. Joe’s been fucking great to the Tire Fire. Can’t wait till next time we get to hang with that guy. Big thanks to everyone that helped us load gear and everyone that hung out with us on such a hot summer day. They didn’t get the free beer rolling until we were ready to leave.
We’ve got a new album coming out in late Aug. We’ve got a few tracks from this on our myspace page. Thanks for reading and enjoy.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Cracker’s Hickman likes the Tire Fire, Plus - Live on WFPK tomorrow

Hi Folks,

Leading into Forecastle Festival on Sunday, we'll be live on one of the best stations in America, Louisville's WFPK tomorrow Friday 7/25 at 12pm EST (11am central) on their Live at Lunch program. The band will be playing new songs off The Places We Lived, and talking to WFPK about the upcoming release. You can stream the segment in live time here:

http://www.wfpk.org/CMS/?page_id=26

Also - one of my favorite bands of all time is Cracker. We had the pleasure of playing some shows with them and got to know the guitar player and co-founder of the band Johnny Hickman. Real cool cat and a bad ass player. Anyway Johnny mentioned us in an interview he did yesterday and had some kind words for the Tire Fire. Dig it!

http://www.duluthbudgeteer.com/articles/index.cfm?id=22607§ion=homepage

Seeing as how Cracker's sound is so eclectic, what do you listen to in your free time?

I've been listening lately to a band called Backyard Tire Fire, which I really, really like. They opened some shows for us, and I'm still crazy about their record "Vagabonds & Hooligans."


*Right on Johnny, thanks for the shout out! Hope we do more touring with those cats in the future...

Rock & Roll,
Ed

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

St. Louis

good times last weekend at lucas schoolhouse. wanna thank Joe Stickley and Sean Canan for opening the show. they've got a real nice thing going with sean switching between mando and guitar. good harmonies. enjoyed those guys thoroughly for sure. thanks to Dan at lucas for setting us up with a place next door and for all the hospitality. great to see brian sax and little jenn and all the familiar faces. can't wait to get back there in sept. for a record release show!

it just so happens that we'll be playing a benefit show in St. Louis THIS SAT. AT THE PAGEANT along with our friends Bockman, chicago farmer, BOJ, etc. i think we're on late, but get there early to hear lots of great music!
can't wait to get this new record out there and back to touring...

cheers,
ed

P.S. GO CUBS

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

FTR: From Panhead's to Ribfest

Well it's been over a month since the last entry and here I go. I don't really remember much of what went on in the last month. I do, however, remember the Panhead Billy's gig. Thanks for having us for the grand opening Panhead Billy. Pirouette Pete can really cut a mean rug. Look at the guy. I know we had some gigs after Panhead Billy's, but I can't recall what they were. I do remember Milwaukee's Summerfest (on our stage before us it was A.K.A. Coverfest). The world's largest music festival. It goes on for like 3 weeks, I think it might still be going on right now! That brings us to Naperville's very own Ribfest. That was a fun set. I could hear Fish for once. It was nice to see some family and friends out there. Happy B-day mom! New album coming out next month (8/26)! Stay posted. We are headlining the Metro in Chicago the month after that (9/5)! STL on Friday (Cubs won the big series over the holiday weekend in St. Louis in case anybody was wondering).
M. George Anderson

Monday, June 2, 2008

nice to be home...summercamp, paulies, etc

gotta say it's been nice to be home. weather has been wonderful, the cubs have the best record in baseball, we got a new record deal, and the band is playing well. the rev/nashville tour was a great time. good people. can't wait to get back out there with them in dec. anyway, here's what we've been up to...

a few days after returning home we shot out to davenport to play the redstone room. such a nice place. it's in the upstairs of the river city music experience museum which is basically a shrine to music. little listening stations with photographs and information about different cities in the US and the kinds of music that came from those areas. good stuff. the show was fun and we want to thank our friends Jim the Mule for opening up.

drove home the next day and had a night off. matt and tim and nick went back out to chillicothe to see and hang with our friends Clutch and said those guys rocked the way they always do. hope to catch them next time they're around. pure rock fury. we had our own set out there at summercamp on sunday at 1pm. last year i think we played the same time and the same stage, if i'm not mistaken. the difference was that last year we played in san diego the night before and flew home after the gig in a drunken state to IL to play our summercamp set and had to play on rented gear while nick drove our stuff home from the west coast. we had been out with clutch for at least a month at that point and were exhausted by the time we made it to chillicothe. this time we were fairly rested and got to play our own gear and i had a great time. lots of folks for an early set. band played well. hung around for a few hours after and checked out our friends Phonograph from NYC. good to see and hear them.

and then last sat. we played in bloomington (which is kind of a rarity these days) at paulies and had a nice turnout. thanks to Pokey Lafarge and the Tractor Kings for opening. this was kind of our first night with our friend R Fish Carpenter helping out on guitar and vocals and some keys. we'll be working in Fish over the summer and bringing him out with us in the fall for The Places We Lived tour. the new record (like most of our studio stuff) is involved and has many differnt musical parts in the arrangements. having a fourth player will help us try to recreate what we did in the studio. anyway, he did a nice job and has already learned a shit ton of material. we learned the Kinks tune Victoria the day before and soundchecked it and played it toward the end of the night and it was a blast. hung out at Rob O.'s place until the wee hours and woke up the next afternoon and watched the cubbies win again and again and hopefully again tonight out on the west coast!

hope hilliary and heff had a relatively painless move to NYC this weekend; you'll be missed in the windy city. that's all i got. see you at a show sometime soon...

cheers,

ed

Monday, May 19, 2008

REV+PUSSY+BACKYARD TIRE



4/18/08 Chicago, IL

We’re on our way home from the last of our dates with the Rev. Horton Heat and Nashville Pussy. It’s been about a month since we started out with them so I’m going to do my best to walk you through some of what happened. The first date was in Columbia, MO at the beautiful Blue Note. Our friend Dylan set us up with a warm up gig in the afternoon. As always we saw a lot of friends in Columbia and it was the first time we’ve played at a sold out Blue Note. Tons of fun. The next night we played a sold out Metro in Chicago. Thanks to everyone for making Chicago such a great place for us to go. Our friend Will took a lot of badass photos that hopefully we’ll post soon. We did the Rave in Milwaukee. What made Milwaukee famous made us have a lot of fun. We played First Ave in Minneapolis and that show was fuckin awesome. Conrad sang Lawyers Guns and Money. I’m waiting for them to call and tell us we got a star. We did the Majestic Theater in Madison and our friend Felicity put us up for the night at some nice place down town. Thanks to Madison big time, and Joe and Nicholas up there too. If anyone who is reading this ever has the opportunity to see a show there; the Majestic is gorgeous. We did our first show at the High Dive in Champaign and the closest show we’ve done to home in quite some time. It was kind of special because of all the hometown people who made the trip down. It was packed like a can of sardines in there and I always like that. Makes it more fun. At this point in the tour we got word that there would be some cancellations while the Rev took care of some family issue. It was a drag that it had to happen; but we were at home and not rotting in some hotel somewhere so that’s good. The shows we missed are being made back up in December as well as a bunch of others so we’re looking forward to that. We rejoined the tour in Troy NY. This was our first night seeing Nashville Pussy and our first night on the tour playing first. It was exciting to find out that there was a big group of people who are familiar with our music and were really looking forward to having us. So thanks Revolution Hall and everyone who understands the Tire Fire up there. We made fast friends with Blain, Ruyter, Jeremy and Karen. Blain rode to Buffalo with us and we spent the day off in Cooperstown going through the Baseball Hall of Fame. The place is amazing. First of all for about a thirty mile radius outside town you find out that everything is about baseball around here. Baseball Cafés, Carwashes, Antiques, Everything. And then you get to the Hall of Fame. They give a AAA discount so that’s good. We all saw so much cool shit it’s hard to even start. Ted William’s locker. They got a whole room on Babe Ruth, a whole room on negro leagues; they’ve got a file for everyone who’s ever seen any play in any major league game ever. They’ve got so much cool shit and the place feels really historic. We did the Tralf in Buffalo and the Crock Rock in Allentown, PA. One of my favorite places to play is the Chameleon Club in Lancaster, PA. It’s only the second time we’ve had the pleasure and we can’t wait to get back. We did our first show at the Ram’s Head in Baltimore. One of many gigs on this tour that was across the street from a police station. It’s just an observation but I think we did like six or seven shows right across the street from the police station in the past couple weeks. Thanks to Brett in Baltimore. We did the Rex in Pittsburg for the first time. It’s a converted movie theater. I liked it. Everybody was really cool and encouraging in Pittsburg. We did the Newport in Columbus and partied with Ed and Matt’s aunt until the early morning. We had our second appearance at the Bluebird in Bloomington, IN. I don’t really know if anything exciting happened in Bloomington because I just remembered that we had to drive all the way to Dallas over the next day and a half. House of Blues in Dallas is great though. We got to hang out with Panhead Billy. And on to Houston the next day. Our final night with the Rev. Horton Heat and Nashville Pussy and we had a blast. Over the month we really got to hang out with everybody a lot and if anybody actually has made it to the bottom of this thing I’d like to say thanks and thanks especially to Kevin for handling our sound. From Houston we drove all night and most of the day to get to Oxford, MS to do our first headlining show in a while. The band was tight and good after being on the road for so long and we all had a great time. Despite the extreme, extreme fatigue that we were suffering from. Everytime we drive all night and skip a night’s sleep it gets tougher. Thanks to Tom Speed in Oxford for your support. You know we need it. We’re stopping at a rest stop and I’m done writing.

Tim


5/5/08 Cooperstown, NY

5/5/08 Cooperstown, NY

5/8/08 Lancaster, PA

5/9/08 Baltimore, MD

5/11/08 Columbus, OH

5/15/08 Dallas, TX