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.

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

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

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