What Happens in Ocean Shores......

  Well now that we're a few weeks removed from the Galway Bay festival, I thought it was time to sit down and write about our experiences there.
   I was really looking forward to the festival this year since we were releasing our cd there. We had put about 5 months of work into the album and I was curious to see how it would be received. I was also excited to see that there were a few new bands scheduled that hadn't been there last year.
  We arrived on Thursday afternoon, the opening day of the festival, even though we weren't scheduled to play until Saturday. One of the things I've noticed as a performer is that you don't have nearly the time to hear other bands, so arriving a few days early would give me the chance to check out some other bands. We had gotten the performance schedule a few weeks before and were admittedly a little bummed to only be scheduled on Saturday and Sunday. However, this was only our second time playing the festival, so it's not like we expected to be headliners.
  After checking in at our place, we headed out to Hoquiam to the 7th street theater for opening night. We were running a little late and missed the opening acts, but got there just in time for Sephira, a couple Irish girls who sing and play violin. They're more of a hybrid of Celtic and classical (Celtical?) music. They've played with musicians all over the world and even toured with Celtic Thunder for a while. Now don't get me wrong here, they are lovely ladies who are very talented (and they were very kind when we talked to them), but their music didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest of the festival. It worked well in the theater on opening night, and there is definitely a place in Celtic music for softer sounds (I'll admit to being an Enya fan), but their other music sets seemed a little out of place, especially Friday morning at the pub. After Sephira finished, we headed across the street to see what was happening at the 8th St Alehouse. Who did we run into there but Mike and Steve from Culanns Hounds, a SF based Celtic band we had met the previous year. They were starting a set of trad tunes and even though my fiddle tune knowledge is limited, Josh and I grabbed a pint and sat down with his guitar and my mandolin and whistle. They were kind enough to let us go through the fiddle tunes we knew, and included a few singing tunes as well. We were especially pleased when Tatijanna grabbed her fiddle and joined us for a few songs as well. At some point, the Sephira gals came in and I was hoping they'd grab their fiddles and join us, but alas it wasn't to be that night. Before we left, I gave Bill and Jeff (owner and organizer of the festival) our cd and nearly begged them to let us play on Friday. Thankfully they had a slot open at the pub at 10:30 the next morning (or maybe not thankfully! Who wants to get up early on the weekends!). 
  So we showed up early to the pub on Friday to play a nice little acoustic set. People were slowly trickling in awaiting a set by Sephira around noon. We finished up and hung around hoping to see the gals playing some ripping pub tunes. Alas, it was not to be. They spent about 45 minutes setting up their prerecorded orchestra music, played one song, then invited everyone to their evening performance at the convention center. Again, I don't like to talk bad about people or other musicians, but it was pretty disappointing. I really wanted to see them tear up a few fiddle tunes in a more stripped down setting. After that we headed back to our place to figure out what to do the rest of the day. since our next show was Saturday morning at 10:30 (what's with all the early shows?!), we thought it would be fun to head to the convention center, get our stuff set up in the room for the next morning and just jam in there for a while since there were no bands scheduled in the room for that evening. At the convention center, there were 2 main stages in the ballroom and 2 smaller rooms where groups could play more acoustic music. We ended up jamming in there till late in the evening and had several people come in and hang out for a while. It was a good time!
  Once Saturday rolled around we were ready to go! As I mentioned, the first set was at 10:30 am. Don't remember much about this one, it was pretty early. After that we had a 1:30 set at the back stage at Galway bay. This one was pretty rocking. We had a good group of songs and we really seemed to be on. It was probably helped by the nice crowd that was back there singing along. We got a few approving nods from some of the other musicians- always a positive development! Next up was the set we had been waiting for- 5:00 at the convention center for the battle of the bands! 
  As I had previously mentioned, we received the schedule a few weeks before the show, so we knew we were going into the battle of the bands "against" Darby O'Gill, a Portland duo that has been around for many years. I put against in quotes because it's not really a battle or competition as much as a friendly back and forth between 2 bands. Now I had met Ken and Scott from Darby O'Gill a few years ago, very briefly, and didn't know them at all. In the wildest of coincidences, a few of us from the band had gone down to the Dublin Pub in Portland a week before the festival to drop off our new cd and see about getting a gig there. Who just happened to be there playing that night, but Darby O'Gill! I had to go up and say hi, and I promised them that we weren't scouting them before the "Battle"! We had a nice conversation with them and talked about playing a song together at the show. Once the Battle started we were really in our element. We finally got to rock out with Daves full drum kit and play our "sound". I think we played pretty well and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. It didn't hurt having my 5 year old daughter doing her Irish dancing on stage with us. The awwwwww factor goes way up! Darby O'Gill was great too. They have a huge trove of songs to choose from and they have a lot of humor in their set. We ended the battle by playing a mash up of Drunken Sailor/Another Brick in the Wall. Yes, you read that right. It was a mashup Darby O 'Gill has done before and we joined in with them. What a blast that was! The other highlight of the battle was the emcee, Jeff, telling the crowd that our cd was awesome. Very kind of him!  
  Another highlight of Saturday was running into some Vancouver fans that I recognized from our Facebook page. A few of them said they had come up for the festival because of us. How cool is that? Thanks Jessica, Tamara and Krista!  After that, we had one more set in the CC small room at 10:30 pm. Quite frankly we were pretty tired, didn't play so well, and I'm gonna leave it at that.....
  Sunday afternoon we played our final set at the 8th St Ale House back in Hoquiam. It was pretty a pretty relaxing conclusion to a great weekend. People were still waking up, there was football on the TV's and bloody mary's on the tables. We played to a small, but friendly crowd. It was our 6th set of the weekend and I think we were ready to call it a day. We stuck around for the next act who I had been hoping to see all weekend. His name is Kevin McCormack, a folk singer from Ireland and he had a buddy with him. I had heard some rumors involving him, a car, a tree, a fight and a jail cell on Friday night, so I was intrigued (talk about your Irish stereotypes). He did not disappoint. He launched into some typical traditional Irish pub songs but with a gusto and energy I have not seen too often. I was glad I stuck around.
  A few more highlights: seeing Portland musician Cronin Tierney playing some jazz piano in one of the CC rooms. The guy is a good guitarist, but his lounge act totally blew me away. It was also nice to see Bellingham band Maggies Fury back together after a short hiatus. I really enjoyed playing with them at last years festival. Nice guys and gals, fun band! We hope to do a show with them in the future. Finally, after our last set on Saturday night, we headed over to the pub to catch Culanns Hounds joined by Kris from Ockhams Razor. Another high energy show, with dancing late into the night. The pub was mostly filled with musicians from the other bands hanging out. After they closed the pub we ended up chatting in the parking lot until 2:30 or so with some of the other bands. what a way to end the night. I cannot wait to get back there next year. 

Hawthorne, Alberta Street and Beyond

May 3, 2011

Wow, how about that Hawthorne show! Nice crowd estimated at 200+. We opened the show with a good Irish rock set, had a blast and then stuck around to hear our friends Jetpack and Monody. The energy was great, the crowd was lively and I think everybody had a great time. I'm sure we'll have a chance to play with those guys again in the future!
Last night we played a set of music with traveling bard, Colin Clyne. Man that guy has a great voice. He played several songs off his new album and then we played after him. It was quite interesting because he had a video crew there shooting him for a DVD project he's working on. Dan, our sound man, ended bringing a ton of recording equipment so that Colin could be recorded live as well. Much thanks to him for all the hard work he put in last night. If you ever get a chance to meet Colin, he's a super nice guy. Really pleasant to work with and the kind of guy you just want to share a pint and some stories with. He plans to be back in Portland again with his band soon, so we hope to get to hear him again in a few months. Also, thanks to Skot and Steve with 67 music for arranging for us to play with him. 2 more good guys! We plan to have many more dealings with them in the future.
As far as upcoming shows go, we're continuing our crazy week with an acoustic show this friday at the Geezer Gallery, then next Saturday we're off to Seattle for the Great West Coast Craic! We hope to see some Portlanders there, and remember- if you let us know, we can get you discounted tickets! That show will be off the charts!! See you there.

Big Update!!
It's been a while since our last update (computer issues), so we've got a lot to talk about here. First, a big thanks to Fort George Brewery for the great show at the end of March. The place was absolutely packed and we had the best time! We hope to play there again in the future. Have I told you about their beers?

For the past 3 weeks we've been gearing up for our Seattle shows this past weekend. On Friday we played at A Terrible Beauty Irish Pub in Renton. What a charming place! Definitely had the look and feel of an Irish pub. The staff was great, and we have some extra praise set aside for Erin our server. She was awesome! Before we played, we were entertained by the lovely Erin McNamee. What a great voice. Especially loved the Gaelic songs.
Our set went well. We got a few people out there dancing, including a gal who wanted more Newfoundland songs. Guess we need to add a few more Great Big Sea songs to the set! The only thing that was a little strange was being a little ways away from the audience, but we had a great time! Hope to play there again as well!
On Saturday we were supposed to play at the Ould Triangle in Seattle, but there was a communication problem and there was another band playing there. So instead we ended up playing at an awesome party at some friends house. That was a very nice and intimate show. It felt a little more like a practice, but it was good because we were pretty relaxed. After sleeping in a little today, we had a nice band brunch at The Rusty Pelican in Wallingford.

So now to the big news: We've been invited to play at the Great West Coast Craic in Seattle next month. The Young Dubliners will be headlining this show, and the other bands are Ockham's Razor from Seattle and Whiskey Dicks from Vancouver, BC. The show is May 14 at the King Cat Theater in downtown Seattle. This is a pretty big deal for us! We can't wait for this one!! The tickets are $25 the day of the show, but if you want to pre buy the tickets from us, you can get them for $20. Just let us know in the next week or so, so that we can get them here in time.
We have lots of shows coming up the next few weeks. Next Saturday, April 30, is the Everything Show with our friends Monody and Jetpack:missing, both of whom will be releasing CD's at the show. You should be there!
Then next Monday the 2nd we're opening for Colin Clyne at the Alberta St. Pub on his west coast tour. Definitely check out his new CD entitled Doricana. It's really good.
Finally, on Friday the 6th we'll be playing a free acoustic set at the Geezer Gallery while our friend, Andrea Burnett displays her artwork. This will be a great show for families!
We're looking at studio time starting in June to record our album. Hope to have it ready to go sometime in the fall, if everything falls into place. Hope to see you at a show soon!

March 13, 2011

Getting some nice feedback on our 3 demo songs. We even got Fall From Grace Again played on the local college radio station. Yay! Check them out- it's KPSU, and every friday afternoon from 2-3 they have a show called Uncle Larry's Kiltlifter Extravaganza and they play all Irish themed music. You can also listen at 98.1 FM if you're near the PSU campus.
We've also got some new shows to let you know about. We finally booked that second show up in Seattle. It will be at the Ould Triangle. I've never been there, but it came highly recommended by some musicians who've played there. The owner is an Irish guy named Ray who fronts the Seattle band Raybone Experience. You really should check them out- lets just say they put an interesting spin on some of these old traditional Irish songs. And they rock. It looks like we'll also be playing a show on April 30 with our friends Monody and Jetpack: missing. No, they're not Irish bands, but they're good friends of ours and they're both releasing CD's soon, so we're going to rock up our set a bit and open up for them. Then a few days later on May 2, we'll be opening for Colin Clyne at the Alberta St Pub. He's a Scottish songwriter who will be touring in support of his new album 'Doricana". I am literally downloading the album as we speak.
We also played 2 shows this last week. Thursday we played an acoustic set at Mahers. We ended up being double booked with Corry Quinn, a bluegrass/americana singer. We ended up joining up with him and switching off playing each others songs. He's got a great voice. That was a fun night. Then last night we played at Shanahan's for the second time. It was a really good show, and the crowd seemed to enjoy the music. We ended up booking 3 more shows there for the summer in June, July and August, so we must've done ok. Thanks to the crew at Shanahan's for taking good care of us. We'll see you again in June! For everyone else, we'll see you in 2 weeks at Fort George in Astoria. We're expecting that place to be packed- better get there early!

Getting the Demo Done!

February 21, 2011
Man, do I love recording. As frustrating as it can get sometimes, there's something about going into a studio and getting your ideas down on tape (yeah, I know it's not tape anymore). So we spent Saturday night at Dave's house and started by recording the drums and bass. Dave and Jereb pretty much nailed it in just a couple of takes. Then it was time for guitars. Josh took care of business with the 6 string, 12-string, and banjo. Next, I came along with the mandolin and whistles. The mandolin went just fine, but being a relatively new whistle player, I was struggling big-time on the reels. It wasn't the notes that were the problem as much as the breath control, which I'm still learning. So we decided to give me a night to sleep on it and packed everything up and headed over to Dan's house to record the vocal tracks at about 9:30 pm. Now I only recently met Dan, he plays in Dave's other band- called Monody. But he has just been awesome to work with. Fun to hang out with and a real pro with the technical aspects of recording. We got the vocals recorded pretty quickly, I'll admit to being a little surprised, but I guess it was only 2 songs. So around 11:30 I headed home- we were coming back the next afternoon to record fiddle and (hopefully) whistle.

That was the worst drive home. I was heading back to Scappoose from Hillsboro, so I was going the usual route over Cornelius Pass road. Unbeknownst to me, it had rained a little that evening and the road had turned into a sheet of ice. There were cops posted at various locations on CP, letting people know they couldn't use it. They suggested I head back into Portland and go out HWY 30 (my usual route home from work). But I knew better. I often take Skyline and other back roads home from there because it's kind of fun and there's never any traffic, so I decided to take that route home. Besides, there was no snow or ice where I was, so it couldn't be that bad. Well, by the time I got to the top of Skyline there was about 3 inches of snow/ice on the road and I was driving about 10 mph. Then I hit Logie Trail to get down to HWY 30, which is 4 miles of extreme twists and turns, all downhill. So like I said, it was a bad drive home. What should've been a half hour drive ended up taking an hour and a half plus. At least I'm still here.

So last night we went back to Dan's to finish the recording and since Josh & Tatijanna were running a little late (he had to replace his alternator, yuk), I had a chance to revisit my whistle parts. This time it went much better! In fact, I even added some low whistle to the fiddle tunes. They wont be real prominent in the mix, but they'll give it a little more depth. Then Tatijanna showed up and nailed her fiddle parts. I had warned her that Dave & Jereb had recorded the fiddle tunes faster than we had ever played them, but she got it done pretty darn quickly. Must be her classical training. We were able to spend an hour to 2 working on mixing, and the songs are starting to take shape! Although this is just going to be a demo, our goal is to start recording our album very soon, so we're hoping we can use a lot of these takes for that. We'll be heading back to Dan's next weekend for (hopefully) the final mixing, then we'll post the songs on the website for you to hear. They're a lot more rocking than what's here now.

In other news, we added another show at the Geezer Gallery in Multnomah Village. Our friend Andrea Burnett will be displaying some of her art that evening and she asked us to play during the show. Sweet!