quiet... the nothing more guys are sleeping downstairs

Greetings all... so its monday at 1am... or technically tues at 1am (it is the morning now i guess) and I'm quietly working away in the upstairs studio in the Sounds Under Radio house in Austin Tx.  Been writing a lot lately and Ive actually taken recently to gaff taping (gaff tape for those that don't know is like over glorified duct tape that is used on stages because of its durability and also ease of removal) pages from my writing journals to the walls of the studio... I have also gaff taped a sharpie on a string to the same wall so that I can stand in front of what i've now deemed 'the word wall' and make swift edits and changes, combine things, fracture things, break them down, build them up... so on and so forth.  I've been challenging myself recently to exploring some new ways to write... and this method has actually been quite helpful and inspiring.  There is something i'm finding to be rather powerful about just standing in front of these words... words that hold great meaning to me... and in a way confronting myself again with these themes and ideas... I can't close my journal, I can't escape it... anywhere in this room the words are all around me... I have to face them and I have to be honest with them and myself.  Its been brutal sometimes... but again, a great means of catharsis once i've gone through the process.   I wish I knew how to post pics on this thing because the 'word wall' is actually quite amusing to see... I'll try to figure it out and get something up soon.  

So downstairs right now (and thus why i am 'quietly working upstairs') are sleeping our good friends in the band 'Nothing More'  who are staying with us for a few days while they begin tracking parts of their new record in a studio here in Austin with our much loved producer Will Hoffman.  I can't wait to hear what comes of this collaboration... I've been hoping Will and Nothing More would work together for quite some time now... glad its finally all going down.  But needless to say... they have an early morning, so are fast asleep and the rest of us here are trying to respect their need for quiet...  although I keep hearing what might be a smoke detector beep every few minutes... probably need to go investigate when i'm done writing this.

so road updates... once again, been traveling a great deal in the great state of Texas... I believe in the last week we saw almost every mile of IH35 in Texas... Laredo Tx took us too the Mexican border and a trip in the the DFW metroplex took us about 50 miles from the Oklahoma border on the north.  IH35 really is an aweful highway... constantly under construction, traffic jams at every corner... I once heard 35 referred to by a fellow musician as a 'work horse' highway, 'no frills... just lots of pavement and potholes.'  that is the damndest of truths for sure.  From border patrol stops and drug dog at 4am heading out of Laredo, to 10 mile long roadjams in Waco (which we hilariously found out to have been caused by our good friends in the band Alpha Rev and their broken down mini bus), 35 has been a good... yet painful road companion the last few weeks.  

Last weekends show at the Cavern Club in Dallas (a tiny room modeled after the Cavern Club in Liverpool where the Beatles found their start) proved to be an amazingly intimate and suprisingly fantastic show for us.  We in the 11th hour had to strip back and perform the show as a trio acoustic (or acoustic in the way that we do acoustic i guess) as Sonny had some last minute family issues to attend to... but we soldiered through and had somewhat of a 'VH1 Storytellers' evening in the Cavern Club with a few hundred of our closest Dallas fans and friends all packed in to a room whos capacity I could only imagine to be no more than 50 or 75 people.  It was hot and cramped... but it was amazing show... stellar sound in the room a wonderfully attentive audience... also my folks (who live in Dallas) got to come out to the show which was just great for me... always such a blast having them there at shows.

Heading back to the metroplex actually later this week for a bono fide acoustic show and a little writing sabbatical... light week of touring so it'll be a good opportunity to kinda get out of my element here... do some fresh thinking and some fresh writing.  Been doing a few of these acoustic dates recently and have a slew of them lined up for the coming months.  Been really cool to hang out with some friends and fellow songwriters... don't get to do that much with how busy we are these days... so its been good for us to be working and also be hanging with friends.  Did a show with a good friend Johnny Goudie in Houston 2 weeks ago... we traveled together to and from the show and I can honestly say... I haven't laughed that much in a long time... I'm thinking about inviting him on the road with Sounds Under Radio every now and again just to keep us entertained.... ha... and oh ya... he's a BRILLIANT singer and songwriter as well... that doesn't hurt at all.  Also had Casey McPherson travel back from Dallas to Austin with us this last weekend (his band Alpha Rev as well as our other good friend The Soldier Thread played at the Cavern with us), such a good time hanging with Casey.  Another BRILLIANT songwriter we are fortunate enough to call a friend.  

 Anyway... after writing in Dallas early this week, acoustic show on Thurs, we are back in Austin late week... rehearsals (working in some new material) and then a rock show in Corpus Christi this weekend... busy as always.... but busy is good!  more soon