In The Studio with David Kershenbaum

Oh how we love the studio, one of our favorite places to be. And it's even better when we get to record our best batch of new songs with the legendary producer David Kershenbaum. It's been two days in the studio now and everything is rolling along as smooth as pie. Our experience in pre-production rehearsals informed us of the inspired, clear vision that David possesses and our time in the studio instantly made us aware of his impeccable ear. The groove is alive in his mind, his ability to immediately recognize the smallest details and quickly edit them is unbelievable.



The studio where we have been working is Matt Sorum's (Guns 'n Roses, Velvet Revolver) Drac Studios in West Hollywood. It's a beautiful spot with a vast assortment of drums, amps, guitars, and all the outboard audio gear you would ever want. Ty was in heaven just oogling at the all the incredible snare drums available, and Mike thoroughly enjoyed the Guns 'n Roses themed pinball machine. A couple of adorable little dogs keep us company too.



All in all, the songs are grooving, thumping, and shining like funky acrobats in suits of polished armor. We cannot wait to share these new tunes with all of you and we'll keep you in the loop.

Pre-Production with David Kershenbaum and Mitch Perry

In the past weeks we have been diligently rehearsing the songs we plan to record this winter under David Kershenbaum’s (Duran Duran, Tracy Chapman, Joe Jackson, Bryan Adams, Supertramp, Cat Stevens) direction. Mitch Perry (Cher, Edgar Winter, MIchael Schenker Group, Deep Purple), David’s right hand man and guitar extraordinaire, has been assisting us with crafting these songs into finely tuned, bastions of fortress 28 North. Every little detail is being intricately analyzed in order to serve the essence of these songs. Reworking, repeating, and reconstructing until nothing else makes them better is our main objective.

Up to this point the focus has been on individual instrument parts and simultaneously the dynamic arc of each song. We began, on Mitch’s insistence, by having the guitar sounds stripped down to their barest form: no pedals, minimum reverb (you can never have no reverb), in general no additives that can potentially “cheesify” (definition below) a song. One by one and little by little, the effects were added which were considered intrinsic to the emotional landscape of the tune. In result, Mike and Taylor have removed much clutter from pedal-world and purified their tones into wailing angels of six-string glory.

Ty and Jon have been approaching drums and bass parts with similar intent. For this the respective instruments are isolated, the drum part being stripped to only the kick and snare drum pattern. After insatiable looping of the parts and cutting and adding we will have the rhythms sealed tight as a drum (pun intended as always should be, or was that just a play on words, I'm not sure). The same applies to the guitar parts, which are given the surgeon’s knife treatment. With each song there have been endless stops and starts and looping and deliberating with David. We absolutely adore working with David and Mitch. They have both contributed to vastly improving our songs already in these early stages and we cannot wait to share these beautiful compositions.



Overall we have probably played these songs approximately a bajillion times in the last month. It is actually quite draining work and we will continue until our songs are ready to present to the world, which won’t be too much longer.

*Cheesify (cheez-uh-fye) - to purposefully or inadvertantly produce something of substandard

Pink's

In continuation of informing you of our questionable gastronomic adventures, we hereby offer you Pink's Hot Dogs. Yes, another classic Los Angeles staple in the late night eatery and unhealthy, novelty food category.




Starting as a mere hot dog cart by Paul and Betty Pink in 1939, Pink's is now a famous location in Hollywood. The Great Depression rendered most with tight purses and light wallets, but a chili dog with mustard and onions could be purchased from Pink's for just ten cents. Over 70 years later, Pink's is still going strong with long lines out front every day. Pink's now has a location in Las Vegas and Pink's hot dogs are also sold at Cedar Point amusement park (hell yah!) in Sandusky, Ohio.



Pink's menu is chock full of artery clogging, indulgently attired items such as the bacon chili cheese dog, the mushroom Swiss dog (grilled mushrooms, mayo, Swiss cheese, what!?), and the epic Three Dog Night (3 hot dogs, 3 slices cheese, 3 strips bacon, chili, onions, wrapped in tortilla, wow). Adorning the walls of the dining area are many signed photos of celebrities, some of which have signature dogs named after them. The Martha Stewart Dog is a 10" dog with relish, onions, bacon, chopped tomatoes, sauerkraut, and sour cream. The Ozzy (Osbourne) Spicy Dog has nacho cheese, American cheese, grilled onions, guacamole, and chopped tomatoes. Nutritious and fun, right? It's like our manager Jerry Heller says, "I used to go to Pink's all the time in college. You go get a chili dog at three am, get sick, and go home."

Philippe's!!

Los Angeles has much to offer in the category of cuisine and dining. A place where people migrate to follow dreams and revolutionize history with gastronomic creations. You can find just about anything that suits your fancy; from sushi to In-N-Out Burger, and tacos to Thai.

So in Chinatown, one would naturally think Chinese cuisine to be the standard fare (and it is). But there is one place that stands out, boldly serving up what it claims to be the original French dip roast beef sandwich. That place is Philippe's. Since 1918, this famous establishment has been serving this staple of lunch time fare to citizens and visitors of downtown Los Angeles. Another restaurant, Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet in Los Angeles, also claims to have started the trend of the French dip, but that's another story and another lunch.

Philippe's is a must for any fan of the French dip. The only mistake I made was not getting the "double dip", which I plan on getting next time as this is definitely a place to revisit. And the hot mustard is unbelievable.

Happy B-day Ty @ San Diego Zoo

We took the day off on Ty’s birthday to visit the San Diego Zoo. The polar bear showed some love, Jon got real friendly with a statue, and we discovered that Jaguars eat ribs very rare. Totally epic zoo. In fact, the best zoo. Other highlights include the tacos in San Diego. Happy Birthday Ty!

Fall Tour: Young the Giant in Denver

We had a fantastic fall tour through the desert and mountain regions this month. There were stops in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Aspen, and two shows in Denver. It all started with Taylor’s 21st birthday in fabulous Las Vegas. It was our first experience taking on the challenge of rocking Sin City, we did not fail. Vegas was a blast and Taylor’s birthday was spent amid the lights and swagger that are sure to remain happy, yet slightly blurry memories for a lifetime. After Vegas we went off to Salt Lake City, Utah. The drive was gorgeous and the city was warm and welcoming. Another first time city for us, we had a great show at which we made many new friends and fans. Special thanks to Matteo for taking care of us, hope to roll through again soon. The following day was off for us so we stopped to visit friends in Carbondale, Colorado. A day off in the Rockies amounts to a heavenly experience; beautiful scenery, hiking, and rafting on the Mighty Colorado River. Next stop on the tour was Aspen, Colorado. Again, it was another new town for us, but not to worry, we discovered this beautiful Rocky Mountain town is abound with enthusiastic music appreciators. We were also very fortunate to share the stage of the beautiful venue Belly Up with two fantastic bands: Chamberlin and St. Bernadette. The venue was truly one of the best we’ve ever experienced. After Aspen it was time to hit Denver for a huge sold out show at The Bluebird with Young The Giant. All we can say is wow. We had an incredible night at another fantastic venue with a stellar band. It was truly an honor to share the stage with such a talented group of young guns who are taking the world by storm. It was truly an epic night. The following day we took a trip up to the stunning Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado to soak in what is touted as the best venue in the entire world.

The tour ended with another show at Denver’s Larimer Lounge. It was great to see repeat customers from the previous night’s show amidst friends and fans. Denver is, like all of Colorado, a place where music is consumed with great appetite and appreciation. We can’t wait to return, rest assured it will not be long.


On a more scary note, during our ride back to California we had the exhilarating experience of a tire popping off of our van on I-70 just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado. At around the 3 am, those sleeping were jolted awake by a sudden POP and a resulting grinding noise accompanied by a sliding, skating sensation. Fortunately there was no surrounding traffic as it was the middle of the night, so the van was safely guided to the shoulder where we stepped out to investigate. As you can guess we were baffled to see the left rear tire….missing. Overall we were extremely lucky to be just outside Grand Junction and not in the middle of an isolated pass through the Rockies. More luck was encountered when the van was able to be repaired next morning in the matter of a few hours. Overall the tour was a great success and a lot of fun.

Moving Out – 28 North Style

As those of you who have been following us know, amid much anticipation and excitement, we are officially moving out to Los Angeles to immerse ourselves fully in the left coast music scene. While we are ecstatic about this, and feel like we’re riding high on a wave of amazing possibility, it is not without much nostalgia and heartache that we are leaving our hometown – Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh, the three-rivered jewel of the rustbelt is a blue-collar paradise – one of the last bastions of urban virility where a yinzer can wag his mullet with pride, gloatingly point out to house guests a framed photo of his deck hockey team hoisting the over-30 league trophy, and wear his Penguins jersey to work at least once a week. We love it and we’re going to miss the hell out of it.

Along with saying so long to our amazing fans and friends in the Burgh, we had to vacate our long time home in Shaler. The six and a half years of our rock and roll residence has left us with a Hoarders-worthy accumulation of stuff: instruments, furniture, computers, glasswear, and even the occasional guy on the couch who invariably overstayed his welcome (seriously Stewart, we’re moving to LA and you have to go home).
The sensible thing may have been to call over friends, girlfriends, family and anyone else who might help and to go through our belongings savoring the memories and sorting the things we’d keep from the things we’d donate. But shit man, we’re musicians and the veneer of dirt, ash, and beer that coats everything and smells like something we call ‘home’ is enough to suggest that Goodwill would consider our donation an insult and sense fled this house long ago like one of those True Blood vampires when Sookie says “you aren’t welcome in my house”.
No, we approached the problem in a way that would make our Yinzer brethren proud: we rented a big-ass dumpster, put the Iron Maiden album on repeat, and threw everything we had away. I know what you’re thinking, but take comfort friend – we carefully set aside anything heavy and glassy enough to be smashed, fired up the Flip cam and indulged our destructive impulses. Mike’s old desk that he had been pledging to clean out for five years – screw it dude, smash it. The once-white couch, now piss-colored and reeking of Floyd and vagrancy – smash it. The massive rear-projection television – SMASH IT! Indulge your own inner-Neanderthal and check out the video below.

KTLA Channel 5 Morning Show

We had a great experience playing on KTLA Channel 5′s Morning Show. What a perfect way to kick off Mike’s birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!

Thank you to all who tuned in. For those of you who missed it, check out the interview and performance below:

INTERVIEW

SURRENDER

Last night we went to a party at our friend Ronnee Blakley’s house. Upon arriving, Rick immediately dove into the pool, and we went directly into the fridge to become familiar with the alcohol situation (Tecate and tequila…nice!). Ronnee asked us to play a few, so we busted our ‘wandering minstrel’ set-up. There was no shortage of musicians in the house, and on a break many a talent would use our gear. Chad Watson played Jen (The P-Bass) on a stirring rendition of “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”. At one point, while I was enjoying a libation on a recently broken lawn-chair, Mike rolls up, all excited: “Do you see who’s playing my guitar?” With a glance, I saw it was Rusty Anderson, a man who helps Sir McCartney facilitate all those great songs by that one band…The Beatles. Before I could finish another sip, Mike and Rusty were playing “Across the Universe” and trading original songs. The party focused on the duo with rapt attention – it was the musical high-water mark for the boozy night. Mike is now Rusty’s sub in case he ever has to skip a gig with Sir Paul.

Practice, Practice, Practice

So living in an RV just north of the Angeles National Forrest is not exactly conducive to a rehearsal space. Seeing as we would all go insane without playing our instruments and as we are genuinely dedicated to keeping our performance well oiled and squeaky clean, a place to practice for us is essential. We have been extremely fortunate to find just what we needed at the Guitar Center Studios in Woodland Hills, CA. This beautiful facility houses dozens of practice rooms for either individual instrument practice or full band rehearsals. So for the past few weeks we have frequented this wonderful practice spot to keep our chops in check and to work on new material. The equipment that is provided in each room is top notch and the entire facility is run smoothly and professionally. We are even able to record our practice session directly to a CD. Huge thanks to the staff at Guitar Center Studios, you’ve been a great help to us! Instrument lessons are also available at Guitar Center Studios, and it just so happens that the director of guitar teaching is a guy named Adrian Galysh. Oddly enough, Adrian is a fellow Duquesne University music school graduate and we met him randomly at one of our shows at Harper’s. He was a very nice guy and we hit it off right away, small world after all.

Los Angeles

We're very happy right now.

28 North Tour Wrap-Up

Greetings from Pittsburgh!! Yes, 28 North is finally home from our six week-plus tour. We had an incredible journey through this beautiful country of ours. Viewing glorious landscapes and meeting wonderful people was the story of our lives for the past month and a half, not to mention playing music every night. It can be said, without a doubt, that this tour has been our absolute best experience on the road of the past four years. The mission of promoting our new album, A Long Walk Home, was a complete success made possible by the vigorous support of all the beautiful people that came to our shows. It was a wild ride through many regions of our handsome country; from the east coast to the Rocky Mountains. Thanks to everyone that gave us love along the way!

Our last week on the road consisted of shows in St. Louis, St. Charles, IL, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Our appetite for performing seemed to increase with every one of these shows, each night felt more lively and exciting than the last. Whether this was a result of anticipating our homecoming, or an aversion to the inevitable sad ending, or a combination of both; we had an absolute ball during these last four shows. The Atomic Cowboy in St. Louis was a pleasurable new venue for us with great sound. Playing with our friends Alabaster Brown was a gas as always. The House Pub in St. Charles, IL was fantastic, it's always wonderful to see our friends from Train Company in that neck of the woods. In Indianapolis, at the Rock House Cafe, our set reached a new level of depth and maturity; much thanks to our extremely appreciative and tenacious fanbase in Indy. And finally, The Elbo Room in Chicago was a treat to play as it always is. It was certainly our best night yet at the Elbo Room and we can't wait to get back and visit our favorite venue staff! And thanks so much to everyone who has graciously posted on our Facebook wall, you make us all blush!!

So 28 North is home for a while, but busy we shall remain. We have recording projects, a lot of writing and rehearsing to do, and not to mention more shows!! In the coming months we will be playing regionally at some of our favorite spots. Check out our schedule at 28North.net. So take care and we'll see you soon!!

Until next time,
Ty

28 NORTH UPDATE

Greetings from the road! As I write, 28 North is currently cruising on I-70 West towards our next destination: St. Louis. We are heading out of Colorado where we had a beautiful experience in the Rockies. Our shows were fantastic in Denver and Boulder. I have been hearing word for years about the kindness and appreciation of music that Colorado's inhabitants possess and these expectations were most certainly fulfilled. Our tour has brought us from the East Coast, down through the Southeast, then West to our current location. It's been an incredible five plus weeks of traveling, playing music, and meeting new friends and fans.

HIghlights include playing favorite venues such as The Grape Room in Philly and Arlene's Grocery in NYC, meeting lots of new people in new cities like Tom's River, NJ; Hagerstown, MD; and Pittston, PA. Playing with European meatal bands in Wilmington, DE was an unexpected pleasure, immersing ourselves in the fabulous songwriting community of Nashville was a treat as always, connecting with old friends in Baltimore and Washington D.C. felt great, playing with The Silver Comet while revisiting one of our newer favorite venues, Smith's Olde Bar, in Atlanta was fantastic, basking in the phenomenal sound stage at Outer Banks Brewing Station was wonderful, sharing the bill with Protomen at The Live Bar in Greenville, NC was truly exciting, witnessing the glorious harmonies of Pearl and The Beard at Houston's Super Happy Fun Land was enchanting, and playing at Birmingham's The Nick was an authentic, old-school, rock club evening. On top of all that we had a magical night in New Orleans (best city in the country) packed with authentic swagger in the form of music, food, attitude, and general merriment. Playing at Checkpoint Charlie's on the border of the French Quarter is one of our absolute favorite experiences. (see below for some cool New Orleans vids)

Here we get to Austin, and the world renowned South-by-Southwest Music Festival. This portion of our trip is deserving of its own paragraph and simply two words: Wow. Wow. We spent a beautiful week in Austin soaking up the sun, the music, the fine Mexican cuisine from taco trucks, and general madness amongst other things. As you may have heard, we were blessed to have the opportunity to play the Spin Magazine party at Austin's legendary Stubb's BBQ. It was a dream come true to share the bill with such talented and relevant artists like TV On The Radio, The Kills, OMD, Skrillex, The Vaccines, The Smith Westerns, Electric Child, Dom, and Young the Giant. We had an incredibly fun time at this show; there was dancing, laughing, networking, all the great activities that go on during SXSW. Our second show was at the Chuggin Monkey on E 6th St. where the heaviest foot traffic and craziest action tends to happen. Every store front has music pouring out of its windows and patios all day long during the week and fortunately we were able to coax passersby into the Chuggin Monkey for a kick ass set that surely won't be forgotten by the packed crowd that we performed for. Other highlights in Austin include catching Middle Brother's set (best show of the week in my opinion) at Auditorium Shore, getting to see Raphael Saadiq (big fans) and The Questions at Stubb's, and watching our friends Hollis Brown and Courtesy Tier play at the beautiful sounding Belmont. Overall, SXSW is an unforgettable whilrwind of an experience that you MUST have in your life. I strongly urge anyone that has not been to plan on it for the future.






Well, that's all for now, we've got shows in St. Louis, Chicago, and Indianapolis to round out this extensive six week plus tour. Come check us out if you are in one of these areas, we are supporting a new record, A Long Walk Home, slated for release in early May, but you can purchase it from us at our shows currently! You will also here a lot of this new material performed live if you can make it to any of these last few shows, so don't miss out!!

Thank you to all who have supported us on this tour and made the time to appreciate our art, you make it possible for us to do this!!

Until next time,
Ty

Feb 18th The Grape Room

The Grape Room
Philadelphia, PA

We spent the day outside of Philly at Jon’s parents’ house. It was quite a relaxing day. Jon’s mom made us breakfast and some of us went to guitar Center to get some new gear. While in there, we were spotted by some people who knew our band, which made us feel ultra famous! We told them about the show at the Grape Room later that night and went back to Jon’s dads. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, t-shirt weather in the middle of February. We unloaded the entire van and spent a few hours revamping our pedal boards, this means zip ties and patch cables. It is such a great feeling to have your gear working properly, as nothing is as quite as frustrating as when you’re at a show and your gear just stops working, trust me! But with my new set up, this should be happening less. We got all dolled up and drove the 35-minute drive to Manyunk. The first thing we did, after congratulating Scooter, the manager of the Grape Room, on becoming a father of twins, was try and park the van in one of those spaces that seems too small to parallel park in, but tenacity will tell you differently. We ended up squeezing in the space with just enough room, but we forgot to factor in the fact that opening the back of the van is very important when unloading gear. But it just meant waiting a little longer to load in. We checked out the bands, the first was Chris Piola. Opening the night was a solo artist who had a great Jeff Buckley vibe going on, really great songwriter and singer. After that was a band with lots of synth pop going on. Following them, Brooklyn band the Energy rocked the crowd with their Killer’s type sound mixed with some 90’s pop. Good band. With the crowd foaming at the mouth, 28 North took the stage. Great vibe going on too, a lot of eagerness for the Philly fans to hear our new guitarist, Taylor Netzler.
Set List:
Clockwork
Trails
Call me Up
Two Hearts
The Shine
Dreams
Sneaky Woman
Pride
Brother
Panic
Home Side Up
Set it Down
What You Get

Encore:
Baba O’Riley
Travellin’




We closed the night and had a great response from the crowd. They always bring their dancing shoes and make us feel very welcome in the City of Brotherly Love. Come to think of it, this was the first time we didn’t get cheese steaks after a Philly show. And for the record, some of us like Pat’s and some of us like Geno’s, but we all know Jim’s is the best! We went back to Jon’s parents’ house and passed out after a job well done1

We got nothin’ but love!
28 North

Tom's River, NJ

The first tour date of the 'Long Walk Home' winter tour is in the books.  The place was called McIntyre's and was a big old Irish bar about 20 miles from the Jersey Shore (Situation). We walked in after long drive from Pittsburgh and immediately made ourselves at home at the bar.  The day was filled with preparation for the tour and we were ready for a beer and some music.  The first band wad a local Indie rock band that brought the passion and culminated with their drummer removing his shirt.  The second band was called Accidental Seabird and they were pretty Rad.  Like a psychedelic version of the Fleet Foxes.  After they tore the house down and the crowd calmed down from a blistering jukebox box rendition of 'Love Shack', 28 North hit the stage.  Before the performance, the MC of the night, Brandon Hans, rocked some acoustic songs solo, until We were set up and joined him on a blues original called "Tranquillizer".  After an epic blues ending, we began our set.

Pride
Dreams
Sneaky Woman
Clockwork
Panic
Take What's Mine
Trails
What you Get

Encore - I Want It That Way (in the van)

Good night..good people..we drove two hours post gig to Colman's parents house.  Arriving around 4am, trying to be quiet, we proceeded to come within seconds of burning their house down.  We put a backpack on the fireplace...too bad it was on.  Thank the lord for barking dogs. 

On our way to Guitar Center.  Rocking The Grape Room in Philly tonight!

Nothing like a Situation at the Jersey Shore.

Peace out
28 North

Taylor Netzler joins 28 North

After five incredible years, Alex Stanton has decided to leave 28 North.  The decision came as a surprise, but Al feels the need to go and experience something other than music for awhile. We sincerely wish him all the best and will always appreciate the unwavering contribution he had supplied over the years, not to mention his talent and his constant ability to make us laugh...Salute!

But as one door closes, another opens, and no more than two weeks after Al's departure, we told Cleveland native and Waterband guitarist Taylor Netzler of the news, and Taylor immediately showed interest in joining the 28 North family.  We sent Taylor the records, he learned them and drove to Pittsburgh with his guitar.  I'm happy to report that within two minutes of playing "Pride" together, we knew he was an absolute prefect fit.  Taylor will be touring with us and we couldn't be more excited to show you all the incredible guitar wizardry he posseses.

Much love, see you on the road!
Michael, Tyler, Jonathan, and Taylor.

www.28north.net for a Free Download of 'Call me Up'.

And check out the tour dates leading up to SXSW!