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.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
KTLA Channel 5 Morning Show
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
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.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
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
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
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
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
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
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