Tales From The Road: Jaws Soundtrack, Rockstar Parking Battle & Tennis Skirts.

With lots of catching up to do, I'll skip the set lists in this blog, as by now I'm sure you've discovered our magical pattern. On that note (pun fully intended), our version of Lady GaGa's 'Bad Romance' is continuing to blow minds and we're still quite amazed by the unexpected response to our version of Cheap Trick's 'I Want You To Want Me'. Since my last blog, we've played 98 songs over the course of 4 rockin' shows, another good reason to skip typing the set lists for each into this blog. :) Oh, and if you're like us, keeping track so far, we've played a grand total of 215 songs this tour. Cool!

Show #5 found us in our favorite, small neighborhood bar called the Wander Inn just outside South Bend, in Mishawaka, Indiana. We discovered the stereotypically Midwestern watering hole during our tour last fall and were elated to return. Oddly enough, the routing of this tour originally had us missing Mishawaka until I saw a forwarded email out of the blue from a guy named Rich. Apparently, after having a BLAST last fall with us he took it upon himself to track us down and lobby for our return. He visited our website right about the time our spring tour dates were announced and started the ball rolling. He sent an email to us and also emailed the bar owner requesting another 7k performance. From a business perspective, with the demand in place it was time to get our supply in gear but honestly, our hearts led us to book another show at the Wander Inn. Our experience last year is still one of our fondest memories and we simply cannot say enough about the AWESOME people that frequent the decidedly Cheers-like small town bar. We saw many familiar faces and were surrounded by many new friends at the merch table during every break. Like last year, the crowd begged us to finish off the night with ANOTHER SET of our original songs. We were more than happy to oblige and continue to feel lucky about being asked back. Having the chance to spend more time at the Wander Inn on this tour (and not breaking my foot this time) was a treat we'll cherish until next time.

Show #6 was at Ohio Dominican University, or lovingly 'ODU'...almost a displaced Garfield reference everytime I say it. Another show on another breath-taking Midwestern college campus on another gorgeous Spring day...WOW!! We arrived Wednesday afternoon for our show Thursday night in the Student Center. A campus safety officer escorted our bus as we pulled into a long row of empty parking spaces near the fitness center reserved for school athletes. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon, with a delightful lunch in the student center after a tour of the building and some show planning. Sitting on the bus, adjacent to the beautiful tennis courts we happened to notice the ODU Women's tennis team about to begin practice. There is something pleasant about tennis skirts, sunshine, ladies playing tennis and an overheard comparison between teammates about strapless bras and sports bras. After reading a book for a bit, I curled-up for a nap to the sounds of quickly skidding sneakers and the unmistakable chorus of tennis balls bouncing from racket to clay to racket to clay to racket....and so on. We woke the next morning, show day, and the lads hit the gym while I strolled around campus clicking photos of architecture and flowers. I also got a guided tour of one of the main academic buildings and an exquisite theater. We began our load-in about 3pm, set-up, set lights, soundchecked and headed for dinner. The students in attendance had a ball as we blasted our way through a 3 hour show. They sang and danced, had fun onstage and cheered loudly after every song. Although the student center was supposed to be closed and vacated by 11pm, the students flocked to the merch table to get their hands on their very own 7k gear, or have a photo taken with us, or get an autograph....or, most commonly, ALL THREE. ODU showed us a great time and a ton of school spirit!! Columbus, Ohio was beautiful and the students ROCKED!!

Show #7 is where the rockstar parking battle took place....well, kind of. Jake's Night Club in Bloomington, Indiana was a hot bed of inebriated merry-making during the uber-popular 'Little 500' weekend. The entire downtown scene bubbled with non-sober shenanigans as our bus pulled-up in front of Jake's. On a weekend like that, many popular acts roll into town, many of whom require a space to park a tour bus. In this case, 7k was added to that list and had previously arranged the City to cone-off a 60ft area at the front curb of the venue. As it turns out, Snoop Dogg was set to perform nearby and the after party was scheduled to be in Jake's just as we were finishing. Presumably, his audience was fun, gigantic and intoxicated although I'm not sure where he got to park his pimped-out bus as we beat him to the prime spot. As I stepped out of the bus, I was informed Snoop Dogg's bus maybe parked there too. I surveyed the PACKED curb, our sexy bus with trailer and replied with a smile on my face simply "Not today." Ding, thanks for playin' Snoop. We proceeded to load-in and the crowd proceeded to bump and grind, onstage during our SOUNDCHECK! Little 500 is to Bloomington what Marti Gras is to New Orleans and everything was CRAZY right from the get-go. The show was a blur of music, dancing and onstage sing-alongs. Everyone had so much fun and there were even a few that had too much fun. It was truly a night to be remembered and marked the VERY FIRST TIME 7k concert tickets were available through Ticketmaster. I will be framing mine for sure. What a memory and a milestone.

Show #8 was our third show, in a different city and state in three days. We arrived at the Vernon in Louisville, Kentucky and were tired. Walking through the door, though, gave way to excitement as we saw the venue. You may remember last year's tour we played at the Vernon and were set up straddling a bowling lane in the popular bowling alley upstairs. We played as bowlers flanked us- it was awesome. This time, however, we were the featured headlining act downstairs in the very Sunset-strip-in-its-heyday club. After our soundcheck we were met by my Godfather for a tour tradition of sorts- dinner a block away at Sergio's. Boasting thousands of different kinds of beer you've never tasted, much less heard of, Sergio's is an experience not to be missed. For Jeff and I it's like giving a chocoholic keys to the Hershey factory. For David, his true rockstar status was honored as he sipped a bottle of his favorite wine...a bottle he WALKED IN with. The food and drink were the perfect preamble for a memorable show. Serpent Wisdom, a talented local, eclectic, super-fun act brought their crowd and set the tone for a great evening. We took the stage and played a spirited set of originals with two slammin' covers, 'Life is a Highway' and Prince's 'Kiss'. At one point, Jeff came toward the drums and scooted back near me to rock-out. In the dark, his shin unknowingly gave my mixer/click station a gentle nudge (a bit of 7k humor) and it nearly toppled to the stage. Hurriedly I reached over, mid-tune, to catch it and everytime Jeff trotted toward me for the rest of the show I was overwhelmed with the music from 'Jaws' as I anticipated my gear hitting the deck. LOL. The crowd enjoyed the show, clapping and singing along....many of whom were familiar with 7k from last year's performance. After the show, Nick (famous producer, Louisville resident and sound guru at the Vernon) informed me that he had recorded our performance in what he called "an insane set". The digital files should be waiting in our inboxes when we get home....with any luck, we'll have a few great live tracks available in the not-too-distant future. Sound cool?

We enter the home stretch this week, with three HUGE college shows on the East Coast. Before we do, however, we are taking care of our bodies (and our laundry) recouping in our favorite KOA campground for a couple days in Madison, PA. We were here last year and we fell in love with the grounds. This time around, it's rainy and a bit chilly, but we're making the best of it eating Jeff's famous chili, drinking David's jet-fuel coffee and enjoying two care packages from my loved-ones. One included the movie 'I Love You, Man' (hilarious...a must see for sure) and the other, a fine bottle of Four Roses Small Batch (the REAL crown jewel of Kentucky). Here's to no alarm clock, no driving, no loading......at least for a couple days.

Til next time,
Jeff, David & Corey

Tales From The Road: me-o-MI-OH

After an abbreviated and rare spell of post-show insomnia I'm here once again blogging a fun-filled, jam-packed update...this time from my very own huge hotel room in Marietta, Ohio. Today's magic number is 67. That's how many songs we've cranked through (two shows) since my last blog and doing so has afforded us a couple days rest in East Sparta, Ohio (about a hundred miles from here) at one of the most beautiful and picturesque KOA campgrounds we've ever seen. You may remember reading about it in my blogs from last year's tour. One word: WOW! Jeff, David and myself are truly looking forward to taking it easy and catching up on life a bit (it's one of the things that seems to disappear while working out here on the road).

Before I describe the shows, I have to say that pictures don't even begin to do justice for either of the beautiful campuses we found ourselves on this week. None of us had even BEEN to the state of Michigan before parking the bus in the sports complex parking lot on the campus of Adrian College in Adrian, MI. The campus, which boasts many buildings from the 1880's alongside state-of-the-art buildings fashioned with an old school aesthetic. Everything intermingled with beautiful trees, spring flowers blooming and sprawling foot-paths. The other campus we marveled at was that of Marietta College in Marietta, OH. We strolled through campus late Thursday afternoon to find a good spot to park the bus and were simply AMAZED by the architecture. The brick work and attention to detail of every building was staggering. The school logo, an elegant M C, is chiseled in a crest atop each building and the grounds are laced with fairy tale-style green grass, rolling hills and small bubbling brooks. Both campuses were simply breath-taking and, with no offense to our respective alma maters we agreed that if we had to do college over again, it would be a toss-up between the two campuses.

Show #3 at Adrian College had a neat twist. We were put-up the night before and the night of the show in a two bedroom guest house on campus behind the Admissions Office. With the bus parked on the other side of campus in the sports complex lot, we got a ride to the house with our luggage from campus police. What a sight it must've been to see three road-weary rockers helped into a campus police SUV by a uniformed officer. LOL. After a good night's sleep, we all explored the campus. Jeff and David got in a workout in the gym while I sat under a tree to read a book. It was peaceful and really prepared us for a hectic night. With narrow streets and smallish parking lots, our load-in distance was long (which means we had to carry, push, stack & pull all our stuff a long way). We were perfectly cool with that and decided to get an earlier start than normal. Incidentally, that distance always seems twice as long AFTER the show, so we woke up the next morning being sore in places we didn't know existed. LOL. Anyway, back to the show...we were in this giant ballroom which sounded like an arena. The bass swelled. The guitars and vocals soared. The drums sounded huge and epic. Students shuffled in and weren't shy about having a good time. Darting right to the front of the stage, they sang, jumped onstage, danced and had a blast! At one point, a campus dance group showed up and stirred everyone into a frenzy with coordinated dance routines to nearly every song we played. It was bananas. Here is the set list:

LITTLE BIT MORE
CALIFORNIA IS THE END
WHAT YOU DO
MY HIGH LIFE
DISPENSE WITH THE PLEASANTRIES
TURNIN' IT UP
TAKE IT OFF
THIS LOVE
HOLIDAY
BAD ROMANCE
DISTURBIA
TWIST & SHOUT
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
LIVIN ON A PRAYER
AUTHORITY SONG
KISS
BILLIE JEAN
AMERICAN GIRL
ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL
I GOTTA FEELING
BEVERLY HILLS
I KISSED A GIRL
WALK THIS WAY
SUMMER OF 69
I WON'T BACK DOWN
STARLIGHT
USE SOMEBODY
SWEET HOME ALABAMA
YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU
I WANT YOU TO WANT ME
WHAT I GOT
LOVE SHACK
CLOSER
BROWN EYED GIRL
FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES
HOT IN HERRE
POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME
SWEET CAROLINE

Show #4 also had a twist, well, many twists actually. Playing DURING THE DAY is always a trip. I remember heading to dinner afterwards wondering how it could be possible that everything was packed-up and that we were done already. Truly an odd sensation. The show, though, was extraordinarily fun as it marked the first official outdoor festival-style show 7k has played since reforming as a trio. It was cool (and a bit jarring) to look out and SEE everything: the grass, the huge inflatable slides, the beer garden, the food tents and padded jousting......yes, American Gladiator-style huge-Q-tip jousting. It was awesome. Earlier in the day there was a 34 team mud volleyball tournament, so muddy people were running around having a great time. The festival, called Doo Dah Day, kicked-off with fellow SoCal rockers We Shot The Moon (from San Diego). They rocked the college students, who were clearly in party-mode for about an hour, and then we took the stage. Students everywhere in brightly colored Doo Dah Day T-shirts, with the obligatory mud spatter of course, rallied near the front of the stage throwing frisbees and footballs while singing every word. It was a little cool and windy at first, but as the show went on, the wind died off, the temperature warmed to perfection and the crowd roared in a way only made possible by a combination of a beautiful spring day, a couple cold drinks and fun rock music. Here's the set list for that show:

LITTLE BIT MORE
CALIFORNIA IS THE END
WHAT YOU DO
MY HIGH LIFE
DISPENSE WITH THE PLEASANTRIES
TURNIN' IT UP
TAKE IT OFF
THIS LOVE
HOLIDAY
BAD ROMANCE
DISTURBIA
TWIST & SHOUT
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
LIVIN ON A PRAYER
BEVERLY HILLS
I GOTTA FEELING
I KISSED A GIRL
USE SOMEBODY
STARLIGHT
ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL
YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU
I WANT YOU TO WANT ME
WHAT I GOT
CLOSER
BROWN EYED GIRL
HOT IN HERRE
SWEET CAROLINE

Well, I'm off to meet the boys for breakfast and then we'll push on to our beloved campground. We're stoked to finish off watching the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy while munching on leftovers from yesterday's healthy and GORGEOUS catering table. With a sincerely satisfied sneer, I'll just say this doesn't suck. :)

Til next time,
Jeff, David & Corey

Tales From The Road: The Sequel

From our bigger and better bus at one of our favorite KOA campgrounds in Joplin, Missouri, I offer a kind 'hello' while launching this blog series. 1,737 miles and 50 songs under our belts we've reached our first official day off. In so many ways this tour is 'the sequel' and in others it most certainly is not. By this time during our last tour we were already knee-deep in bus troubles, ready to chuck our GPS unit into the nearest lake and I had already earned a Master's Degree in the fine and intriguing art of duct tape repair.

So far, the new GPS has been refreshingly accurate and quite pleasant actually with our GPS voice choice: Emily- the quaint Brit. It's decidedly strange to be so far from home and to recognize so many people and places. We find ourselves in various states of deja vu as our 'road blur' begins to take hold. One quick stop found us standing in the very same Braum's in Amarillo. For those who don't know, Braum's makes the best chocolate malts on planet Earth and their ice cream cone logo, neon sign is nearly irresistible. The 'blur' has us second-guessing what the actual day of the week is and will certainly get worse as the tour progresses. Soon enough, we'll actually have to have lengthy discussions to try to pinpoint what day it is. That sensation is becoming more familiar...and that is weird.

Show #1 at Mooney's in Norman, OK was fantastic as everyone showed up wearing their 7k gear from last fall. We realized it had been six months to-the-day since we had rocked Mooney's. WOW! Many familiar faces came up to us smiling in anticipation of another fun night with 7k. Our new merch display bubbled with fans before the show and then it began- an epic show:
LITTLE BIT MORE
CALIFORNIA IS THE END
WHAT YOU DO
MY HIGH LIFE
DISPENSE WITH THE PLEASANTRIES
TURNIN' IT UP
TAKE IT OFF
THIS LOVE
HOLIDAY
BAD ROMANCE
DISTURBIA
TWIST & SHOUT
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
LIVIN ON A PRAYER
AUTHORITY SONG
KISS
BILLIE JEAN
AMERICAN GIRL
ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL
I GOTTA FEELING
BEVERLY HILLS
I KISSED A GIRL
WALK THIS WAY
SUMMER OF 69
I WON'T BACK DOWN
YOU REALLY GOT ME
STARLIGHT
USE SOMEBODY
SWEET HOME ALABAMA (OKLAHOMA)
YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU
I WANT YOU TO WANT ME
WHAT I GOT
LOVE SHACK
CLOSER
BROWN EYED GIRL
FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES
HOT IN HERRE
POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME
SWEET CAROLINE
TAKE IT OFF (AGAIN)

Show #2 at Joe Momma's in Tulsa, OK was also exactly six months later and it too was a blast. We shared the stage with good friends The Parakeet Chiefs right after enjoying the best pizza in Tulsa. Joe Momma's friendly staff treated us like kings and made our pre-show tummies very happy! Tulsa is a notably progressive and diverse lot and the downtown area buzzed with the start of their local Tulsa Drillers baseball season. After the game ended, folks poured into Joe Momma's for some grub and some rock n roll. We happily delivered on the latter:
LITTLE BIT MORE
CALIFORNIA IS THE END
WHAT YOU DO
MY HIGH LIFE
WRONG GIRL
REMEMBER ME
DISPENSE WITH THE PLEASANTRIES
TURNIN' IT UP
TAKE IT OFF

We pulled into Joplin this afternoon for some relaxation and weren't here ten seconds before an Olympics-style sprint to the showers. Certainly, a good hot shower remains the most highly sought after commodity on the road. After cleaning up, we bounced around, strolled through the beautiful campsite and marveled at the drop-dead-gorgeous spring weather. Tonight, dinner, a couple cocktails, laundry and a movie...........oh, and a trip to the fireworks stand next door. Last time we were here, we were chilled to the bone but this evening we plan to take advantage of a fun spring night.

Flip flops, sore muscles and shorts- this drummer's a happy camper. :)

Til next time,
Jeff, David & Corey