WE HAVE A KICKSTARTER FOR OUR NEW SK8 OBSTACLE, PLEASE DONATE WHAT YOU CAN! http://tinyurl.com/868z8ag
If it gets funded, the day of the party, you can try out the new SK8
obstacle @ Waller St. & Stanyan after sunset. SK8 Kamp's party
proceeds and ramps benefit West Oakland's Town Park Skatepark
The first thing we learned upon arriving in Austin Texas is that Texas is hot. Not hot as in, "Hey Texas is hot in March" rather, "Damn Texas is fucking hot." Though this did make for a sweaty 13 hour drive from Tucson, the humid climate did lend itself to an intriguing and pleasant evening atmosphere. This we discovered only after sleeping 10 hours of that swampy day away thanks to our 8 am arrival. Also much in thanks to our gracious hosts Irene, Zack, Jacklyn, and Hillary, for allowing us to infest your living room for the week. We managed to make a nice nest out of a fold out futon, a couch (with cushions), and a linoleum floor. A perfect habitat for 7 people.
We awoke dazed at dusk and decided it was time to go see as much as we could of the festival. Boarding the #7 bus and reaching our destination of 6th and Congress, we realized we had greatly underestimated the intensity of this event.
Out of every open door and window came pouring the distinctive sound of musicians rocking their hardest on foreign systems. All the while music lovers flocked from attraction to distraction searching for their next "I was the first person to hear about this band" band to take home and share with their loved ones. After taking a moment to gather ourselves we embarked to find the nearest saloon.
I would try to recall the name of the establishment, however, I am not sure the bar, nor my memory will merit the promotion. Regardless, we were greeted with the friendly solicitation of free alcohol and live music. We made the most of their offer and proceeded to venture down 6th street in awe of the magnitude that was South by Southwest.
Getting arbitrarily drunk on a Tuesday is fun enough. But getting arbitrarily drunk on a Tuesday while bar hoping from club to club as they compete to see who can get you the most fucked up, all the while running into your favorite artists such as Brother Ali, is almost too much fun to describe. So with that easy out I will say this much, if you ever find yourself in the real Coyote Ugly in Austin during SXSW, don't ask for a lime.
Getting good and whiskey drunk Elliot found himself engaged in a rap battle with an emcee that refused to mention his name. A crowd was quick to form as the two exchanged insults; ultimately it was clear that Elliot was the crowd favorite, which I hate to admit because I hate the mother fucker. Continuing our night by handing out free demos, and stickers, and excepting more free booze and music, we began to fall in love with the sweaty ass city.
The next night was more of the same, tromping about downtown talking to folks about the band and such, watching bands sound check and ask for more vocals in the monitor. We got good a liquored up and decided to get into some mischief.
As it turns out Tanner has quite the knack for adhering stickers to precarious places, such as cowboy hats, stranger’s shoulders and police officer's backs. Cosmo found himself fighting off an old man who he thought was innocently offering him free fried chicken, but was really trying to seduce him. As he forced himself upon the helpless bass player, Dan found himself getting acquainted with the lawn along with his new found buddy Sleepy the Bum. We managed to catch our comrades from Santa Cruz, Wooster's set, which never fails to disappoint.
After that the crew found them at what they thought was a Pharoahe Monch concert but turned out to be a Sole and Bus driver show (arguably just as entertaining.) Having no means to get home Tanner, being just drunk enough, decided to ask a random stranger if we could hitch a ride. Of course the first guy Tanner approached happily obliged. As it turned out this gentle man was also an emcee known simply as Chad, and quiescently enough had just come from winning a freestyle battle event hosted by Murs. We exchanged discs and thanked him for the ride and got ready for our next day.
Unlike the other haphazard afternoon wake ups, Thursday was our first day of "work." We had discovered that an insurance company had accidentally sent our host Irene 200 personalized shot glasses which she subsequently offered to us for our disposal. We promptly fitted them with our newly ordered Eliquate stickers and struck back out into the abyss that was downtown Austin. Now, normally when you attempt to hand a stranger a flyer to an event like this it is similar to saying "Here, will you toss this on the ground for me?" However, strangers were more inclined to listen to Elliot as he spouted off verse after verse to random groups on the street in exchange for a free shot glass. The crew bounced from party to party attempting to convince people that a free Eliquate show (a band they never heard of) was more appealing than a $30 Niki Minage showcase.
They were pleasantly surprised when they arrived at the Dizzy Rooster to find it packed to the rafters and sweatier than Satan's nut sack. After getting the gear set up and checked in less than 5 minutes (a feat the sound man Phil regarded as "badass") the boys played that club like it was a Colosseum. Drenched in sweat and showered in free alcohol, they made a 30 minute set seem like a 2 hour showcase. Disgustingly sweaty and high off their performance and run in with Wooster in the back ally, we decided to hit the town. The first venue we found we peeped through the window, and were pleased to find that it was Grieves and Budo rocking a set. We were even more pleased to find the window had a crack in it enabling us to hear the whole show. And even more so when Grieves's manager noticed us peering through the window and insisted that we be ushered in past the line for free. After the show we got a chance to kick it for a brief moment with Grieves and thank him for his outstanding performance, and Erin exchanged email's with his manager.
We then piled all 7 of us into Thomas's Subaru and barged home. The next day was our first show with Texas Rock Fest, and our first encounter with the man behind the event, Mr. Adam Brewer. Adam is a man with a mind for Rock and Roll and a heart for music. As intense as the music he represents, Adam has managed to host the Texas Rockfest going on 13 years. My first conversation with Adam went like this "Hey Adam it's nice to meet you, I'm with
Eliquate." Looking intensely into my eyes he pulled me close and growled into my ear "Thomas Dawson should be hung from a tall oak tree." I enthusiastically agreed with him as he began to laugh hysterically, never revealing if his sentiments were sincere. All adding to the colorful nature of his character, as he seemed to generally appreciate our participation in the event, and the dynamic of a very stressed out Thomas Dawson and a very enthusiastic Eliquate. Stepping out in front of a crowd of roughly 500 strangers, the boys felt confident in their ability to hold the audience’s attention and make an impression. It wasn't long before floods of people began pouring in from the street to see what the commotion was all about. The show almost broke out into a full scale riot as fans began hopping on stage and attempting to stage dive as well as show the whole of Austin their dance moves
. One little girl was so stoked she even approached us after and asked for our autographs (nothing like that has ever happened to us before.)
Knowing we had an early morning the next day we decided to take it easy that night, and get ready for round two of Texas Rockfest... yearh... this time it was a day show and the boys were pleased to see many of the prior nights patrons had returned to catch their last show at SXSW. They rocked with Adam Brewer like intensity, as Cosmo was graced with yet another old man kiss. This one coming from the kindly old sound tech, who wanted to thank us in his own way for having such a smooth set up and Jamie for not having too many pedals.
The boys had accomplished what they had set out to accomplish, playing three shows with the professional integrity and delivery that prompted an enthusiastic invite for return on the behalf of Red Gorilla Music Festival, The Dizzy Rooster, and Texas Rockfest (yearh.)
To celebrate they spent their last night getting whiskey drunk and sneaking into a free Datzik, Dj Jazzy Jeff (legend), Crystal Method, and Erika Badu concert. Followed by tear assing through downtown Austin slapping sticker on every open space they could find, laughing hysterically the whole time. When it was time to head home it dawned on them that had not arranged for a ride home, they, however, were fortunate enough to fall on the good graces of Litta, a school teaching country singer songwriter who happened to have misplaced her car.
The boys helped her retrieve her vehicle and were rewarded with an impromptu performance of Bootleg Jenny's "we got to stop reproducing" on the ride home. Only after further assisting her with a flat tire cause by 6 guys being crammed in the back of a Ford Focus.
Later that morning the boys awoke to what would be 26 hour drive back to Santa Cruz. Buzzing from the experience and excited to get back on the road Eliquate has returned home to begin planning their next big adventure. Till next time, as we prepare to step out into the fray, all we ask is that you root for our hero's as our slow ascension to musical obsolescence continues. Thanks again to our hosts for putting us up, we owe you 10.
So it's a widely known expression around Texas that the city of Austin keeps things "weird." For a town that takes pride in supporting musicians, local businesses, and serving as the Silicon Valley the South for tech start ups, it's no wonder that we feel right at home. With all the liberal progressive scenesters roaming around 6th street with indie bands posting up on street corners, its felt a lot like we've relocated to a more humid San Francisco, except instead of PBR's everyone is drinking Lonestars with coozies.
Reflecting on the first few days in Austin has been a culmination of running up and down 6th street meeting bands, musicians, seeing free shows, and making connections. SXSW draws over 200,000 people to Austin during this week. But for the most part people are really friendly...almost too friendly as I can attest to the random dude who blatantly asked me to make out with him in exchange for a rose. And while the taxi drivers seem to be too cool to stop for anyone past 2 pm, we've learned to rely on the friendly passing cars who let all seven of us jump in their car for a ride home. But as serendipitous as our trip has been thus far, we ended up getting a ride from Austin's very own emcee Chad S.N.G. who won last night's SXSW rap battle. So in true underground hip hop fashion, we listened to his flows intently while Elliot spit a few of his own rhymes to show our gratitude for the ride home.
We played our first show last night at the Dizzy Rooster to a full crowd that were all groovin to Eliquate as if we were playin a home crowd. No matter what crowd Eliquate plays for, the crowd never has trouble gettin their dance on. The band definitely played a rockin first show in Austin and found lots of new fans.
After the show it seemed like the music gods once again took Eliquate into their hands as we all peered into the windows of the Malaia Club desperately trying to listen to the Grieves and Budo show goin on inside. It just so happened that the Rhymesayers tour manager saw our pitiful looks peering through the window and walked outside to tell us that he wanted us to come in over everyone else in line. We didn't think it could get any better until we met him and Grieves after the show. We'll see if fruition and fate bring something out of that connection for the future
Tonite we play at the Texas Rock Festival where we will on at 11 pm. If you're out here in Austin for SXSW come check us out!
It’s the third day of the tour and we’ve already logged over 30 hours of driving under our (breaking) belts, played two awesome shows, lost Elliot’s cell phone, found Elliot’s cell phone, reminisced over Dan’s childhood memories as we ate grits at the local Waffle House, drank a few four-lokos and took a minor side trip to watch the Giants at Spring training. We finished the night off by fitting seven people in a nice hotel room for a mere 30 bucks…all while taking in the beautiful sights that the city of Tuscon has to offer.
If I could describe the city of Tuscon for you all, I would say it is about as gratifying as drinking a warm beer out of a Nalgene (which I am currently doing while writing this blog). We managed to make it less than a mile down the road to the Jiffy Lube for them to tell us that we MUST change our belts. We then put our faith in the hands of our drummer and tour mechanic extraordinaire, Dan Wells, to replace the belts and get us on our way. It was a group effort though as the rest of the band took refuge under a lovely tree that “sapped” on us while we took in its shade. But we prevailed and made the best of the situation by taking the time to reflect on the trip thus far and took note of all the efforts we have each made individually to get to this point, on the side of the road, drinking warm beer out of pineapple cans in Tuscon.
Alas, we finally left the lovely state of Arizona behind us and waved goodbye to everything it had to offer: trannies, 36 inch hoagie sandwiches, fast food chains, and the largest known pawn shop to loan guns and gold. Tuscon apparently has a lot to offer. Now we are on the road again. Only 13 more hours till Austin with many more stories to share.
So, its only day two and I have got to say I am fucking sore. Starting the trip out with a rocking show on our home turf set the pace of performance at a high I am beginning to regret. However it is alway worth a little back pain to get to see all our homies rocking out.
The second stop of the tour was Santa Barbara, where we played quite possibly the most rocking house party we have ever played. I.V. you never fail to disappoint. Interesting side note, at both shows mosh-pits ensued, perhaps this is the beginning of a new precedent?
After the show we all decided to have a few adult beverages and Thomas (manager), feeling particularly sleepy, decided to take a nap on the couch with his shoes on... So we turned him into a kitty...
We are now in Long Beach stealing wifi from Burger King getting ready for our show tonight at DiPiazzas. Being that we have no place to stay in Long Beach, we are fairly certain we are going to just barge it to Tucson after the gig.
As we step out into the fray, all we ask is that you root for us friends, and stay posted for more as Eliquate: Lost in Austin continues.
