Wichita!

Day one of the Spring Tour couldn't have been more fun. A Monday night in Wichita. To the uninformed, that may sound like a recipe for pool, some pinball, and an early night. Far from the case. John Barleycorn's began filling up about half an hour before Bright Young Hopefuls took the stage, and it was for good reason. Frankly put, this band fucking rocks. Scott (from Hellvis) and Brandon (from Killed by Robots) form as evil and delicious of a rhythm section as we've seen. The singer rocked, the songs were cool, and the energy was contagious. I ran to the van to get my camera, but a still picture couldn't capture the energy of it all.

The Wichita crowd became our favorites, as they stayed through the long haul, into the wee hours of a Tuesday morning. My guitar flew apart piece by piece as the set progressed. A volume knob (recovered by Scott) flew off after the first song, I popped a string during our cover of Cracker's Movie Star, then switched guitars, only to blow the input jack on a leap that timed poorly with one of Lucky's spinning lunges. I had to go back to my first guitar (which had also lost a strap lock) and finish off Possum with four strings and no strap. All in the name of rock, and all for Wichita. A name that will make us smile for the rest of this tour.

The Best SxSW Ever?

Could be. Without 30,000 counterfeit wristbands, shows were suddenly less impossible to see. o3 saw Joan Jett, and Steve Garvey is still on a quest to find Michael Penn. I saw them both (Steve Garvey and o3, not Joan Jett and Michael Penn) for a while yesterday at the Parish where AMF gave us free beer.

Lucky is working his ass off at Flamingo Cantina and none of us have heard from him since he met Jim Jarmusch outside of our show on Thursday.

Favorite bands so far? Here's my list:

The Hold Steady - Originally from Minnesota, transplanted to NYC. Saw them by chance on Friday night. The lyrics to their opening song were outstanding. When the guitars kicked in, my hair stood up. Didn't make out a word after that, at didn't care. Can't wait to hear their record.

The Secret Machines - People are calling them the new Pink Floyd. I didn't hear so much pink floyd as I did spaced out Spoon and BRMC. Incredible tones and arrangements. Three guys that play in the round. A keyboard player that picks up a bass. If Halley were three guys and ate rock for breakfast, it would be this band.

Detachment Kit - These guys were so good, I had to buy Charlie a beer. Another Frenchkiss Records band.

Volcano, I'm Still Excited - Their triumphant return to Austin has been filled with beer and daily shows. Their's isn't Hip William's favorite record of the year for no good reason.

Milton Mapes - Our friends and favorite way to close a night. Call it Americana. Call it alt/country. Just don't miss it.

Favorite SxSW moment so far:
Seeing people standing on the street outside of a club in a trance. I stopped to look where they were looking, and fell into the same trance. The Walkmen were playing The Rat. All I could see was the drummer's arms, but the mood was incredible. 20 seconds and I had to go play our own show next door. But it was a beautiful 20 seconds.

Our showcase is tonight. If anyone is left standing, they will be treated to inspired rock. Seeing so many great bands in such a short time is mind bending. This is the best SxSW ever.

SxSW is Here

Gearing up for another conference. This one should be lots of fun. Everyone is most excited about Joan Jett. I'll be surprised if I can actually see her, though I'll try. I'm most looking forward to seeing Metric, a band from Canada that I recently got turned onto by the Magnet Sampler, and can't get out of my head. Sadly, Mando Diao and Mclusky will not be at this conference.

Booking has been incredibly busy lately, and our Spring calendar is filling up fast. It makes us all sad that some of our favorite cities aren't in the cards for us this spring. Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, to name a few, didn't work out. But we'll be back in the Fall after we finish recording the new record.

Speaking of, we'll be taking June and July off from touring to finish working up material for the new record, which we'll cut in August. We're really excited to be working with Robert Shimp on this one. He's produced great records by the Donnas, the Hi Fives, and the Plus Ones.

In addition to the Metrics, I've been listening to a bunch of rare Faces recordings Hip Williams recently gave me. BBC Recordings from 71-72 and out takes of Ooh La La. Ronnie Wood is out of control. Also been buried in three Dylan records: Blonde on Blone, Bringing it All Back Home, and Highway 61 Revisited. My friend Kevin loaned me his copy of "Don't Look Back" (Documentary on Dylan now on DVD) which is a pretty incredible film.

That's all for now. I need to keep drinking in preparation for SxSW.

Rock and roll,
chopper