1. I want to hear what success for this band would look like to you
1. I want to hear reasons why you would like this to happen(if you would)
:lol: whoa, trippy...
but seriously, folks....
what success would look like? ever enlarging national venues, ever enlarging crowds, ever enlarging band paychecks!! timmy tour being a nicety rather than a neccessity. main stages at festivals. lots of festivals. all over the country.
oh, and a whole tour bus just for the hookers and blow.
i would like this to happen because the band is capable of incredible things! the fact that the 05 puppethouse shows are going to be relatively unknown in the music world at large is a crying freaking shame! some of the most transcendent music was performed on those nights, but if you weren\'t there (or weren;t given the disc by someone who was) you\'d probably never know. the 4/9/05 uac show, same thing. hell, i could do this all day. what i\'ve heard of you\'re playing with this band, matt, has shown the potential for even higher levels of playing (you will have to learn how to release the build ups, but its coming, you can definitely tell you\'re well on your way to fully getting this style of mania!!) which will be even more of a shame to go unheard. jill and i have been to a bunch of same-ish level shows over the last two or so years and almost every time we walk away thinking, \'boy, do i wish that had been the breakfast instead.\' hell, i don\'t think jill has been satisfied with any show since the puppethouse, actually. the trio wasn\'t her thing, tea leaf green wasn\'t her thing, the umphrey\'s shows she\'s seen have all been duds, jazz is dead didn\'t do it for her and on and on....
the level of fun, excitement, musicianship, power and joy this band consistently puts out is unrivaled by their peers, almost to the band\'s detriment. some folks just can\'t take that much energy screaming at them for a whole show\'s worth (screw those people, by the way) but the maturity this band has grown to has added songs to the repetoire that aren\'t just silly or fast as hell, but that utilize a whole palette of musical color, textures and space. you used to recognize a lot more of timmy\'s (for instance) licks. you\'d hear him do something and think, \'oh, there\'s that cool run he likes\', but lately there has been much more exploration and almost, to me, an intentional forcing of himself to not play things he usually would. which has its effects on ron and adrian, who in turn affected him to try something new. the development just since i\'ve been seeing/listening to the band (03) is really pretty huge. and i think the tim as a three piece was pivotal in that. forced re-considerations, re-workings and re-thinkings. while it was probably not fun
having to do those things, it was definitely for the best, imho. so now the band sits, poised... once you\'re fully in tune and familiar and this unit solidifies and brings its own idiosyncracies out, i think it would be criminal for all the band has learned, endured and taken to heart to go to waste.
well, that, and i think you guys deserve, you know, a tour bus full of hookers and blow.
2. I want to hear what you want from the band or what you want to see the band do(I guarantee we will not make everyone happy- but we will do our best)
i agree with the thought above about not going too far in any one musical direction, but pull from them all to create something unique. i think the band needs to have more tours scheduled more in advance. its great that fonghoulishfreakout has already been announced this year. next up, nye. keep that going. they\'re already pretty good at haveing \'occassion\' shows, so keep that tradition going, too! its nice to go to a show, but if its something even trivially special, it helps get the word out and attendance up.
one thing i *really* want to see the band do, is have a tour from festival to festival with weeknight gigs in between. i know that\'s easier said than done, but you get the name out at the festival and then get the stragglers or folks who couldn\'t make the fest out during the week. i would also like to see you guys on the road WAY more than you currently are. or have/had been. i\'ve sent out shows to folks and had them ask when the band will be nearby because they liked what they heard only to tell them, \'i dunno. you\'re in alabama, so maybe never?...\' not that there\'s a hot bed of alabaman fans out there, but as an example.
i\'d aso like some shared gigs, since you\'re asking. raq is making a bigger name for themselves right now than the breakfast, and there\'s no reason the breakfast couldn\'t be making at least the same waves. maybe do an alternating set tour with raq. or try something completely different. what about hooking up with a new/jamgrass band? the acoustic/electric tour. more notes than anytour else!
3. I believe success is already on its way to this band- I\'m just not sure where it\'s coming from yet. I want to hear stories of how you see this band getting the success that is coming to them. (make up a story - how do you think it will happen - because we need ideas)
the wives and girlfriends won\'t like it, but success in this genre is found on the road. i\'m a big fan of smaller bands and shows. i like the excitement and hunger they have. so i\'ve seen a bunch of bands over many years where it was me and a handful of other folks watching. did that suck for the band? probably, yeah. but the next time, when that handful of folks brought a couple friends each and maybe one of the bartenders told a couple regulars about a band he liked coming back, its still a small crowd, but they came back and now there\'s a couple more people. but if it took a year or nine months to get back, nobody remembers that first night\'s energy quite as clearly and maybe its drizzly out and even fewer folks than the first time show up.
new monsoon was here four times two or three years ago, twice within about a month and a half, and the next year they played the state theatre and was pretty damn full on a friday night. for a band from the other coast. that started out with their first show with literally 15 people, most of whom weren\'t actually there for the band, being played in some crappy restaurant that wouldn\'t allow taping and arbitarily ended their set at 11 after forty five minutes of playing. but they came back pretty soon nonetheless. and dc isn\'t even that great of an area for jambands. but they came back and now they play the nice place when they do.
you\'ll hear a lot about doozies on this board (its an incorrect usage, but this from group of freaks it makes sense...). the breakfast has historically played the shit out of a gig whether for 5 or 500. i think this shows up in the gigs for 500 the most. by always keeping the band at that level, when they are naturally at that level but get the energy from a bigger crowd, its a lot easier to translate that energy into a huge show. so play the shit out of a doozie. every night. every where.
i literally believe that to really get going, six months a year at least to begin with. how that\'s paid for, i don\'t know. perhaps find an investor? someone willing to take a chance to keep you guys in gas money until such time as 5% of show proceeds is a good deal for them.... again, easier said than done, i know.
MOST PRESSING:
4. WE NEED HELP PROMOTING THE MIDWEST RUN TO CHICAGO, MINNESOTA, AND WISCONSIN(sept. 27-29) ANY FANS FROM THOSE AREAS WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED IN HELPING PLEASE EMAIL SPACEY
i\'ll ask around on some other boards and see what i can come up with.
5. We are looking for any ideas for charities that we can have at the gigs.
perhaps as gigs are booked in various cities, someone could research local charities. while i always bring canned goods for the panic fans for food gigs, for instance, i wouldn\'t care much if it was, like, the red cross, or something. maybe the salvation army (bring your old rags, get a ragtime boogie) or a charity that can be seen as fun. the breakfast for breast cancer gig would kinda be a downer, though a worthy cause. but i think that local charities or causes would be the best bet. hell, i\'ll help if need be.
i\'ve got blisters on me fingers!!!
