Tag: Amy Ray

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in Iowa City

Well, we’re in the hotel now. I made a slightly foolish mistake in putting my guitar with the other guitars because I can’t get to it now until tomorrow. So I have no way to rehearse tonight. I’m really very nervous about tomorrow’s show. I’m not a big fan of my solo show and now I’m about to perform it in front of about 2000 people. I have no idea how it’s going to go over. I had an idea of a cover song to see if Amy and Emily wanted to do backing vocals, it wouldn’t be too difficult. I mentioned it to Amy in Cleveland and she said she wouldn’t mind but they’re worn down I think from this particular tour. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Emily about it so I’m not sure it will happen. It would be a big boost to the crowd response if they could do it; it’s like getting a stamp of approval from the Girls.

I just got back from walking around town. Iowa City is a college town, with all the benefits and negatives that implies. Amy thought it was really funny this morning on the bus when we were getting off the interstate and I said, “the thing that confuses me is that I don’t see a city…” I’d call it a town, but I suppose Iowa Town just sounds silly. Anyway, I spent time walking around by myself, not something I normally do. I’m a little too self-conscious, okay, way too self-conscious, and walking around by myself makes me uncomfortable. But I tried to make myself feel invisible for the sake of being here. I grabbed lunch and now believe that if you want to find the slackers in a college town (you know, the people who you’d actually want to hang around) you go to the pizza place and watch the employees. I found a used CD store and bought a couple of CDs I shouldn’t have, financially speaking. Then I found the indie bookstore and got a copy of McSweeney’s 8. I ran into Amy at one point and we went into a vintage clothing store, but all I came away with was a little round Mod pin. But that’s a good thing.

Now I’m going to rest a little, I haven’t really rested in any normal sense since leaving Atlanta, so I could use an hour or so of just lying on the bed and watching TV. Those of you waiting for email from me please be patient, one perk of this room is that I have an ethernet connection so I’m connected permanently, or at least until I leave tomorrow afternoon.

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16, 17 Jan: Chapel Hill, Charlotte

16 Jan – Cat’s Cradle (Chapel Hill, NC)
w/ Amy Ray and the Butchies
17 Jan – Tremont Music Hall (Charlotte, NC)
w/ Amy Ray and the Butchies

We did this trip as a caravan, half my band were planning to stay an extra couple of days so we were pretty much all in different vehicles. Lee and I drove up in her car (somehow managing to get all of our equipment in the back… she really is the master of all packing), talked and drowsed. We got into Chapel Hill right on time. By the time soundcheck was done it had started to snow outside. It never stuck to the roads, thankfully, but it was a strange feeling to know I was out on the road playing shows and it was snowing. It brought home the feeling of being a touring musician even more than the trip to Florida did, I suppose because Florida was more bizarre overall.

The shows were okay. We played really well, I thought. Missteps here and there (mostly mine) but nothing that would have been noticeable. We were energetic, too. It was a stranger mix of people… Amy’s solo CD and the Butchies are more punk than anything, and we’re clearly pop. It seemed hard to hook into the crowd. The crowds at both shows cheered loudly between songs, but then any attempt to interact with them seemed to flop on the ground in front of me. We only sold a few CDs at each show, though after the Charlotte show I had a number of people come up to say they really enjoyed the show. It made me wonder if it was more of a result of people at clubs not expecting to spend a lot of extra money, as opposed to the crowds at the big venue shows in Florida. At any rate, it seems we do better with the large venue crowds than with smaller club crowds. Which doesn’t seem like a good thing as far as trying to develop a following, because big venue shows don’t come along every day.

Odds and ends: I met a few more people (one of whom had actually found me on mp3.com, first, and had even found the Radiant City page there), which always reminds me just how great this damn thing is. I also met a couple of people at both shows who seemed to be big pop fans… a girl at Chapel Hill who already knew about me and had come out to see us. I had forgotten to ask her where she found out about us, so now it’s driving me nuts, but she was talking about clubs in Wilmington, NC and said she’d email me info, so hopefully I’ll hear back on that. Also a guy in Charlotte who was there for Amy’s show but caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a pop band. He seemed to have really enjoyed the show, which is always good to hear from the closet pop fans. Oh, and I sang on “Refugee” with Amy and the Butchies at the end, which was fun, but I felt silly while they were all bouncing around between choruses and I had nothing to do but stand there with my hands in my pockets and sort of rock back and forth like a goof.

But it was a good trip. Next week I buy the van for all future touring. I’ll post here with photos, it seems dull, I know, but it actually looks like the sort of van a good Hanna-Barbera band would be driving around in.

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updates

Yesterday I went by the label to pick up the bio they made out of what I sent them. Amy happened to be there, and they were in the middle of a meeting so they told me to go ahead and join the meeting. Amy said a bunch of nice things about the CD (she actually hasn’t heard the final mix, she’s only heard the 8 or so rough mixes I gave them a few weeks ago when this all started). She said she really liked “Sherman,” and was very complimentary about the song, the metaphor, the whole story being told. Coming from her that felt pretty good. She gave me the draft of the contract to have looked over, and mentioned a couple of things that had been added, involving a buyout clause for the label, in case someone else comes along wanting to sign me and/or re-release the CD. She said she doesn’t normally have anything like that because she rarely has the feeling that she has an artist who is likely to get snapped up. True or not it was a nice thing to say.

There’s a store in town, one of the main indie record stores, in Little Five Points, called Wax and Facts. They have a large window display for new releases, about 4’x6′, and usually it’ll either feature a large, weather proof poster, or a painted display. Very prominent. Apparently I’ll be on it, probably in October.

That’s pretty cool.

Anyway, so now I have the contract, and it was made clear it’s just a draft, and that everything is negotiable right now if something makes me uneasy. Amy gave me her cell number and Russell’s number to ask any questions.

This weekend I start putting together press kits to begin planning out the first few jaunts out of town in September.

Meanwhile, it looks like I now have a four-piece band for IPO, which makes me feel infinitely more confident about the show. I was feeling very unsure about covering all the guitar stuff myself, and having it sound full. But now we have a second guitarist. I feel good about this whole setup now.

I heard this quote today, and it has nothing to do with anything, other than making me laugh out loud…
“He couldn’t pour urine out of a boot if it had directions on the bottom.”

How true. I think.