05/07/12

It's Monday and do I have a novel for you! In preparation, I started this week's update yesterday.

So, are you ready for the scoop?

Here we go!

On Wednesday we headed down to do a short set at Lafayette Live to plug Friday's show.

Here's the set:

"My Rx"
"Feed Me a Lie"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Heartkiller" - H.I.M. cover
"Out of Our Hands"

The all-around talented multi-instrumentalist, Ben Hanssens, joined us with some sax-action on "Out of Our Hands." It would be a ton of fun to get more peeps involved in jamming songs at acoustic shows (electric shows are are super calculated, making it more difficult). Shoot me a message and I'll get you some music.

After a couple months of regrouping and re-planning the event, the Artists United benefit took place on Friday night.

Mojo and Schumm got the show started off right with some twang. Initially the plan was for Mojo to be joined by the full Red & The Roosters crew, but issues came up. Many thanks to him for not canceling and soldiering on with the show! Mojo is one of my favorite guitarists in town. In addition to his great voice, the dude can play kazoo while jamming on guitar!! This is always good. :-)

Up next was Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas. Artists United was their first of three shows of the weekend. Those dudes (and dudette) are troopers, for sure. They played Friday night without their second guitarist, but the four of them filled up the sonic space and delivered a great roots-y set. Cody & Rachael's vocals were superb! Additionally, upright bass through a full stack and a shredded bow from possessed viola jamming = awesome.

PLOT kept the show and energy rolling with their tasty blend of Hip Hop. Not only did they sound great, but they were the real-deal *visually* during their slot. Shane and Justin (aka Vision and Suspect) are top-notch, professional dudes too.

Side-note: I totally forgot that Shane and I had a college English class together... :-)

After PLOT, Minsky Kinks did their 3rd set of the night (they performed between the musical acts). Kristine, err Maella Cai Vane, runs a tight ship, and her and the other MK ladies (Roxie Vette, Roxie Despoiné, and Lady Daniella Del Toro) stole the show. They were naughty, the were tasteful, they were suggestive, they were classy, and they were... damn ENTERTAINING! The crowd was engaged and yelled their approval frequently!!

Finally, we powered up and closed down the night with some mean/raunchy rock.

Here's the set:

"My Rx"
"Feed Me a Lie"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Heartkiller" - H.I.M. cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
"A Veil Lifted"
"The Shadow I Will Leave
"Boys of Summer" - Don Henley/Atari's cover
"Out of Our Hands"

Photo by @RyanRollins

Overall, the night could be summed up by one word: FUN! Thanks to my fellow Artists United for putting on a great show, Brady Joseph for helping with sound, the Lafayette Theater crew (Ashley, Mike, and Seema) for busting it behind the scenes, and my boys Chris and Drew for being soldiers all night and helping out with the door.

So that we're all on the same page: while I received several personal 'thanks' and 'shout-outs' throughout the evening, I didn't make this event happen.

We did.

We made for a great team and the show couldn't have been pulled off without all of you!

Also, I'm super thankful for the Tippecanoe Arts Federation crew, the dudes from The Aardvark Eats, The Enders, The Mound Builders, my old pal Cody Hughes (Chemcoma), and all others in attendance for showing some scene love!! Kudos to Mr. Tim Brouk too for hooking up a sweet article to plug the event!

In the end, we raised $365 for charity. It's my hope that Artists United will continue on with new shows/lineups and keep raising money for great causes. If you're interested in keeping it rolling, get in touch with me.

I closed out the blog week at Aces rocking some unplugged tunes with my bros Marty C, James Saqui, and Kyle Bledsoe. Though Lafayette isn't that small of a town and I'm still building awareness on what I'm doing, I decided that I'd been playing a lot of the same original tunes and started a little cover-heavy.

Here's the set:

"Zzyzx Rd" - Stone Sour Cover
"Imagine" - John Lennon/A Perfect Circle cover
"When Doves Cry" * - Prince cover
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Settling"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Out of Our Hands"

* Dan-O, the man at Aces Pub and a local celebrity, jumped up mid-set to play the Prince song. It was really him featuring me! :-)

The Aces crowd on Sunday nights always confuses me, but it's good confusion. There are always a ton of people there (most shut the place down at 3am) and they're really receptive to live music. James and Marty had great sets and Mr. Bledsoe downright set the stage on fire. That dude is an insane guitarist.

I'll be running the shindig down there on June 3rd and have the loud and proud IND crew there on July 21st.

There's your heads up. :-)

That does it for this week's update. I'm going to get down to business mixing the new ARCHDRIVE GOODBYE CD, booking, playing at the Purdue Farmers Market on Thursday, and promoting the next rock show (May 26th at The Knickerbocker: INFO & RSVP HERE) 

Remember, you can subscribe to the blog, follow @ChrisJuneIND on Twitter, and 'like' Chris June IND on Facebook. Sharing the links is appreciated! :-)

Also, get your free copy of "Before it Gets to Me" when you purchase Whistle When We Break Down from the Bandcamp Page! That's 4 songs for $3!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!!!

Over and out

04/30/12

Finally, we have a bit of a warmer day here in lovely Lafayette, IN! It's made getting this week's blog done a little more difficult: I'm enjoying hanging with my dogs outside.

Anyway, I got quite a few tasks completed over the last week, so let's get into it!

I did some studio work on Tuesday and headed downtown on Wednesday to assemble band kits for The Taste of Tippecanoe and made an appearance at the Theater.

On Thursday Lindsey Sickler tagged along with me to Frankfort to jam at Applebee's.

Here's the set:

"Before it Gets to Me"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Imagine" - John Lennon/A Perfect Circle cover
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"Out of Our Hands"
--------------------
"Zzyzx Rd" - Stone Sour cover
"Settling"
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Dear Reason"
"Guilt that Keeps on Giving"

Post-show notes:

• As always, Jason Wells is a great host on Thursdays at Applebee's and his performances really inspire me. The jams he did with J.T. Kidwell (also a madman guitarist) got my foot stomping a bit. :-) 
• Lindsey has a great cover selection, but I feel the need to muscle her into doing more original stuff. Homegirl's homemade songs are killer!!
• Finally, Mike (or maybe it was Mark, I did tell him I was bad with names) did some work to a mandolin. I really need to get one... and banjo too!

Friday I tagged with the wife to the fireman's ball and stopped at TAP (a craft brew fest) at TAF on Saturday. 'TAP' had 9 (I'm pretty sure local to Indiana) brewers, including IND sponsor Peoples Brewing Company. So, I had to stop over to mingle and drink some strong Indiana beers! What a blast!!

Sunday I had Trevor and Zack from ARCHDRIVE GOODBYE in the studio to start bass tracking. Good news: we finished it all in a few hours! Since we wrapped drum tracks on Tuesday too, it's looking like I'll get to start mixing next week. I'm hoping they can get everything released by our show with them on May 26th at the Knickerbocker.

Sidenote: The mighty Echovox will be joining us on the bill too. It should be a riot of a night!! I'm gonna try to get posters up this week if you'd like to help (wink, wink). INFO & RSVP HERE

Back on track...

After we finished recording, I laid down for a bit to chill out and ended up catching my second wind.

I got up and recorded Station ID's for my hard-working friends at Audikult Radio and HardRockRadioLive.com.

Upon finishing, I received a call from my music bud, James Saqui. Apparently a lot of the Aces Pub crew were in jam-mode, so I headed over.

Here's the set:

"Pocket and Soul"
"Settling"
"Broken" - Seether/Amy Lee cover featuring Kimmie C
"Before it Gets to Me"

I had a blast catching sets from the Desert Island 5 dudes, Martin Clendenen, and Kyle Bledsoe. The highlight of the night was getting Kimmie C on stage to jam a song. We've been chatting about making it happen for a couple of months now...

Don't forget: This Friday (May 4th) my local music/performing artist friends are helping host a benefit show supporting the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and a local shooting victim. In addition to Chris June IND (weapons hot), Minsky Kinks, PLOT, Red & The Roosters, and Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas are also on the bill. INFO & RSVP HERE

If you can't make it on Friday and still want to support great local causes, swing by Lafayette Live on Wednesday night around 9:20pm and I can take your $5 donation. I'll be there plugging the show and jamming around a bit. That shindig runs from 7-11pm and there's no cover if you decide to make a night of it

Also, you can still get a free download of "Before it Gets to Me" when you pick up Whistle When We Break Down from my Bandcamp page. Surely you have $3 in your couch, right?

That does it for the update.

Remember, you can subscribe to the blog, follow @ChrisJuneIND on Twitter, and 'like' Chris June IND on Facebook. Sharing the links is appreciated! :-)

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you at the theater on Friday!!!

Over and out

04/23/12

Yay, it's Monday/Blog Day!

I've spent about 40ish hours per week the last few weeks on some non-music-related side work. Though it's been a struggle keep that and music going simultaneously, it seems that my rest has been the only casualty so far.

So, as long as I'm holding up health-wise, I'll keep rolling with my 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' approach...

Ready for the update? Then let's do this...

Wednesday is really when the music side started picking up. I received the Artists United promo posters. Again, this is a benefit show on May 4th (the next big rock show) supporting the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and a local shooting victim. We'll be joined by our buddies in Minsky Kinks, PLOT, Red & The Roosters, and Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas. INFO & RSVP HERE

Kudos to the crew at Express Print for doing a great job on the posters with the quickness.

Also, I met up with Buddy from I-Exist to grab a new rack case for my PA and had Nate from ARCHDRIVE GOODBYE in the studio to work on drum tracks for their new CD.

After finishing that up, I headed downtown to start distributing posters. Lindsey Sickler was doing a set at the theater and, once again, I got to join her for "Saving Grace." WOOT!

I have loose plans to do another single release as a follow-up to Whistle When We Break Down. My idea is to do both versions of "My Rx" (The Bb minor acoustic version is more eerie and droning than the uptempo F minor band arrangement). So... I'd like to do the acoustic track completely indie at IND HQ (hopefully getting Lindsey involved); kind of like "Before it Gets to Me."

On the flip-side, I'm hoping to get the boys over to Sound Logic to knock out the bigger/meaner track.

Typically, I don't let the cat out of the bag on future plans, but I'm thinking that blogging it will help push it along. :-)

Fingers crossed...

Thursday, I met up with Kristine from Minsky Kinks to finish distributing posters before giving a couple of guitar lessons. My student, Brett, has been gearing up for his school talent show and we've been hard at work getting him prepared...

Drew and I ended the week back at the Lafayette Theater to jam for our friends', Hans and Brittany Rees' wedding.

Here's the set:

"Settling"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Imagine" - John Lennon/A Perfect Circle cover
"Pocket and Soul"
"Out of Our Hands"
"My Rx"
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"Faithfully" - Journey cover

I met Hans and Brittany through Lafayette Live and have enjoyed watching their bands Frank Muffin and Little Boxes (and talking shop with them) over the last year. It was a pleasure share the stage with them again and our friends Jeff Anderson, Jerome Hemersbach, Lindsey Sickler, and Lint.

Thanks for making us a part of your special day! CONGRATS DUDES!!!

Speaking of being a part of awesome things, "Out of Our Hands" and "Pocket and Soul" will be on the soundtrack for Maiden, a novel written by C.L. Marin. Luckily, she digs the music and the lyrical content works into the theme. We're happy to be included and wish her luck with the project!!!

That does it for the update.

Remember, you can subscribe to the blog, follow @ChrisJuneIND on Twitter, and 'like' Chris June IND on Facebook. Sharing the links is appreciated! :-)

Btw, the blog stats have been going way up recently. Please SEND FEEDBACK about what I'm doing here. I'd love to know what you like or what can be better regarding these posts. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!!!

Over and out

04/16/12

Man, am I dragging ass after a busy week of music... My fingers are crossed that I won't have a 'case of the Mondays' today.

Ready for the recap? Here we go!

Last Monday night we finished vocal tracks on the new ARCHDRIVE GOODBYE CD. I may have previously mentioned that those dudes just recently grew out of their 2-piece acoustic act into a 4-piece rock group (or pop/punk, whatever). :-)

Anyway, my recording schedule is a little backwards from most. Specifically, I tend to leave drums and bass for last. So far it's worked out pretty well in their situation, since they didn't have a lot of those parts worked up or ready by the time we needed to start tracking. With vocals and guitars wrapped, the hard stuff is done and we're halfway done with the process! As you can see in the pic, Earnie and I felt it necessary to celebrate this with some cocktails.

Tuesday I spent some time on foot downtown doing Taste of Tippecanoe work and hit up the board meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Actually, we only have a couple of monthly meetings left before the event goes down. That's right, Taste of Tippecanoe: June 16th, 2012! If you haven't checked the site to get the scoop yet, take a look HERE.

After the Taste meeting, I picked up Zack from ADG and we made the trip to Logansport to do some promoting for our show on Saturday. My buddy James Saqui runs a jam at the Neighborhood Tavern in Logansport on Wednesday nights too, so I steered the van in that direction and played some tunes.

Here's the set:

"Settling"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Out of Our Hands"
"Imagine" - John Lennon/A Perfect Circle cover

Thursday I made the trip to Frankfort to meet up with Jason Wells to grab a copy of Monday's run of the Frankfort Times. Check it out: FRONT PAGE!! :-)

Thanks to Jason for snagging the paper for me and to Shelley Smith for working up the article!

And... since I was in Frankfort on a Thursday night, I jammed a little at Applebee's. Coincidence? Alright, you got me.


Here's the set:

"Pocket and Soul"
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Out of Our Hands"
"Faithfully" - Journey cover
---------------------------
"Settling"
"Dear Reason"
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Guilt that Keeps on Giving"
"Imagine" - John Lennon/A Perfect Circle cover

As always, I had a blast hanging with the Applebee's crew. It was a pleasure to meet and talk shop with JT Kidwell too!

I spent quite a bit of time on Friday on booking new shows and finalizing some designs for the Artists United Benefit that I'm organizing. The process has been hectic, but I'm glad to have great buds in Minsky Kinks, PLOT, Red & The Roosters, Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas, and the folks at the Lafayette Theater helping to see the show through. Yes, the original show in March was canceled, but this shindig is going down on May 4th at 9pm. The $5 cover *that everyone will pay to get in* goes to the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and a local shooting victim. MORE INFO & RSVP HERE




Finally, Saturday was our main event/plugged-in and nasty show at the Corner Pub in Logansport.

Here's the set:

"My Rx"
"Out of Our Hands"
"Heartkiller" - H.I.M. cover
"Settling"
"Boys of Summer" - Don Henley/Atari's cover
"Pocket and Soul"
"Something Else is Something More" - Adrenaline cover
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"A Veil Lifted"
"The Shadow I Will Leave"
"Stuck" - Adrenaline cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Face to the Floor" - Chevelle cover
"Guilt that Keeps on Giving"
"Feed Me a Lie"

No lie, the set felt really really good. Chris, Drew, and I are getting into a great flow. Women flashing in front of the stage may also backs this up. Perhaps it could be an indicator of alcohol consumption too... :-)

Anyway, we had a blast sharing the bill with the ADG & the Bridge Between dudes, the soundman Chris had everything sounding nice, and the Corner Pub staff took great care of us! Also, it was a nice surprise to have Josh Hassett (O for 2, Epstein's Mother), one of my local guitar heroes, in the audience for the show!! Thanks to all that came out and those of you who picked up the Whistle When We Break Down EP.

Speaking of that...

I'm still hooking up free downloads of "Before it Gets to Me." The conditions are below. Additionally, if you have already picked up Whistle When We Break Down, I owe you the track... Hit me up.

That does it for the update.

Don't forget to subscribe to the blog, follow @ChrisJuneIND on Twitter, and 'like' Chris June IND on Facebook. Sharing the links is appreciated! :-)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!!!

Over and out

03/05/12

Greetings! Did you survive those crazy storms last week? Holy crap.

Well, it's the first blog of March and I'm looking forward to nights warmer than 30 degrees... because, you know, I want to get my fire pit out! :-)

Ready for the update? Here we go...

Last Monday night, conveniently after last week's blog post, I was informed that the Artist United Benefit (the show I plugged for Saturday, 3/2) had been canceled. I did my best to get the word out about this. Apologies if you went anyway.

The good news is some of the groups involved have joined forces to make this event happen downtown on May 5th. Thanks to the IND crew, Minsky Kinks, PLOT, Red and the Roosters, Seema, and Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas for showing compassion and investing in their community. We look forward to raising some coin for the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and a 2010 shooting victim.

Side note: A benefit is a benefit. A cost is an opportunity for a sponsor, not an excuse to take money from the benefit.

Back on track...

Most of the rest of the week consisted of an over-the-counter medicinal blur. Finally, after describing to a nurse that I was 'sick of being sick,' I scored some antibiotics and began the process of purging this rotten cold from my system.

Still woozy, I shared an unplugged show with my little brother for the first time on Friday night at Java Roaster. If you're wondering: Yes, my mom still comes to my shows and, yes, she was proud seeing both of us jam. :-)

Here's the set:

"Out of Our Hands"
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"My Rx"
"Settling"
"Dear Reason"
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Bed Intruder" - Auto-Tune the News cover
"Guilt that Keeps on Giving"

The meds really kicked in at the end of this set and I have no idea what the order of the rest of the night was. Looking back, I think I played some material that would be rated beyond the typical G or PG content of a coffee shop show. Apologies!

Thanks to those in attendance and my brother for stepping up and getting out to play. Being the vocalist of the very mean and very heavy band, Thor, I know this is a bit different for him.

The remainder of the weekend was very productive! I finished my long 'thanks list' to the radio stations spinning Whistle When We Break Down, we started tracking vocals for the new Arch Drive Goodbye EP, and I received a shipment of new shirts from DropYa Fightwear.

Special thanks to Shawn from DropYa! The shirts are killer and we'll be rocking them at our photo shoot this week as well as on stage for FUTURE SHOWS.

That does it for the update.

If you haven't already, you can still vote in Heavy Plant's March Bandness Contest for my buddies The Mound Builders and The Hedons.

Also these links allow you to subscribe to the blog, follow @ChrisJuneIND on Twitter, and 'like' Chris June IND on Facebook.

Thanks for stopping by!

Over and out