06/12/12

Hey, you made it!

Apologies for not getting this posted yesterday. It turned out to be a really active week/weekend, so I hope you're ready for a novel.

Let's get into it.

The week started off with new shows being booked; including dates with our friends Arch Drive Goodbye, Born Under Burden, and Desert Island 5. So, now the fun part of collecting info, posting to the calendar, and finishing art can begin!

All other time was spent working on Taste tasks and prepping for the craziness at Camp& Jam.

Chris P & I loaded up the van on Friday, busted Drew loose from his obligations, and bolted out of town. We rolled up to the Camp & Jam location a little after 6pm, started the party shortly after, and kicked off the festivities with some mean tunes at 8pm.

Here’s the set:

“Guilt that Keeps on Giving”
“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”
“Settling”
“Boys of Summer” – Don Henley/The Ataris cover
“Something Else is Something More” – Adrenaline cover
“Dear Reason"
“Out of Our Hands”
-------------------------
“Stuck” – Adrenaline cover
“Amputee” – Oceansize cover
“No Second Chance” – Adrenaline cover
“Point #1” – Chevelle cover

L.J. Johnston, an acoustic duo, picked up after us; playing some dirty drinking tunes. Those guys were a riot!

Preferring to sleep in cooler temps, I chose to crash out a little early and missed out on jamming around the fire pit with the other campers. This proved to be a good call because I think some peeps had a little too much fun and baked in their tents/campers the next day! :-)

Having had some quality snooze-time in the van, I got up and moving a little before 6:30am, had some hot dogs for breakfast, heated up coffee by the fire, and took *what may have been* the coldest shower in my life!

We really underestimated the amount of damage we were able to do and, with liquid supplies depleted, made a trip to a nearby small town to restock before it got too hot outside.

We grabbed some cash too; allowing us to snag some delicious Pitt Crew BBQ throughout the day.

The party restarted.

Antica Arcana kicked off day 2 in the hot afternoon sun with some metalsk (Come on, you’ve seen Dethklok Metalocalypse, right?). The 6-piece (2 guitars, bass, synth, drums, and vocals) cooked the stage and were cooked by the sun! These dudes were heavy, awesome, and brought back some good old memories of having long hair and playing faster music. :-)

After hanging out in the pool & bounce-housing with Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas, they jumped on stage and went to work. I met these guys and gal while working on the Artists United show. They’re great entertainers and players (often showcasing their proficiency on multiple instruments from tune to tune). Cody humored me by playing my kazoo for a song. Also, their suitcase with kick pedal attached sounded better than any bass drum I heard all day!

Side note: It was a few songs into their set when the breeze cooled a little, the grass felt awesome between my toes, and I crashed the hell out. I woke up to being called out over the PA for falling asleep, everyone in attendance staring at me, and with pics of me sleeping on Facebook.

Damn. I was ‘that’ guy. So, I made some more coffee in the fire and enjoyed the rest of the evening… awake and on high alert.

It was truly a pleasure to finally share the stage with the dudes in The Heavy Company. I go way back with Ian (guitar/vocals). He’s another local multi-tasking musician; playing in bands, writing for the Soda Shop, and doing production work. Scott (bass/vocals) has been a buddy of mine for a long time too. I’m really fond of their nasty, loose rock ‘n roll and they sounded great Saturday. Definitely check those dudes out.

If I heard right, this was Camp & Jam’s first year of doing a two night event; making us the first act to play both nights when we squeezed in to do a few unplugged tunes.

Here’s the set:

“Pocket and Soul”
“Before it Gets to Me”
“Out of Our Hands”

We did a little incentive during the set too: the first person to ‘like’ theFan Page got a free copy of Whistle When We Break Down. So, congrats Kristalyn! We hope you dig it!!

After we finished up, the gracious hosts of that fine shindig, Refrigerator Mother, mounted up and plowed through some rock ‘n roll goodness. There’s nothing bad to say about them. They’re great, honest, easy-to-hang-with dudes that put on a great show! We’re super grateful for them getting us involved!!

Synaptics (apologies, I couldn’t find a link online) closed out the night with *what I would describe as* psychedelic punk. Their edgy/experimental music explosion was very well received by the growing number of campers… and their guitarist was catching fire on stage. I got to meet that dude (Chris Lee) earlier in the week and it turns out he’s a regular reader of the blog. So, if you’re him and you’re reading this now, turn around…

Yeah, I’m totally not there.

That would be pretty wicked if I was, though. :-)

Also, some live recording was captured from our sets. As soon as I get my hands on the tracks and dig into them, I'll see if there's a gem for me to post.

We returned to IND HQ early on Sunday morning. After unloading and stopping by the last 2012 Taste of Tippecanoe committee meeting, I headed over to Aces Pub to play.

Here’s the set:

“Dear Reason”
“No Second Chance” – Adrenaline cover
“Guilt that Keeps on Giving”
“Hand of the Almighty” – John R. Butler cover
“Boys in the Hood” – NWA cover
“Pocket & Soul”
-------------------
“Patience” – Guns ‘N Roses cover
“Before it Gets to Me”

I was joined for the last few songs by Francois from The House Catz and we closed it out with him ripping away on a blues jam in G.

The night also included great performances by James Saqui (the host for the night), Jim Mitchell and Kyle Bledsoe, and Brady and Lindsey from Little Boxes.

As usual, I had an awesome time. There was an instance or two when I was moved to jump on stage and pound on a cajon!

Check out the lovely Roxie Vette of Minsky Kinks modeling the shirt

For those of you that didn't visit last week, Rurban and Chris June IND launched a contest to give away a Rurbanized IND logo shirt.

To enter, ‘like’ the Chris June IND, Minsky Kinks, and Rurban pages on Facebook… and leave a wall comment on each saying “Roxie sent me.”

In addition to the shirt, the winner will also receive some Minsky Kinks swag (button, magnet, & Roxie Vette patch).

We’ll draw the lucky lady’s name from a hat on Friday, July 20^th at 7:06pm and pass the goods off to her at our Aces Pub show on Saturday, July 21^st.

It’s worth mentioning that Aces Pub is a 21+ establishment and the winner must be present to claim the prize(s).

Also, the shirt size is SMALL.

Guys may enter to double the chance of their ladies winning the prize(s) and ladies may enter to double the chance of their ladies (Hubba hubba) winning the prize(s).

Disclaimer: Roxie Vette not included

That does it for this week’s update.

I’ll be joining Ric Mason on Z96-5 WAZY all week during the 7am hour to plug the Taste of Tippecanoe. We'll have Christina Shipley on Tuesday, Little Boxes on Wednesday, Green Room Rockers on Thursday and Johnny Bhive on Friday for interviews and performances.

Tune in!

Speaking of radio, our friends at Audiokult Radio will be showcasing IND tunes for a 30 minute segment on Thursday (6/14).

For the face-to-face experience, I’ll be with my little bro unplugged at Java Roaster Friday (6/15), and plugged in with the IND crew Saturday (6/16) at the Taste of Tippecanoe.

I’ll see you both times, right?

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

And... don't forget to 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!!!

Also, "Dear Reason" will disappear from the iTunes and Amazon.com stores on July 2nd...

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!!

Over and out

05/21/12

It's looking like the blog will surpass 2500 views over the next two weeks! I see that you keep coming back, so let me know why: Free stuff for FEEDBACK!

Alright, let's get into it...

I spent most of Monday and Tuesday knocking out mix work to finish up the Arch Drive Goodbye CD. I had to squeeze in some more tweaks throughout the week to finish it up, but it's done in time for our show with them and Echovox at the Knickerbocker this Saturday (INFO & RSVP). Woot!

You can check out their tunes HERE.

Wednesday night I headed downtown for the second-to-last Taste of Tippecanoe meeting of the year. The Taste is less than a month out and the crew is getting jazzed! All of the event details are on the Taste site (follow link above). Discount tickets are available at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation site and local Pay Less grocery stores.

After the meeting and loading a ton of sushi in my belly, I headed over to Lafayette Live at the theater to hang with other musician folk. Since I wasn't on the schedule and had interest from some peeps about Whistle When We Break Down, I passed around my iPod.

2 things:

• It's funny to see dudes jamming out to an iPod at a live music show.
• Be careful of sharing your art *unsolicited* with random people at bars. You may find that they're crabby, you've annoyed them, they don't like it, and that your music isn't 'Rock n Roll.' :-)

Tough crowd...

On the way home from downtown I stopped by Brady(Little Boxes)'s crib for some jamming. We got on a roll and finished up after 4am. That dude is a great player, ambassador of the local scene, and friend. What a riot!!

Luckily, I got home in enough time to grab four hours of sleep, take care of the pups, and clean up before venturing back out to play at the Purdue Farmers Market.

Here's the set:

"Before it Gets to Me"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Settling"
"Guilt that Keeps on Giving"
"Dear Reason"
"Imagine" John Lennon/A Perfect Circle cover
"Faithfully" - Journey cover
Out of Our Hands

It was a good call by the University Sustainability crew to move me to a different location. I was in the middle of *what I'm guessing was* a thousand+ people passing through. It allowed me to interact/chat more with the crowd too. I hear there was a lot of pictures snapped. I'm guessing most have the caption of 'Why is this guy playing?' :-)

Really, I was hired! Sorry for being in your way!!

Later Thursday night I wrapped up ADG's This Is a Story... and chummed around with home-skillet, Justin Reagin after giving a guitar lesson.

With some help from my awesome neighbor, I loaded up PA in the van on Friday and headed downtown to share a show with Mr. Evan Ryan at Java Roaster.

Here's the set:

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

Special thanks to my old day-job and local music buddies for stopping out for the early show! If you missed Evan's set, he killed it!! I never would've guessed I'd hear him cover Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law." It worked. It really, really worked!

After tearing down, I headed out for a night on the town; catching sets from The Shake Ups & The Enders at the Lafayette Theater, PLOT at the Knickerbocker, and Atarilogic at Black Sparrow. No one disappointed! During my adventure I enjoyed some good company and conversation with friends from Minsky Kinks, The Future Lovers, Green Room Rockers, The Mound Builders, Snorb!, & Arch Drive Goodbye. It's cool to see so many groups out actively supporting the scene.

Pat yourselves on the backs!!

Saturday I had plans to attend the Lafayette Brawlin' Dolls match, but got a little side-tracked celebrating the birthday of Brian from The Mound Builders. Karl from The Disillusioned also took part in the madness. His gift to the birthday boy was a home-brew Atari Punk Console; which sounded like a train making love to an erupting volcano through a Brian's JCM 800 and pedal-board. IT WAS MADNESS!

Apologies to the LBD crew for bailing out. I'll get there eventually! :-)

On Sunday I helped Matt from The Cocaine Wolves with some transportation and grunt work. In retrospect, I should've built a trap before meeting up with him so I could steal and hold him hostage at IND HQ for the next round of recording. That dude gets a monster guitar sound on his recordings. I must have this!!

That does it for this week's update.

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

And... don't forget to 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!!!

Also, "Dear Reason" will disappear from the iTunes and Amazon.com stores in two weeks...

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!! I'll see you at the Knickerbocker on Saturday night!!!

Over and out

05/14/12

After a week consisting of celebrating Mother's Day, booking, promoting, performing, and mixing, I've got another update cooked up for you.

I'm glad to see you back again! Hey, have you been losing weight? :-)

Ok, ok... here we go!!

On Monday I got into mixing the new ARCHDRIVE GOODBYE EP, This is a Story. With "Autumn Reigns" approved by their crew, the plan is to dig into the other tracks and have everything wrapped up by the end of this week; setting them up to use the show with us and Echovox at the Knickerbocker on Saturday, May 26th for their CD release extravaganza. INFO & RSVP HERE

I got my 'vote' on for primary day on Tuesday. There was only one contested race on my ballot, but I helped pick the winner! For my fellow Hoosiers that haven't been a part of the process, you can register online HERE.

I've had conversations with people that believe their voice doesn't matter. If you share that thought, I'm challenging you to prove it this year. Get registered, familiar with the issues, and don't stay home on November 6th.

After completing my civic duty and before IND practice, I picked up my little brother and headed to Indy to chum around a bit. His band, Thor, has a show coming up on July 11th in town. I'm looking forward to seeing the dudes throw down again. There's a lot more talent there than their age suggests. :-)

Pancake from Gold N Tattoos in Frankfort made the trip over to the theater to hang out for Lafayette Live on Wednesday. Between great sets by ADG, Evan Ryan, and Little Boxes, we shared cocktails and war stories. Thanks to him, I learned about the launch of Evasive. It made for a good midweek riot.

Speaking of Evan, he's joining me this Friday for an unplugged show at Java Roaster downtown on Friday. INFO & RSVP HERE

After receiving a call last week from my bud Sarah (wife of Karl from The Disillusioned), I got the hook-up playing at the Purdue Farmers Market on Thursday.

Here's the set:

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

Special thanks to the University Sustainability crew for having me out and sneaking me into some PRESS. I had a blast playing outside on a beautiful day! It's always a pleasure work in conjunction with local farmers and businesses!! A reporter from an Ag magazine grabbed some video during the set. I'll share it if I find it online. :-)

I'm on the schedule to return for an encore this Thursday (5/17/2012). Maybe you'll take a long lunch to come visit...  INFO & RSVP

On Friday I decided to keep a low profile in the studio and started catching up on art and adding shows to the EVENTS CALENDAR before IND practice.

Saturday I accepted an invite to visit Rhodes Amplification and jam on the new Artemis. It's a 3-Channel/High-Gain/Rack-mount/Tube 'monster' of an amp that's hand-built across the river in West Lafayette, IN. It has the personality of my Dishaster 4790, but with more power and a million extra knobs/switches and features. I'd get into the details, but I'm not sure where to start! Perhaps it's best to demo the amp yourself. If you get the opportunity, take your checkbook. It's gorgeous looks and mean tone may prove too much to pass up.

That does it for this week's update.

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!!!

Plus, you'll be extra familiar with the material when I see you at the shows this week. You're coming, right?!? :-)

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

Over and out

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

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

02/06/11

Ugh... *scratches head*

I'm still recovering from last night's Super Bowl shindig. It's a good thing I started on the blog yesterday!

Last week started off great with the addition of a new(er) van. Well, it might as well be a bus. I think I can get my crew, stage gear, PA, and another full band in there. Perhaps another Lafayette-based band wants to travel with us...

Big thanks to Ben from The Enders for the hook-up!

Since it's February now, the shows on the calendar are almost here. So, we jumped on the line-up at Lafayette Live on Wednesday night to start getting in the mood.

Here's the set:

"Something Else is Something More" - Adrenaline cover
"Pocket and Soul"
"Before it Gets to Me"

We'll be back this week too (& plugged in). If you can make it, put Wednesday (2/8/12) 9:20pm at the Lafayette Theater (600 Main St. Lafayette, IN 47901) on your calendar.

Consider it a short warm-up for the Animal House show in Frankfort this coming Saturday (Show info & RSVP).

Sidenote: I'm gonna try to do enough filming this week to compile a "Guilt that Keeps on Giving" video. If you're free to help, I could use it!

Back on track...

Last Thursday I made a trip over to Frankfort to jam at the Applebee's Open Mic & to plug the Animal House show.

Here's the set:

"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"My Rx"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Out of Our Hands"

Jim Voelz, vocalist for The Mound Builders, tagged along to help spread the show gospel, hang up posters, and deliver a killer set too!

That does it for the weekly update! Before I go:

-Today should be the last day for "Settling" on iTunes and Amazon, but "Dear Reason" and the Whistle When We Break Down tracks are still there!
-I'll pull my gear ad from Craigslist in the next few days. Get your tax return? Have a credit card on file with PayPal? Let's make a deal so I don't have to list it all on eBay!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Over and out

01/23/12

Hey all! Have you been bitten by the tax bug yet?

I have!

I've spent quite a bit of time buried in my computer getting everything ready to go and getting my sales tax settled.

Yeah, I like to keep it legit.

I'd feel pretty dumb about speaking my mind about the government and doing my civic duty if I didn't pay up (or if I complained about paying).

Moving on...

It's been a little crazy trying to juggle schedules with the crew over the last couple of months (because of some shift changes with the boys), but we're rolling steadily again and working up some new jams.

This is good, because after a lot of homework & waiting, the show dates are solidifying! For those of you that are weekly readers, 'like' the Fan Page, and/or follow me on Twitter, you'll get a chance to plan ahead and see us 'weapons hot'. It beats those last-minute, pick-up shows, right?

Mark your calendars:

02/11 w/ The Mound Builders in Frankfort at the Animal House
02/25 w/ Born Under Burden in Lafayette at Aces Pub
03/03 w/ lots of other locals in Lafayette at La Parranda for a benefit for a shooting victim and a charity of the Lafayette City Council's choice
04/07 in Frankfort at the Animal House
and finally...
06/16 in Lafayette at the Taste of Tippecanoe

For the rumor mill... I do volunteer for the Taste (lots of people do). I didn't vote myself in. I'm not taking any payment from them. I busted my tail like everyone else on the roster, support the cause 100%, and very honored to participate. :-)

I encourage everyone to get involved with the Tippecanoe Arts Federation and Taste of Tippecanoe. 

Now that I covered that, kudos to all the musicians performing this year. I'm especially ecstatic that these locals will be in the lineup: Little Boxes, Snorb!, Green Room Rockers, The Mound Builders, Kyle Bledsoe, Jeff Anderson, Years, Johnny B Hive, Jason Wells, Space Cadet Vibe, Moonshine Mason and the Rot Gut Gang, Scott Greeson, Michael Kelsey, Joe Peters, Amanda Fletcher, and Hillary Tribbett!

This show is going to be crazy!

I'll have updates on all on all upcoming dates on the Fan Page and the Shows Page as the info comes in. I hope I see you out!

Moving on further...

I finally got my first radio report this week. Good News!

CSCR, KAMP, KAOS, KDHX, KIDE, KKSM, KMUD, KNSU, KPSU, KTSW, KXZY, Radio UTD, WBWC, WHRV, WIDB, WIDR, WIUX, WIXQ, WMCO, WMUC, WMVL, WORT, WPHS, WRHU, WSBU, WUMM, WUOG, and WVAU have added Whistle When We Break Down to their stations’ playlists!

CFMU, CFRE, CILU, KAFM, KANM, KCSC, KEOL, KEUL, KFAI, KGAR, KHNS, KLPI, KMNR, KNDS, KPUR, KQAL, KRNU, KSPU, KSSU, KTCV, KURA, KUWS, KWCR, KWCW, KWLC, KWTS, KWVA, Lasell, Rainy Dawg, VIC Radio , WAMH, WBOR, WCNI, WCUR, WCVF, WDWN, WERU, WGBK, WGMU, WHRW, WICB, WIIT, WIPZ, WKKL, WKWZ, WLVR, WMHB, WMPG, WMUH, WNSU, WOBC, WOJB, WOZQ, WPPJ, WPSC, WPTS, WRDP, WRKC, WRST, WSBF, WSIA, WSIN, WTCC, WWHR, WWSP, WWUH, and WZMB ALREADY HAVE IT IN ROTATION!!!

Much gratitude to all the folks at these stations for giving the tunes air. Also, thanks to the Tinderbox crew for getting the word out about the CD.

I'll keep you in the loop as more reports come in.

Finally...

I've mentioned previously that I'm doing some production/engineering/programming/mixing work on the new Arch Drive Goodbye CD, and we wrapped up rhythm guitar tracks yesterday. We cranked my Rhodes amp, had some laughs, I twisted some arms, and the dudes survived. I can't wait to hear the finished product & I hope they're eager to share it! It's cool they're going into some 'electric' territory.

Well, that does it for this week's update.

As always, thanks for stopping by. For my musician readers, the listing HERE of my music gear has been updated with new toys that I need to liquidate.

I'll catch you next week!

Over and out

2011 Recap

Here’s the last blog for the year. Was your year awesome? Is your holiday going well?!

I hope so!

As promised, here’s the 2011 recap. I’ll do my best to make this flow. Some of the time boundaries are a little gray. :-)

Apologies in advance if I forgot anything or anyone

I started off 2011 as someone that, in the previous 2 years, went from losing his day job to being a college graduate to still not being able to find a new job. By January, I had already started giving guitar lessons on the side to stay afloat and had committed myself to spending the year proving that either music would or wouldn’t work out as a career...

Plus, I was going into new territory with this whole ‘blog’ thing.

On Chemcoma’s end, things were looking up. We were still celebrating our 5-year anniversary, released “Something to Die for” (and its accompanying video), and kept playing shows. The 5-year buzz wore off, though, and we ended up playing our final show around the beginning of July. For the record, we’re all still friends and chat on occasion. So, hopefully the break-up buzz wore off too!

Before the Chemcoma break, I had already launched the IND project on the side in an effort to put food in the dogs’ bowls. I managed to design and launch ChrisJuneIND.com (regardless of the quality, it’s my first site & I’m proud of doing it) and finished up the writing/recording/mixing/mastering of “Settling.” By March, some cell camera/iMovie experimenting led to the upload of the “Settling” video.

I followed that up with the re-tweaking of my song “Dear Reason” and its release/video in May and continued testing out playing shows by myself. The singer/songwriter/unplugged format isn’t my ‘thing’ or strength, but I chose to play in some capacity instead of not at all. Since I was used to playing to a click while recording and performing live, I built accompanying piano tracks and jammed tunes at open mics and as an opening act for other regional bands. I was even given the opportunity to play at a benefit for the Home with Hope!

This process has helped me in overcoming some vocal and interaction inhibitions and paved the way for sponsorships (Artisan Electric, DropYa Fightwear, ISPhotographic, Lafayette Speaker Repair, People’s Brewing Co., Rhodes Amplification, Sacred Apple, Sound Logic Recording, and Willow Stained Glass).

Some good local press came my way too!

While the unplugged gigs were (and still are) a lot of fun, the side of me that wanted to sling the Tele low & crank my amp was getting ignored. After finishing up my 'annual volunteering' for the Tippecanoe Arts Federation (with a successful, off-the-hook Taste of Tippecanoe), I found Chris Parker and Drew Luigs between July and August and got them on board.

It should be noted that it was quite a surprise to be able to put those pieces in place so quickly. While Lafayette is an insanely talented town, the free agent market is a bit dry. Most dudes are already locked up in other bands. Also, kudos to Dinger (from The Mound Builders) for making himself available and jamming with me during that time. It was a confidence boost knowing that I’d be able to move ‘the rock’ forward in some capacity. You = the man.

While Chris, Drew, and I started putting together the 2011 Fall shows, I was wrapping up the recording of Whistle When We Break Down. Because the band-side was going well, I got a little more ambitious. Instead of doing another indie/in-house release, I pulled the trigger on getting those tracks to Grant Mohrman (Method House Studios) for mixing. Grant and I have a 10+ year relationship (no homo) and that cat makes my tunes go boom. His work, in my opinion, has been crucial to any success I’ve had in the past; radio, licensing, etc.

As Grant was mixing the EP in Detroit, my buddy Chris Voglund helped me get some side work running sound at local shows; leading to volunteer work for the Food Finders/Feeding America’s Zombaid benefit too.

As mixing wrapped, Chris June IND went loud and live with an opening night that saw us headlining both HomegrownBiker.com’s Monster Halloween Party and LafayetteMetal.com’s Halloween Show. The boys started jamming open mics with me, which led to a stripped-down set at the Knickerbocker for my birthday.

With the Method House touch on Whistle When We Break Down and hard copies in my hand, I assembled a merch display to push CDs and shirts at shows; even selling them out of my trunk and delivering across town (and the state) when necessary.

Jon Delange at Tinderbox Music got busy by executing the plan to push the envelope even more; getting the tracks on college radio playlists nation-wide and into the hands of some big television network music coordinators. Some of the tunes were starting to get some spins on other indie and internet stations too. Even more online push resulted when I launched the indie video for “Out of Our Hands” earlier this month!

Finally, before Christmas, I squeezed in some production work for the dudes in Arch Drive Goodbye for their holiday track, “Ghost of Christmas Past.”

2011 began with me being a singing guitarist in a semi-successful regional band, striving to be the best husband and pops to the pups, and doing everything possible to be a good mentor to my guitar students and my little brothers (btw, the USMC got Jordan to and from Afghanistan safely and Joey graduated high school, started college, and is continuing his musical journey).

I’m wrapping up the year as a solo artist and an amateur web designer, graphic designer, videographer, blogger, producer, recording/mixing/sound engineer, etc. I’ve been able to volunteer for great local causes and my music is sponsored by 9 great Indiana Small businesses. Also, this blog has gone from averaging 6-8 views to as much as 200 per month, my videos have surpassed 1500 views, and the Fan Page ‘likes’ continue to grow too. So, here’s to doubling that for next year!

So, 2012 me, you’re on notice: you better kick 2011 me’s ass, dude.

Thanks to my family, the IND crew, friends, my students, their parents, all contributors to the Lafayette scene, Grant, and Jon.

This would’ve been hard to pull off without your help.

Last, but not least, thanks to you for stopping by every week!

Whether you check this out to gather the scene scoop, get ideas to help push your music, or to casually see what I’m up to, I’m glad you’re involved.

If you’re not doing so already, please use the recap as motivation to catch more local shows, buy more local music, and volunteer for local causes. As a good friend says, "We all come up together."

Let’s have an awesome 2012!!!

PS: Kudos to Born Under Burden, Echovox, The Enders, Lorenguard, Mike Reeb, Snorb!, and The Mound Builders for putting out awesome CDs this year. I’m looking forward to new stuff from you, 9LB Gun, 50/6 Feet, Arch Drive Goodbye, Go Go Gadget Gonads, the Heavy Company, the Shake Ups, and the other Lafayette Music dudes!!!

Over and out

12/19/11

Hey all! Apologies for sacrificing the blog last week. I had more things on the 'to do' list than I could pull off.

The funny thing is, last week was the 1 year anniversary of my first 'test, test' blog post.

So, let's chat about what happened...

The "Out of Our Hands" video is done! 

The goal for this one was to be a lot more frantic than the others. With the split-screen action & clips rotating every 2 seconds, I think that part was a success.

Theme-wise, the video is a lot like a normal day for me; cut with performance shots of singing and playing guitar. It shows most things I do to be able to go out and jam at night: It's not the glamorous 'drinking & playing guitar all day' situation. Well, at least not for this guy...

Kudos to those who have 'liked' it, left comments, & shared it through your personal pages. It means a lot to me!!!

PS: For my Spotify-using readers, you can stream the Whistle When We Break Down jams HERE.

Moving on...

I got out and jammed twice last week!

First, Wednesday night at Lafayette Live was a blast. I'm hip to share the stage with Evan Ryan, Hillary Tribbett, and Lindsey Sickler anytime!

Drew's ok too. :-)

It's a lot more fun when he plays the tunes with me.

Here's the set:

"Pocket and Soul"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Bed Intruder" - Auto-tune the News cover
"Out of Our Hands"

Thursday night I rolled-solo to Jason Wells' Open Mic at Applebee's in Frankfort.

Here's the set:

"Pocket and Soul"
"My Rx"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Settling"
"Out of Our Hands"
---------
"Something Else is Something More"
"Dear Reason"
"Faithfully" - Journey cover

I joined Mr. Wells on Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" and several blues-y jams too!

Saturday, I got the IND gang together. We've been busy picking up new tunes for the 2012 shows.

After wrapping up, I stopped by my little bro's show to catch him pummel the crowd with the Thor crew. Churches and All-Ages shows typically aren't my bag, but I couldn't miss it. Those dudes have a crazy amount of talent and Joey's got pipes...

On Sunday I helped out my buddies in Arch Drive Goodbye with a holiday tune they're doing. I haven't gotten into a lot of programming recently, so it was fun to bust some of that out. It's like R. Kelly without the pee... maybe a little whiter too.

Also, those dudes are putting me on the payroll for their new CD project for early 2012. It should be a lot of fun!

Thanks for stopping by! I'm off to tie-up some loose biz ends so I can keep learning new IND tunes, wrap up 2011 accounting(tax time is around the corner), and get started on the 2011 blog recap.

Have a great week!!

Over and out