This is the source for the inside scoop on Chris June IND; including writing, recording, performing, etc. You'll get more dirt here than tweets & status updates. Typically, new blog entries get posted every Monday and whenever something too interesting to not write about happens. I’ll try to keep my entries short-winded and light-hearted. Maybe I can make them funny. We’ll see.
Apologies for sliding on blog day this week. I’ve been busy with other priorities. Specifically, I’ve been hanging out with my mom at a hospital in Indy... a hospital that cracks down on sites that I use to post and promote the blog.
This update will be quick…
I’ll start by giving kudos to Matt from the Cocaine Wolves for kicking last week off with me with coffee in the studio, the Lafayette Live crew for helping turn downtown into a late-night playground midweek, and all the dudes at Aces for Sunday’s open mic!
The polls have closed for The Dig N’ Graves Radio Show Burial Brawl. I haven’t seen the results yet, but pat yourself on the back for voting for “Out of Our Hands.” Thanks again to Dig, Graves, and Nikki for featuring the track!
Also, posters are up for the Java Roaster (unplugged on 4/6 in Lafayette) and Animal House (plugged-in on 4/7 in Frankfort) shows. My little bro will join me again to jam on the 6th and the IND crew will be sharing the 7th with our buddies in Archdrive Goodbye and I-Exist.
I hope your Monday (and week, depending on what day you read this) is going alright with the DST switch! On the bright side, we have 70's all week here in Mid-North-West-Central Indiana.
You know what I'm thinking? FIRE.
Since I spent most of last week on administrative biz (sending my lyrics to the Discovery Channel, booking shows, artwork, tweaking the new timeline crap), there's really not a whole lot to report.
Btw, totally not kidding about Discovery Channel... They wanted them and I was humored.
So, for my guitarist buddies: How about some guitar talk?
If you're not into the technical side, my normal weekly-ish scoop is below.
For this entry, we'll start with the intro section (which has 3 guitar parts) and the first verse. These two sections are pretty similar (use the B Major/G# minor key signature: B C# D# E F# G# A# B or G# A# B C# D# E F# G#).
Make sure your guitar is tuned low-to-high: CGCFAD and your metronome is set to 200bpm.
Here's the Intro Rhythm. Play the whole section 4x.
If you're a boss, you'll be able to down-pick all of this. Also, if you're new to tabs, the PM indicates notes that are palm-muted (shoot me a message if I need to explain that technique).
Note: I am not a boss. :-)
The main melody section plays through the whole intro. This is a very basic part, but could be tricky timing-wise. I think you'll get it pretty quick though. Play each group of measures 2x (the second group changes a little when the harmony comes in). Because of formatting, I had to make this picture smaller to get the whole part in.
The main harmony section jumps in half-way through the melody. The notes are all a 3rd down from the melody line. Play this 2x.
Here's the rhythm end tag.
Finally, here's the rhythm for the first verse. See? Very similar to the intro rhythm... Play the whole section 2x. There's part 1 of the "Guilt..." tab. Good luck!
Who knows? Maybe something new will inspire you.
I'll note that the song is copyrighted in case anyone tries to pull some funny business!
Back to the scoop...
We didn't get the new group shots last week, but it's happening tomorrow. If you haven't checked out the gear at DropYa.com, shoot them a visit. Perhaps you can guess what they sent.
As previously mentioned, we're sporting some of that goodness in front of the camera...
Also, kudos to the AudioKult Radio crew for spinning my tunes!!!
Speaking of contests, thanks to all that helped our bros in The Mound Builders advance to Round 2 of Heavy Planet's March Bandness contest! If you have a second, they can still use a couple of clicks from you: VOTE HERE
One last thing, don't forget that I'll be hosting another jam at Aces Pub this Sunday night (3/18/12). RSVP or program it in your calendar now! It's a blast even if you're only spectating!!
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.
I started off last week getting some more touch-up ink from Eddie at Sacred Apple. We've been working on the sleeve on my left arm for almost two years now! Luckily, it's almost done...
On Tuesday, my buddy Brian (from The Mound Builders) and I made the trip to Chicago to check out the In Flames show. This being my third time seeing them; I can definitely say that those dudes never disappoint. Their new CD is pretty sick too. I'm not into 'metal' as much as when I was younger, but their hooks can not be denied. I was pleasantly surprised to see Trivium get back to what I initially liked about them; more like Ascendancy, less of a Metallica/Machine Head copy cat.
Speaking of The Mound Builders, they were included in Heavy Planet's March Bandness Tournament (starting on Wednesday, February 29th) to be crowned the best Stoner Rock band. Think we can all send some votes their way on Wednesday?
Back on track...
Tuesday's tickle in my nose/throat had grown to full-blown sickness by the time our set for Lafayette Live rolled around on Wednesday; setting the pace for the rest of the week. Drew and I were there to plug our shows for the weekend and we soldiered on.
Here's the set:
"Settling"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Out of Our Hands"
"Dear Reason"
By the way, it was good to see Hillary Tribbett back in action on Wednesday. She's such an awesome writer and performer. It's a good idea to check her out before she skips town. No, really, she's setting up shop in LA in the near future...
Sending thanks messages to radio stations, guitar lessons, and IND practice on Thursday and Friday provided a nice change-of-pace from the coughing and nose-blowing and helped usher in Saturday for the week's main event at Aces Pub.
"Settling"
"Guilt that Keeps on Giving"
"Dear Reason"
"Feed Me a Lie"
"The Shadow I Will Leave"
"Boys of Summer" - Don Henley/Atari's cover
"Pocket and Soul"
"My Rx"
"Out of Our Hands"
"Point #1" - Chevelle cover
"Something Else is Something More" - Adrenaline cover
"Stuck" - Adrenaline cover
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"Heartkiller" - H.I.M. cover
It was a great night and great crowd. Set-wise, it's been a lot of fun rehashing some of the old Adrenaline tunes to mix up the set. They've been holding up really well with the new stuff. Honestly, I don't think the crowd noticed they were hearing some 10+ year old originals from some Clinton County teens.
If you missed it, we'll be hooking up with the Born Under Burden crew for some more shows in the future. Our history makes for some fiery performances and below-the-belt jokes. Don't miss 'em!
I wrapped up the week back at Aces last night running open mic. At one point we had about eight people on stage jamming hot fire. It was nuts! Thanks to Dan-O, Brady, Jay, Dennis, Tommy, Jim, Kimmie, and CP for throwing down.
After getting last week's blog in late, I figured I'd better post this week's before everything gets crazy!
I'm still feeling a little beat up from last night's show. The crew played a private 'going-away' shindig for a fellow Lafayette resident that's leaving to join the Army this week (Best of luck, THAD!). Friend of the band and extremely talented, Evan Ryan, joined us for the night in jamming some tunes. I'd post the set, but we played everything we could pull off (which is a lot more than I've posted in previous sets).
SIDE NOTE: you can catch our anything and everything set at Aces Pub on Saturday, February 25th with Born Under Burden(INFO & RSVP HERE). The ads on 93.5 WKHY should be on air now.
It was an honor to help send Thad off. Plus, there are a few more IND shirts and CDs that you'll be seeing/hearing around town.
For fun, here's a video clip from the night. The show was in a gym. So, despite a complete lack of skills and ups, we decided to 'ball':
Some of you are probably aware that a few of my previous writing efforts have been licensed to shows on E!, MTV, and NFL Network in the past. Well, I'm keeping it rolling.
I received contracts from some shows/networks requesting my music last week, so be on the look out for tracks from Whistle When We Break Down on Discovery Channel, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Planet Green, TLC, Military Channel, Discovery HD Theater, Discovery Health Channel, OWN, The Hub, 3Net, Fox, FSN, Speed TV, Big 10 Network, NFL Network, NFL Films, Versus, CSN, G4, NASCAR, ESPN, all US Sports stadiums and arenas, The Real World, Road Rules, Extreme Challenge, Fantasy Factory, Ridiculousness, Nitro Circus, Parental Control, Saddle Ranch, Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kourtney & Kim Take New York, Khloe and Lamar, Bad Girls Club, Love Games, Best Ink, Koping, and the new Clint Eastwood family project.
The radio push for Whistle When We Break Down is heating up too. I let loose a list of stations spinning my tunes a couple of entries ago. After finishing an email blast thanking them, I received another report. So, now there's more!
Quite a few stations have the disc in heavy rotation and/or charting in their top ten. In the case of WPPJ in Pittsburgh, I fulfilled a request from them on Saturday to record and submit a station ID/plug for them use as a transition into my songs. "Hey! This is Chris June IND and you're listening to..."
It was a lot of fun to do!
That does it for this week's blog.
I'm off to get some touch-up ink done with my main-man Eddie at Sacred Apple in a bit. If you're making the trip to Chicago to catch In Flames on Tuesday night, my buddy Brian (from The Mound Builders) and myself will be there throwing horns. Also, the IND crew will be doing an acoustic set Wednesday night for Lafayette Live at the Lafayette Theater at 10pm to plug Saturday's Show.
Happy Valentine’s Day, if you’re celebrating! Apologies for dropping the ball on blog day yesterday, it’s been a crazy week in IND land.
Last week began with me tracking down contact info for station managers and deejays at the stations playing my tunes. I don’t think I could’ve pulled it off without the help of my little bro and Google. It was a solid two days of work.
If any of you dudes are checking out the blog and haven’t received a ‘thanks’ in your inbox. It’s coming…
Wednesday’s set at Lafayette Live was the first time I’ve been down to the theater with my Tele and Rhodes amp in over a year. Since more than enough time had passed, Chris and Drew joined me to crank it up.
Here’s the set:
“Settling”
“Guilt that Keeps on Giving”
“Dear Reason”
“Feed Me a Lie”
I’m glad we got to rock it up for the regulars!
Like last week, I made the trip over to Frankfort to play some unplugged tunes on Thursday night at Applebee’s Open Mic.
Here’s the set:
“Settling”
“Pocket and Soul”
“Amputee” – Oceansize cover
“My Rx”
“Before it Gets to Me”
“Out of Our Hands”
As always, Jason Wells was a great host. I really dig his new track, “Hot Head Helen” a lot! Ryan (if I’m remembering his name right), a ten year old, took top honors for the night for rocking an SG and for singing and playing very well. Great job, little man!
I planned to take Friday night off to roll to Illinois for the SOiL show. My good buddy Justin, who’s a chum of Ryan McCombs (SOiL/Drowning Pool singer), had the hook-up, but the weather in Indiana had other plans. Instead of braving crappy road conditions, I took the opportunity to jam some very nice guitars from Justin’s Gibson arsenal.
The ES137, one of my favorites, made the trip to the Animal House with me the following night for our show with The Enders and The Mound Builders. The dudes in those bands are ripping guitarists that play Gibsons. Maybe I wanted to fit in…
I planned to jam the ES137 for the whole show, but I knocked the low E off the saddle during the first song; throwing the tuning out. So, I decided keep it in the case for the remainder.
Here’s the set:
“Settling”
“Guilt that Keeps on Giving”
“Dear Reason”
“Feed Me a Lie”
“Go Into the Water” Intro – Dethklok cover
“The Shadow I Will Leave”
“Boy of Summer” – Don Henley cover
“Pocket and Soul”
“Point #1” – Chevelle cover
“Out of Our Hands”
We ended the ‘night’ with breakfast and laughs at IHOP with the other bands (WHAT A RIOT!). I’m anxious to get on a bill again with those dudes. Big thanks to Big "C" Sound for putting on an awesome show! We’ll be back over there on April 7th.
I planned on using Sunday to wind-down and get this blog entry started. Instead, I ran an open mic at Aces Pub…
Usually, they have those shindigs on Wednesday nights. So, I called to see if I could jump in to play the next two weeks (to plug our next show down there). Finding out about the move to Sundays and that they didn’t have a host, I loaded some PA, posted the details on Twitter/Facebook, made some calls, and headed over.
If you missed it, my buddies Drew, Evan, and Mojo stopped in to cut loose and it was cool meeting and seeing Jim, Marty, and Tommy (some Aces regulars) do their thing. It’s a loose plan for me to host an open mic there every 3 or 4 weeks now; allowing me to give everyone some warning in advance. It’ll be on the calendar when I get the date(s) ironed out.
Until then, you can catch the full IND crew at Aces on Saturday, February 25th with the dudes from Born Under Burden (INFO & RSVP HERE). The radio ads start on WKHY on the 18th. Let me know if you hear my tunes on 93.5!
Finally, I’ve got licensing contracts headed my way from some big television networks/shows. Hopefully, I’ll have more info on that next week.
Huge thanks to everyone that made it out to any of the four shows last week and to you for stopping by the blog once again!
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!
