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

04/09/12

Did everyone live through the crazy Easter (or your preferred celebration) weekend? I think this is the first year that I didn't scam on some eggs and peeps.

The boys and I played several shows last week. So, 'show content' is going to dominate this week's entry.

As mentioned in last week's blog, we started out at Aces Pub on Sunday (the 1st). Drew went to town on a djembe for IND songs & I got to play a couple of tunes with Azul.

Here's the set:

"Wonderwall" - Oasis cover w/ Azul
"Out of Our Hands"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Settling"
"Broken" - Seether/Amy Lee cover w/ Azul

We made our normal Wednesday stop at the theater for Lafayette Live and got the opportunity to sit-in with Lindsey Sickler on her song "Saving Grace."

Thanks to Jessica for capturing the moment. It made my life. :-) I'm telling you, the tune is WAY WAY WAY catchy.

After a short break for other acts, Drew and I jumped back up to do some promo for Friday's show.

Here's the set:

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

We were happy to have Brady from Little Boxes jam along on the last song. You can still get a free download HERE of our studio jam of "Before it Gets to Me" with both Brady and our friend Matt from The Cocaine Wolves throwing down with us.

Sure, there's a catch, but it's a very very small catch! Get the bonus track by downloading Whistle When We Break Down from Bandcamp for a whopping $3.00 or upload a fan pic of yourself to the Chris June IND Facebook page. Easy right? :-)

Friday night I had an unplugged show with my little brother at Java Roaster.

Entertainment writer Tim Brouk stopped by IND HQ on Tuesday to do an interview with us and grabbed this pic:

If you were wondering... Yes, I am wearing a new DropYa Fightwear shirt in the shot. Kudos to their crew for the hook-up.

Anyway, Tim did a pretty sweet write-up in the Lafayette Journal & Courier and the show went great!

Here's the set:

Settling
Dear Reason
Pocket and Soul
Bed Intruder - Autotune the News cover
Before it Gets to Me
No Second Chance - Adrenaline cover
Amputee - Oceansize cover
Guilt the Keeps on Giving
Out of Our Hands
Something Else is Something More - Adrenaline cover
My Rx
Imagine - John Lennon cover

On Saturday we stood up and plugged for a throw-down with a small (but very vibrant) crowd at the Animal House in Frankfort.

Here's the set:

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

We shared the night with our chums in ARCHDRIVE GOODBYE and I-Exist. ADG's flourishing in their 4-piece/loud rock incarnation and we're looking forward to our show this Saturday with them in Logansport (INFO & RSVP HERE). Also, we'll try to get their new EP finished up May-ish so those dudes can put it out & keep ramping up.

I go way back with the I-Exist dudes and they've been awesome for a long time. If it's possible, they proved to be more than the full package last night: great tunes, stage energy, tightness with the track, and video and lights synced to the set. It was intense! Check out I-Exist's new track "Giving My Life," it'll get you moving.

Sidenote: I really enjoy the opportunities to talk shop with Buddy (I-Exist guitarist and fellow Rhodes Amplification artist). That cat has great taste and nice toys!

That does it for 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! Have a great week!!!

Over and out

04/02/12

Great, April is here and I think the Pages/Timeline is live and I didn't get all my updates ready. Figures.

I'm trying to get back into my Monday blog routine, so here we go...

Did you get the new track last week?

I can't put into print how much fun it was to record this song! In addition to Drew on bass and Chris on bongos, there are guest tracks from Matt Amos (The Cocaine Wolves) on triangle and Brady Joseph (Lafayette Live) on djembe and tambourine. Although it should go without saying: yes, I did guitar and vocals...

Last Thursday I stopped in to jam at Applebee's in Frankfort to jam for Jason Wells' open mic.

Here's the set(s):

"Pocket and Soul"
"Settling"
"Imagine" - John Lennon cover
"Before it Gets to Me"
--------------
"No Second Chance" - Adrenaline cover
"Out of Our Hands"
"Amputee" - Oceansize cover
"Faithfully" - Journey cover
--------------
"Wanted Dead or Alive" - Bon Jovi cover
"Come Together" - Beatles cover

The last couple tunes I jammed along with Jason. Honestly, I didn't even know the Beatles' song. I picked up the main riff during the intro & took chord cues on the fly. What a blast!

My contact from the local paper showed up for the show to chat and grab some pics of me playing. If the article makes it to print by the end of the week (and I don't sound & look silly), I'll tweet a link. :-)

Finally, last night I stopped by Aces to jam a little. The lovely and super-talented Ms. Azul was hosting and I was ecstatic to get to jam with her.

Here's the set:

"Wonderwall" - Oasis cover w/ Azul
"Out of Our Hands"
"Before it Gets to Me"
"Pocket and Soul"
"Settling"
"Broken" - Seether/Amy Lee cover w/ Azul

Drew was around to do a little hand-drumming too. That's right, Drew is my bassist, but there's not much that dude can't do!

Well, that does it for the update.

I'm going to make an attempt to play almost every night this week: Tonight in Logansport, Wednesday night at the Lafayette Theater, and Thursday night in Frankfort to promote the next few shows: Java Roaster on 4/6, Animal House on 4/7, and Carole's Corner Pub on 4/14.

I'll have space for anyone that wants to tag along. If nothing else, wish me luck! :-)

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! Have a great week!!!

Over and out

03/28/12

As promised via Tweet, here's this week's blog... on Wednesday!

Last week didn't pick up steam until the weekend, so I'll start there.

On Sunday Zack from Arch Drive Goodbye stopped in at IND HQ to sing on a couple of songs; meaning we only have half of a song left before the vocals are wrapped on their CD! It's looking like the May deadline 'may' be met!!

Because of a long nap, I almost missed jamming at Aces later that night, but I hustled over there with enough time to crank out unplugged versions of "Out of Our Hands" and "Settling." Afterward I shared several cokes and talked shop with my new buds James and Marty until 3am.

Being wired and getting home so late (or early), I started some extra studio work.

I've had a plan to record a stripped-down version of "Before it Gets to Me" for a little while now. I wrote the song in late 2006/early 2007 with the help of Matthew Groschen (ex-Chemcoma) and have been playing it a lot in my unplugged sets over the last year.

After wrapping guitar tracks by 7am and grabbing another nap, I got some guest tracks from Matt Amos (The Cocaine Wolves) on triangle and Brady Joseph (Lafayette Live) on djembe and tambourine. Later in the night Drew and Chris stopped over to record bass and bongos, respectively.

I wrapped up vocals yesterday and bounced down a mix this morning.

So, how would you like to get a free download of it?

I had a few more guests lined-up to throw down some tracks, but it didn't work out with my deadline. So, hopefully I can get another tune worked up for them.

Moving on...

Did you catch Episode 10 of The Dig N’ Graves Radio Show on AudioKult Radio last night? Well, the results for the Burial Brawl were announced at about the 19:04 mark...

 

In what was described as a landslide, “Out of Our Hands” won! Also, the band will receive a 30 minute Burial Brawl Arena showcase show on AudioKult Radio, advertising on their site for 30 days, and potentially 20 ShamWows!!! :-)

They may have been joking about the last part.

 

Thanks again to Dig, Graves, Nikki, and Sarge for featuring the track and to all of you that helped us get the win!

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! :-)

If you're out and about at Lafayette Live at the theater tonight or at Applebee's in Frankfort tomorrow night for Jason Wells' open mic, I'll see you there.

Sidenote: Mr. Wells has a cool new video for the song "Friend or Foe." Check it out HERE.

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

Over and out

03/22/12

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!

Again, you can catch the show on AudioKult Radio and, if you listen in to the station, you may hear some of the new station ID’s that I recorded for them!

Before I forget, The Mound Builders advanced in Heavy Planet’s March Bandness Tournament. You can help them get past the Sweet 16 HERE.

We made a last minute location change and got some new band shots last week at the Lafayette Theater.

What do you think?

Kudos to DropYa Fightwear for hooking up the wardrobe and to Dave Mason at ISPhotographic for snapping the shots.

I booked/solidified some new shows last week:

• Artists United Benefit at the Lafayette Theater on May 4^th with Minsky Kinks, PLOT, Red and the Roosters, and Traveling, Broke, and Out of Gas
• Knickerbocker on May 26^th with tba
• Visions on July 27^th with Kramus

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. 

RSVP and get more details on these dates (and eventually the new ones) on THE SHOWS CALENDAR or THE EVENTS PAGE on Facebook.

PS: The I-Exist dudes just dropped a teaser from their new CD. It’s super awesome! Check it out HERE.

Also, we’re close to being done with vocal tracks for the new ADG release. I’m digging on it too!

That does it for the update.

Remember, you can subscribe to the blog, follow @ChrisJuneIND on Twitter, and 'like' Chris June IND on Facebook. You can share the links too. :-)

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

Over and out

03/12/12

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.

I recently tabbed out my song "Guilt that Keeps on Giving"; going as far as to make every ' - ' an eighth note.

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 on this-coming Tuesday night (3/13/12) at 8pm, the crew on Dig N' Graves Radio Show on AudioKult Radio will be featuring tracks from Whistle When We Break Down in their Burial Brawl contest. Voting lasts for one week following the show. You can tune in and vote HERE.

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!!

Well, that does it for the update.

Final Plug: 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

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