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11.19.07

I woke up on Friday November 9th with a sense of impending doom. That was no good since we were all jumping in a van at 2:30 and heading to Portland to play Dante’s for the first time. The feeling was strong enough that I typed out a chicken scratch last will and testament before Daisy and Rebecca picked me up from work. - I’m prone to irrational paranoia. It’s well documented. - We picked up Tim from work and it didn’t seem that his day was going much better. We got Rick at home and hit the road. We were on I-5 by 2:50. Normally we plug the tunes in at this point but some asshole threw a rock the size of a basketball through my window last week just to get at my iPod. Traveling south, hell, traveling anywhere makes me feel better and the two tons of dread on my back was downsized to a few pounds by the time we hit Portland. Dante’s is my kind of place. It’s like the bastard child of the Sunset Tavern and The Tractor but it has a strip club upstairs and a basement green room that reeks of whiskey and porn. Seriously. They also make really good pizza. Scotland Barr’s drummer was in a bit of a frenzy because some asshole had apparently stolen his snare drum. (No basketball sized rocks) Mike D was winning at video poker and the Moonshine Hangover guys were fueling up for their last show. Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags started it off and it was killer. Just off of a month straight on the road and you can hear it in every note. Moonshine Hangover went on after that and it was just a mess. They played great but they left the stage looking like a fraternity bathroom the morning after homecoming. Smelled good too. Mike D hooked us up with the sweet third spot. We played a tight forty minutes and got out of the way for Mike and thee Loyal Bastards. We can’t thank him enough for letting us slip in and play. We met a lot of great new people that night and made a lot of new fans who never would have seen us if Mike wasn’t so generous. Mike’s set gutted us in the very best way and we proceeded to hit Voodoo Doughnuts with our special friend Jared who happened to be in town. They have maple bacon doughnuts there.

Once we located everyone and managed to squeeze them into the VW, we followed Scot back to his place and proceeded to laugh until I thought I would puke. (strategic omission) It was a little painful and morning came early. We all went home and tried to get our game face back on and we converged on the Tractor. Bob Schneider was doing and early show to a sold out club. He didn’t seem inclined to wrap it up on time and there was some issue with drinking his special water. All I know is that we were freezing our asses off with the Maldives and Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags on the back loading dock with only a cooler of PBR to keep us warm. Eventually Bob tired of singing songs of sodomy and decided it would be ok if we played a couple of tunes. Scotland got up there and upped the ante from the previous nights performance. There is a lyric in the one of his songs: “Don’t get so heavy…”  I suddenly remembered that my last wishes were still stuffed in Daisy’s purse. What the hell is wrong with me? I let it slide and went back to tune my guitar while the Maldives got started. Reb and I have the unfortunate habit of getting a little stressed before the show when we headline. It involves a lot of pacing and swearing. I’ll spare you the details. As a result we sometimes miss some of the band that goes on before us. The Maldives were halfway through their first song when I realized that this would not be the case this night. Holy shit those guys are good. I mean not just great songs good; not just great players good; I’m talking great fucking band good. I was hooked. I didn’t care if we ever got on stage. I wanted them to play til the sun came up. It was glorious. The ice cube that had been nestled near the base of my skull for three weeks finally melted. Their lyrics did that. - They did actually wrap it up with plenty of time for us to get on and have probably the best show we’ve ever played. It was just fun. Old faces, new faces, people jumping on stage and playing and singing with us.

I asked for a drink and within seconds we had more whiskey than we knew what to do with. It felt like the biggest living room ever. I love the Tractor. I love the people that run the Tractor. It may be 3,000 of my favorite square feet on earth. Eventually we headed home, gorged on multiple hotdogs and found floor space for half of the Slow Drags.
The next morning we converged on the Blue Star for breakfast. Fourteen of us including all of North Twin, half of the Slow Drags, Daisy, her cousin Stacy, my kids, Reb’s husband, Ed, and her kids. We took over the back room and stuck a fork into an amazing weekend. As we were leaving I mentioned to Daisy that as far back as I can remember, I’ve dreamed that this would be my life. Moral of the story: If you feel like the world is coming to an end and you start writing out your last will and testament on a paper napkin… join a rock ‘n’ roll band.
See ya next time…
Tony

10.17.07

Catchin’ Up

Well it's been a while since I've put anything up here. I'm not sure why I haven't commented on our adventures and disasters but it probably has something to do with the gunmetal sky and the chill in my bones.

Bumbershoot was a hoot. For all you diehards that made it, we thank you, and it was really great getting to meet all the new folks that hadn't heard us yet. It was also pretty cool to see my little girl on her tip toes with her nose peeking over the baricade.

We took the rest of September to work on new songs for the next album. It's a roller coaster for sure but I think we'll be in a good place when we go into the studio with more songs than we would ever want to put on one disc. Which songs though? Is the next record gonna be a barn burner or a more moody affair? Maybe we'll do one 45 minute epic re-telling of the Odyssey through the eyes of Johnny Appleseed. (probably not) If you ask any one of us alone at any time you would probably get a very different answer but that's what's making the process so cool this time. Challenging? Yes. But I think we're gonna have something next fall that will be very special.

Last Friday we got to blow off some steam. We started the evening off with most of the members of Dept. of Energy, Young Sportsmen and Hillstomp, all of whom were playing the Tractor that night, along with The Honus Huffines, Riffbrokers and Massy Ferguson, who were all playing with us at the Sunset. Rick managed to get every one there with a shot in their hand by 8:45. We all got a little buzz on and proceeded to our respective gigs. Honus Huffines came out with a really cool set and we give 'em kudos for kickin' it that early at the Sunset. Riffbrokers up after that were just amazing. Probably the best I've seen them. The new songs are killer. We went up after that and managed to break some shit, get really sweaty and tear through a 12 song set in under an hour. When Tim wasn't throwing shit at me on stage it was a wonderful night. We even got to play something off Waylon Live for Jen. Massy Ferguson came up after that and tore it up as they always do. They also have some new material that's really great. "Breath In" is my personal fave but they need to crank up that guitar on the monster riff.

Saturday morning was good. The sun was out, I ate a fat ommelette, my kid scored a goal at soccer, we managed to get the entire band and all the gear into my VW van and we headed to Bremerton. There's nothing like walking into a bar you've never been to before. It's a good feeling. When you're carrying a guitar into that bar it's even better. It's even better when you see some of your favorite people waiting for you in this strange bar in this strange land. (you know who you are) We played Winterland with The Rocky Point All Stars and I have to tell you, I'd make that trip again and again and again. Those boys tear it up and the folks that come out to this place want to drink and dance and I'm sure if you stick around long enough you get to see all the things that usually follow drinking and dancing. (that'd be fightin' and fuckin') Unfourtunately we had to high tail it out of there before that started up. Although there was the drunk dude passed out in my van when I opened it up to load gear out. He didn't really want to leave but we quickly convinced him. We caught half of Rocky Point All Star's set, got a very heartfelt goodbye from Tony, the owner of the bar, and we set off to find the Bainbridge dock and the last ferry home. All was well until we hit Silverdale. One wrong turn and we were surrounded by acres of new shopping malls. Block after block of "quaint", twisty roads cutting through Pottery Barn, Jamba Juice and 17 different Starbucks. I thought maybe one of my band mates had made a deal with the Devil and he was collecting early. But Tim pulled out the map and we started squealing tires through the foggy and hellish mecca of consumption until we found our way again. It would be close. The ferry was at 1:25. We pulled up at 1:22. We ate Snickers and drank hot chocolate and hung out with old friends who happened to be on the same ferry. (you know who you are)

The only point of note after that was the strange reaction Reb had to carrying her monster bass amp into the basement at 3am for the second morning in a row. Halfway down the steps she broke into hysterics that would not stop for 30 minutes. At first I thought she was crying but then I realized that she was just laughing hard enough that she couldn't breath. She had left the building. Parenthood mixed with the rock 'n' roll lifestyle will sometimes lead to semi-psychotic behavior. At least that's what I'm chalking it up to.
Can't wait to see all of our Portland friends next month and we'll be playing with the Maldives at the Tractor as well. See ya then.
Tony

08.18.07

One Week Late
So it's been a week since we played the Tractor with Evangeline and Mike D. Needless to say the night was amazing. But it's taken me a week to write the post mortem on the show because I didn't quite know what to say. Evangeline played like they hadn't missed a day in the last year and a half. What's more, Chris had gotten his apendix removed four days earlier. Mike brought his Loyal Bastards and tore some new orifices. We played third and it was unanimously agreed that it was the most fun we've had yet. I'm sure there were a number of reasons that led to that conclusion but the main reason was the audience. If you were there you know what I'm talking about. I'm pretty sure it wasn't a full moon and I don't think there were any bachlorette parties happening. I didn't see any little brown bags passing through the audience and I was stone cold sober up until roughly the last song so I was seeing fine. So I'm not sure what got into ya'll last Friday but it was fantastic.
A week later and I still don't know quite what to say about what I witnessed from the stage that night. All I know is that we love you guys and we hope that you keep coming back and doing whatever it was that you did. In return, we'll keep showing up and doing whatever it was we did. Then we can all keep the secret.
See ya at Bumbershoot.
Tony

07.20.07

I'm outta here. I'm throwin' my wife, kids and dog in the van and headin' for the mountains. You can't find me. I won't let you. We'll be gone long enough to get good and stinky. Maybe I'll get serious about the beard. Who knows? I need dirt, wood smoke, a lake with trout and quiet.
Our next show is August 10th at the Tractor Tavern. It's a special show for a few reasons. First, it's the return of Evangeline. If you know who I'm talking about then you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't heard them, just make sure to get there early. Second, Michael Damron and Thee Loyal Bastards are comin' up from Portland for Mike's Seattle CD Release. Third, we just think it's special anytime we get to play for all of you. Plus we might do a little "We Are the World" style jam at the end. (kidding) Advance tickets might be a good idea. (like I said, it's a special night)
Until then you can watch for songs from our last show at our youtube page. God bless the internet. (Even though He's probably just gonna damn us all to Hell for it)
http://www.youtube.com/user/northtwinmusic
See ya on August 10th,
Tony

07.16.07

As promised, only three lines.
Video from the Highdive show on 07/07/07.
More songs to follow.

07.08.07

How hot was it?
Hot.... real hot....
Hotter than a two dollar pistol. Hotter than the hubs of Hades. Hotter than a June bride in a feather bed. I was sweatin' like a pig before we even plugged in. It was still full on daylight when we hit the stage last night for Audioasis on KEXP. I think it took about six minutes for everyone to adjust to being in a sweaty club after walking in from a perfect summer day, but adjust they did. It was sort of a crack hit of a set. Seven songs with no breather but it was a blast. Thanks to all of you who came out. For those of you who listened on the radio, you might have heard the interview with Lisa Wood. She had been reading these blogs and brought it to my attention that some readers might think I'm a lush. I'm pretty sure that's not the case but I figure one of you kind folks will let me know if I'm wrong. That said, there was much fun had after the show. Lisa (Vodka and soda, tall, with lime) convinced us that the Viking in Ballard was the place to be. She was right. The conversations made sense for a little while but around one o'clock a ringing started in my head that distracted me from intelligent interaction. Somewhere between the birth of punk and boat repo's, I hit a wall that only a Grand Slam would take care of.
Surprisingly six other people agreed and we were off to Denny's. Roman, our waiter in training, was a champ but there is something about that place that just makes you feel insignificant. I think it's the lights. I was in bed by 3 with pork and pancake regrets. At five we got the phone call.
Daisy does birthing support on occasion for some close friends and this morning our friend Heather was in labor. Daisy got there just in time to see the brand new baby boy enter the world at 6:59AM.
I think that was a very nice cap to an excellent weekend. We want to thank every one who came out and made last night so fun. Especially Abe, Hannah, Lisa and Michelle from KEXP. Those guys are a hoot. We would also like to congratulate Pat and Heather and we say "Welcome" to Little Mac. He picked a good day to kick it off.
Next up for us is the Tractor on August 10th with Mike Damron and Thee Loyal Bastards along with the triumphant return of Evangaline. We won't short change you either. We'll play until they kick us out.
If you want to check out last nights show you can find it in the Streaming Archive at KEXP.org
I promise my next entry will be no longer than three sentences.
Tony

07.07.07

Last Saturday we journeyed forth to rock with our brethren from the south, Moonshine Hangover and Scotland Barr & the Slow Drags. Portland is a place of magic and the White Eagle on Saturday was no exception.
To start the trip we landed at the Blue Monk on Belmont at 5:44 PM, Appetite for Destruction in full effect. We went into the basement bar for drinks and pool until 6:36 PM when Michael Dean Damron showed up to do an hour of solo, acoustic songs. That was an excellent way to start the evening.
From there we went to the White Eagle. (7:37 PM) Shared gear, duct tape and some make-shift washers and we were ready to go. We went on at 9:03 PM.
It was a great set, Moonshine Hangover came up after and tore it up and then Scotland and his boys kicked it all the way home. Lot's of friends old and new with plenty of drinks being purchased for each other which led me to being far, far from sober by 11:20 PM when I got a call from Daisy. (my wife) I didn't realize I was drunk until I heard the laughter in her voice. It's the little snicker she gets that says " oh, you did it to yourself this time" that let me know that I was indeed intoxicated.
We loaded up at the end of the evening and un-drunk Rebecca drove us to Scot's house. We lost Tim for a few hours. Portland does that to him. Rick guided him back in by cell phone where he landed softly on an air mattress in the basement. (after ditching some puking stragglers and getting lost on some dirt roads)
In the morning Scot and Stacy made us the most kick ass breakfast anyone could ever hope for. Stuffed and over caffeinated, we headed for the highway. At the freeway entrance there was some serious decision making to be done. South or North? We almost had ourselves convinced that we didn't actually have to plan and book a tour to go on tour. Someone came to their senses though and we headed North.
If you get a chance to write some songs and play them with really great people, you should jump at it.
Next up is The Highdive tonight at 8pm sharp. It's a live broadcast on KEXP's Audioasis. It's perfect for all you early birds and the door goes to a good cause. Check out kexp.org for the details.
See ya,
Tony

06.15.07

Oh Sweet Mother of God my head hurts...
I feel bruised and deaf and blind and all manner of other "day after" ailments. I feel like Mike D. tied me to a wall and the boys from Two Cow Garage took turns usin' me as a punching bag. I think I left my spleen at the Sunset. (that might be Jenny's fault) We had a blast playing last night and we appreciate all of you folks that held out to the sweaty end on a Thursday night. I know some of you have to be hatin' it at least as much as me today.
We're back at the Highdive for a live KEXP broadcast on July 7th at 8pm. We will be filming that night as well. Mark it on your calendar.
We love ya,
Tony

06.05.07

Thanks to all of you who came out to Chop Suey and then managed to rally and drink with us at Hattie's. (That was fun) Our next one is Thurs June 14th at the Sunset Tavern with Two Cow Garage (Columbus, OH) and Mike D. of I Can Lick Any S.O.B. in the House. (Portland, OR) We're lookin' forward to this one.
In other news.... KEXP is in the middle of it's summer pledge drive and I just wanted to give a little nudge to all the friends of North Twin. I figure it's appropriate since KEXP has been so instrumental in nudging many of you towards us. KEXP has been playing us regularly for 8 months now and because of that we are getting international exposure to people who like what we do. We don't have a lable and we can't really tour (not quite yet anyway) but this little radio station is making a huge difference to our band. We are far from the first musicians to get the KEXP love but it feels good.
So call them up or go to KEXP.org and give them some money if you can. $5 or $5,000. It makes a difference.
Thanks,
Tony, Reb, Tim and Rick
ps.
The more you give, the better you'll feel when you call up to request North Twin on the radio. Which you should do.

05.31.07

We, the humble players of North Twin, will be the guest bartenders at Hattie's Hat in Ballard on Monday June 4th. We start slingin' at 8 and we get to pick the music. Now I personally prescribe straight liqour, preferably brown. Wine or beer are good ways to go as well but if you like the foofy drinks, I mix a mean one. In my previous life I was a bar tender and I came up with a little diddy especially for my lovely wife one hot summer night called the "Summer Fresh Yum Yum". I told you it's foofy. I don't know if the boss lady at Hattie's will let me make the slightly illegal concoction in it's original form but I might get it close. That said, you should just drink whiskey. We'd love to see some of you folks down there since we don't always get to hang out with you on show nights. Monday'll just be about drinkin' and tellin' lies.

Don't forget that we are up at Chop Suey this Saturday night with Redneck Girlfriend and Tommy Gunn.
I love summer.
Tony, Reb, Tim, Rick

05.21.07

Thanks to all of you who made it out last Saturday to the Highdive. It was a late one but it was good from start to finish. Kim started it off and Massy Ferguson got everyone good and cooked. By the time we got to you guys you were a gooey mess ready for more.
There were fights about hotdogs and who got to stuff the set list in their pants but it all ended in hugs and innappropriate touching. That's rock and roll.
See ya at the Chop Suey on June 2nd.

04.09.07

Last Saturday was the CCFA benefit show with Flight to Mars, The Purrs and Jeff Fielder. An equally awesome but wholly different show than the Son Volt show ten nights earlier. There were birthdays, tequila sunrises, early teen rock fantasies, old friends, new friends, spanking, sweat and of course.... hot dogs.... with cream cheese. I need to take a moment here to reflect on the beauty of playing a killer show, drinking some good whiskey and standing in the rain eating a hot dog with cream cheese with friends. Any one of those activities alone is pretty fantastic but if you time them correctly and put them in the proper order in a single evening you have what comes close to perfection.
Anyway, everyone brought their "A" game and I still can not get "Love to Love" out of my head. A lot of money was raised for the CCFA and we were proud to be a part of it. Thanks to all of you who came out early to catch all the glory. See you on the 28th at Jules Maes.

03.29.07

Tuesday night we opened for Son Volt at the Showbox. Pretty epic evening all the way around. Thanks to all of you who beat feet and got there early for our set. We couldn't have asked for a better night. Miles of Music has reviewed Falling Apart and listed it as a Cracker. Check it out here. See ya at the Showbox on April 7th for the CCFA Benefit with Flight To Mars. We go on early again (8:30) see ya there.

03.22.07

HOLY CRAP! Friday was amazing. I can't think of a better way to wrap up our first year out. A sold out record release party with tons of faces old and new. Kim Virant played a killer set to open and Dept. of Energy closed it out. Halleluja!?! Who can pull that shit off besides Rob Benson?
We just want to thank all of you who came out on Friday and everyone who's made our first year of shows so great. See ya at the next ones. We're playing Fri. March 23rd at The Speakeasy in Snohomish with Williston and Chuckanut Drive. On Tuesday March 27th we are opening for Son Volt at the Showbox. We go on early for that one so get there as the doors open.

03.06.07

Just wanted to give you folks a heads up.
Our CD release party is Friday March 16th at The Sunset Tavern in Ballard.

The night before on the 15th at 8pm we will be playing live on KEXP's "Swingin' Doors" with Don Slack. If you live in Seattle just tune into 90.3 FM. If you are not lucky enough to live in the same city as the greatest radio station on earth then you should turn on that computer and go to KEXP.org. There are many live streaming options on the main page. Up to 1.4mps. That shit sounds good.

Hope to see you at the show.
If you just can't wait, you can get it in advance at cdbaby.com/northtwin.

03.04.07

We just finished our first roadtrip down to Portland. Moonshine Hangover was kind enough to set us up with a show at Duff's Garage along with Drunken Prayer. Both bands were amazing. I'm constantly amazed at how lucky we've been with the bands we've played with this year. Last night was no exception. I wanted it to go all night. Moonshine Hangover makes you so thirsty it feels like there's not enough beer in the world. Drunken Prayer got me so worked up I forgot to drink.
We had quite the crew travel down from Seattle with us. It warms the heart to look in my rear view mirror to see my VW bus full of drunk band mates and friends taking turns punching each other with my boxing gloves at 3 in the morning.
Moonshine Hangover will be traveling north to join us at Jules Maes in April. I think maybe we will have recovered enough by then to accomadate the insanity that I'm sure they will bring with them.

Don't forget, CD release party on March 16th @ The Sunset Tavern

01.31.07

The first four songs from the record are up on the music page. Take 'em for a spin.

01.14.07

Just wanted to drop a thanks to everyone who came out to the Tractor on Friday night. It was one of those rock 'n' roll shows you just can't get out of your head. (at least it's still screamin' around in my head like an angry yellow jacket)
Hell, those Massy Ferguson boys even managed to totally rock a song with a flute in it. No easy task ladies and gentlemen.
Jeff Fielder took a few years off my life with that slide of his and we couldn't be happier with our friends and fans stickin' around til the end. (And I've never seen the line at Dante's that long at 2am)
I was tickled pink at the sight of "Dude Who is Way Too Drunk" dancing around in front and even more tickled when Jared pinned him against the wall for a little talk. (I'd piss myself if Jared pinned me against a wall.)
Anyway, we love playing music for you. Next one in Seattle is March 16th at The Sunset for the big CD Release show. Department of Energy will also release their CD that night and Kim Virant is gonna kick everything off. How cool is that?
See ya then if we don't see ya sooner.

11.22.06

Our good friend Anna took some great shots at the last Highdive show. You can find them here.

11.18.06

Thank you all for coming out to the Highdive last night. Massy Ferguson and West Valley Highway were fantastic, everybody got happy and I'm pretty sure a couple people got lucky. Our next show is at The Comet Tavern (did ya know they have a hotdog stand out front now?) with The Riffbrokers and The Doll Test. I'm pretty sure we're all going for tattoos that day as well. It's gonna be goood.

11.08.06

Well it's a little late coming but we want to thank Paul and Jared for a great night at Nectar. We got to play early and that left plenty of time to drink and be merry. (Much to Jared's chagrin.) You can see pictures from the night here. We've got another good night ahead. It's our first weekend headliner on November 17th at the Highdive. That's a Friday night and we're playing with West Valley Highway and Massy Ferguson. See ya there.

10.01.06

Just wanted to throw out a thanks to all of you who showed up to The Tractor last Thursday. We had a great time, hope you did too. Back in the studio today pecking away at the record. Also wanted to throw out another thanks to KEXP. Cheryl Waters and Stevie Zoom have given us some air time now. It's great to live in a town with a station like that. Next show is going to be an accoustic set with Paul Benoit and Jared Clifton at Nectar on 10.25. See ya then.

09.10.06

Thank you Don Slack, Larry Metro and KEXP. Don has played us on Swinging doors the last two weeks in a row and Larry Metro gave us a spin on his show Friday night. So for all you KEXP listeners (and I assume pledgers) keep your ears open for North Twin on the radio.

08.28.06

Bad news first. We had to cancel the Highdive show. Big bummer for us because we love the venue and the bands on the bill. Another time. Good news second. We have booked another show for the end of September. Thurs 09.28 at the Tractor Tavern with The Drams and Burning Rivers. It's gonna be a night to remember. Trust me.

08.27.06

New website folks. Hope ya like it.

08.21.06

July 14th was one of those shows you're just glad to be a part of. We had a great time with a great audience and it just kept getting better. The Tripwires kicked unholy ass and then The Bottlerockets just about killed me with their set. I think our pal Jared might have wet himself.

We're taking August off from shows to do some house cleaning, visit family and write songs. We're going to make a stab at getting most of the tracking done for the record in September. There will be shows announced soon.